If Zelle is your preferred way to send money online, you have one less way to do it. On April 1, the digital payment service shut down its standalone app.
But don’t panic. The Zelle app may be gone but plenty of banks still offer Zelle through their own apps and websites. There are also lots of other digital payment apps to choose from. Here’s the rundown on Zelle’s announcement and the options you have now.
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Why the Zelle app is shutting down
When Zelle launched in 2017, only about 60 US financial institutions offered the service by the end of that year. Today, that number exceeds 2,200. As a result, less than 2% of Zelle transactions occur through the standalone app. Zelle has been phasing out the ability to make transactions on its mobile app since October 2024.
“Today, the vast majority of people using Zelle to send money use it through their financial institution’s mobile app or online banking experience, and we believe this is the best place for Zelle transactions to occur,” Zelle said in an October 2024 press release.
In December, Zelle was in the spotlight when the Consumer Financial Protected Bureau sued the company and three of the largest US banks for failing to protect consumers from widespread fraud on the peer-to-peer payment network. The lawsuit has since been dropped.
These banks offer Zelle access
You can still use Zelle through your bank’s app or website if it belongs to the Zelle network. With more than 2,000 participating banks, there’s a good chance yours could be one of them. Major banks that offer Zelle include:
- Bank of America
- Capital One
- Chase Bank
- Citizens Bank
- Discover Bank
- Morgan Stanley
- PNC Bank
- U.S. Bank
- Wells Fargo Bank
To find out if your bank belongs to the Zelle network, you can search for it here.
Other ways to send money digitally for free
You can also switch to another digital payment app, such as:
- Apple Wallet
- Cash App
- PayPal
- Venmo
Take some basic precautions when using Zelle or any other digital payment service. These apps are a frequent target for scammers and Chase Bank has started blocking some Zelle payments it believes could be fraudulent. Only send money to people you know and trust, and watch for red flags like an urgent message claiming to be from your bank or an online ad for concert tickets that seem impossibly cheap.
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