Twitter begins testing its new Tip Jar feature to directly pay other users [Update]

By Joe Wituschek
last updated

Twitter Tip Jar
Twitter Tip Jar (Image credit: Twitter)

What you need to know

  • Twitter is starting to test its new Tip Jar feature.
  • The feature allows you to leave a tip for your favorite tweeters.

Update, May 6 (9:00 pm ET): Twitter is updating its Tip Jar feature to make it clear that users may share information when leaving a tip

You'll soon be able to leave your favorite Tweeters a tip.

Today, Twitter (opens in new tab) announced that it is now testing out its new Tip Jar feature, which lets you send and receive money through the app. Rather than building its own payments system, the company appears to be integrating with a number of third-party payment services like the Cash App, Paypal, Venmo, Bandcamp, and Patreon.

According to the tweet that the company shared earlier today, the Tip Jar feature will appear on a user's profile. Upon tapping the Tip Jar button, users will the option to give a tip through whatever third-party service the profile integrates with. The example shown from Twitter includes services like Cash App, Paypal, Venmo, Bandcamp, and Patreon.

When you choose which service you want to leave a tip with, Twitter will open up its in-app browser to the service you chose with the option to leave your tip there.

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The Tip Jar feature was originally reported last week. It also appears that the company may bring the feature directly to Twitter Spaces, its live audio experience. The company is reportedly working on Super Follows, a way to essentially subscribe to your favorite people on Twitter.

Twitter is working on Tip Jar in @TwitterSpaces, letting you enter your usernames on Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal, and Venmo, allowing people to tip you directly thereIt follows reports last year Twitter was investing in new ways to add subscriptions to its platforms, and more recently the news that Twitter was introducing a new Super Follows feature, which would allow users to pay $4.99 a month for additional exclusive content from creators. From that report:Twitter today announced a couple of new features coming to platforms including iOS 14, one designed at making it easier for people to earn money while the other takes on Facebook Groups.The former, dubbed Super Follows, will allow people to pay $4.99 per month to gain access to exclusive content from creators. That content could be just about anything and it isn't limited to tweets. An email newsletter is one example of something that could live behind the Super Follow fee, for example. Twitter sees this as a way for people to directly support their favorite creators in a way that's similar to other services like Patreon.

Update, May 6 (9:00 pm ET) — Twitter is updating its Tip Jar feature to make it clear that users may share information when leaving a tip

Some users who have been testing Twitter new Tip Jar feature have found that some personal information may be shared between users when leaving a tip through one of the third party services that Twitter supports. One user found that, when leaving a tip Paypal, a user's address was shared.

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Twitter has announced that it is updated its terms and Help Center to make it more clear what kind of information may be shared depending on the payments service used to leave a tip.

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Joe Wituschek
Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.