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Singapore’s DBS bank brings its Paylah mobile payments app to Apple Watch

Singaporean bank DBS is bringing its DBS Paylah app to the Apple Watch, it announced today. DBS Paylah is a mobile payment app for iOS and Android phones. DBS account holders can link their accounts to the app in order to add funds to it. The funds are stored in the app’s mobile wallet and can be used for online payments, online purchases (with selected merchants), donations, and micro-payments between friends.

(Update, 1/7: This post has been updated with information from DBS) The Apple Watch version of Paylah is basically an extension of the iPhone app, enabled through bluetooth sync between the two devices. As such, users don’t need to download a separate app to their Watch. They can just update their mobile app to work with it.

For now, users can then receive notifications on their transactions, such as a successful payment, and view their available balance on the Watch. As DBS told Tech in Asia, it will eventually add functions such as sending money and the ability to approve requests for funds using the wearable. The app is tied to the phone, where the user must log in at least once using a six-digit alphanumeric password. The Watch will need to be in close proximity to the phone and the apps will need to be locked together via bluetooth, in order for the user to be able to check information on the wearable. The iPhone version also supports logging in via TouchID for users of iPhone 5s and up. The total amount for transactions is limited to S$999 (US$739) by default, although the user can adjust that at their discretion. The mobile payments space in Singapore has been expanding during the past year and a half, with major players such as domestic telco Singtel’s and Standard Chartered’s Dash app as well as Mastercard’s Masterpass being prominent examples. Singapore startups such as 2C2P and Matchmove (which received investment by Japanese credit card and financial services company Credit Saison last January) are also active in this space. The full DBS Paylah app for iOS and Android was introduced last year. It’s not immediately clear how widely used it is in Singapore, and the bank declined to provide any details in this regard. Play Store install numbers currently sit in the 100,000 – 500,000 category, but that is a pretty big margin and doesn’t say much about active user or transaction numbers.