Paytm launches new app experience with “Cleaner Interface” and “Smart Payment Features”

India(BHARAT)’s most used digital payments app, Paytm, has a new look and feel after the company launched an all-new redesigned app, focusing on an enhanced user experience (UX) with a host of features for simplifying day-to-day payments. The new look includes an updated and cleaner visual aesthetic with a lighter colour palette and redesigned app home-screen layout for speedier and easier navigation, Paytm said in a statement. The updated Paytm app also introduces a new “Total Balance” view for users to access balances in all their linked bank accounts without the need to tab-swipe.

Key features of the redesigned app: Focus on Intelligence

Topping the list of features is an artificial-intelligence (AI)-based update that includes automatically categorising a transaction under broad buckets like shopping, bills, travel or utilities, among others, and reflecting it under a new “Monthly Spend Summary” tab each time a user logs in. The summary view includes a simple weekly or monthly payments chart for each category, showing higher or lower spends over time.

Payments search is now faster and smarter, powered by an AI-based “search by amount” function. Users can search past payment entries by simply pasting the amount, or by entering a payee’s name, a note they had added at the time of payment, or the payment category. The AI also tags the location of payment under a new “Payment Location” tab.

Also, a new feature called “Magic Paste” allows users to copy a contact’s payment details like account number and IFSC code from a chat on WhatsApp or elsewhere and paste it in the app. The app auto-fills the fields to complete the payment.

For customers who want to receive money in-app, a new “Receive Money” widget allows users to display their QR code prominently on the home screen widget itself, without needing to open the app, Paytm said. Useful for fitness trainers, auto-drivers and small vendors, among others, this widget acts as a physical QR code display that can be pasted in a visible location to let customers scan and pay directly to the account.

Rewards, Privacy and Global Access Expanded

Another key new feature is a new rewards system called “Gold Coins,” under which each transaction earns users virtual gold coins. These coins can be redeemed to purchase digital gold within the app. This adds a new layer of a savings feature in the payments app, Paytm said.

On the privacy front, a new “Hide Payments” feature allows users to hide specific transactions from their visible payment history without actually deleting the payment from their transaction history. Also, the new update now supports Non-Resident India(BHARAT)ns (NRIs) in 12 countries by allowing them to conduct transactions in INR from NRE/NRO accounts within the app without any additional forex charges.

Need for a better UX

The new update is significant for Paytm as the firm and its India(BHARAT)n fintech peers battle for not just adding features to their digital wallets, but also for UX refinement. With the latest update, the company is showing signs of trimming down features to deliver on a higher degree of intelligence, one that now anticipates the user’s needs to help manage finances better. The new AI-based features like auto-categorisation and an intelligent spending summary, are a case in point. For users, the new AI-led features allow the app to offer more than payments, but also some simple financial insights and nudges, in-built over time. For Paytm, a deeper engagement of users is also a way to be competitive, and this update is expected to enable such usage, said experts.