Photo: Investment Zen (Flickr)

When it comes to sending money between friends, Venmo is king (the app is so popular it’s even become a verb). If you prefer to use your phone via voice command, however, Google’s competing service just got a lot more appealing. The company updated its artificially intelligent Assistant app on Thursday, adding the ability to send or request money with nothing but your voice.

GIF: Google

To pay your friend back for drinks last night all you need to do is launch Assistant and say “Send Jacob [or whatever your friend’s name is] five dollars for beer.” To ask for money, just start the command with “Request” instead. Google Assistant will analyze what you said and show you the transaction. If it’s right, you say “send” and confirm with your password or fingerprint.

The one catch is that you’ll need Google Pay—the company’s answer to Venmo—to actually transfer any money. Setting up the service is easy, though, and Google Assistant will walk you through the process if you haven’t done it already. If your friend doesn’t have Pay set up, they’ll still receive a text message or notification to let them know the money is there (they’ll have to set up Google Pay to actually get their money).

The new feature is available now through the Assistant app on iOS or Android in the U.S., and it’s coming to smart speakers like Google Home in the next few months.

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