Clover Pay updates, adds withdrawal to Amazon gift cards, backup funding

If you’ve not yet heard about Clover Pay, stop right now and go read this. The mobile payments app, run by a team consisting of former Yahoo, Meebo and Quantcast employees, has been slowly but surely gaining steam with its dead-simple approach to transferring cash between contacts.

The latest version of Clover (1.07 for iOS and 1.0.17 for Android) adds in some great features that were sorely missing from the previous releases, including the ability to more easily invite your contacts into Clover’s private system.

• Withdraw money to Amazon.com Gift Cards
• Send payments and payment requests over SMS and email
• Payments and payment requests can be used an invites
• Use your credit card as a backup funding source while making payments that exceed your balance

In the earlier version, my biggest gripe was that funding had to be added directly into your Clover Pay account. When that funding was gone, you were out of luck. The addition of credit card backup funding is a quite welcomed one. It’s also an interesting twist to add a withdrawal option to Amazon.com gift cards, but it provides a welcome alternative to PayPal or direct bank transfers. After all, who doesn’t use Amazon?

The only unfortunate part, and it’s predictable, is that your friends will need to have the latest version of Clover Pay in order to use payments via SMS or email. Direct payments, via the Clover Pay app, are still supported into older versions.

Of course, if you want in on Clover Pay’s goodness, you’re still going to have to find an invitation. But here’s a hint, there’s a method available in my post announcing the company’s step out from stealth. Just don’t tell anyone, OK? Thanks. Not working? Click here and scan this. All referral money is still being donated to CharityWater.

Clover is far from alone in the mobile payments market, and we’re expecting a big update from Nebraska-based Dwolla this week too. But it’s a matter of adoption, and right now that race has yet to be won. At any rate, it’s worth a download, so please do and then let us know what you think.

➤ Clover Pay