Zelle Phasing Out Its Standalone App

Zelle has announced it is shuttering its standalone app, a reflection of the industry’s broader adoption of the company’s service.

Zelle is a popular way to transfer money between bank accounts, offering more convenience and less fees than some traditional methods. Since its launch in 2017, the Zelle app was one of the primary ways customers interacted with the platform. In a recent blog post, however, the company says that is no longer the case.

When Zelle first launched, we also created a standalone Zelle-branded app for consumers whose banks or credit unions had not yet joined the network. With the strong growth of adoption by banks and credit unions, we now see just ~2% of transactions on the standalone app.

The company says it will begin phasing out its standalone app over the next few months.

As a result of our growth, and because most people are now using Zelle in their financial institution’s mobile app or website, we are making a change to the Zelle standalone app.  

Over the next few months, we will be phasing out the ability to enroll and transact within the standalone app. As we do that, we are encouraging those who use the standalone app to instead start using Zelle through a participating bank or credit union. Users of the app will continue to be able to access it, but the app will be dedicated to consumer education about scams and fraud and provide a list of the more than 2,200 banks and credit unions that offer Zelle.

In an answer to commonly asked questions, Zelle does say that users of the standalone app will need to re-enroll with the service through their bank account.

This change will not impact the vast majority of consumers who use Zelle to send or receive money. Again, the vast majority using Zelle to send money uses it through their financial institution. However, if you are one of the consumers that uses the Zelle standalone app, you will need to re-enroll through the mobile banking app of one of the more than 2,200 banks and credit unions that offer Zelle.  If you have sent money to or received money from someone that uses the standalone app, you will also no longer be able to do so.

Given the cost and security issues involved in maintaining a financial application, it’s not surprising Zelle is taking this step, especially given the popularity of the service and the number of integrations it now has with various banks.

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