PayPal iPhone app lets you add checks to PayPal account by snapping photos of them

PayPal iPhone app lets you scan checks to deposit

SAN FRANCISCO — Betting you wouldn’t trek to your bank or the closest ATM if you didn’t have to, PayPal has added a feature to its free iPhone application that lets users deposit checks into their PayPal accounts by taking a picture of them.

The online payment service owned by eBay Inc. launched the feature this week.

It lets you deposit a check by snapping a photo of its front and back with an iPhone. Once the funds show up in your PayPal account balance, they can be spent or transferred to a bank account.

PayPal recommends keeping the check for 15 days, just in case it doesn’t clear properly.

Osama Bedier, Paypal’s vice president of platform, mobile and new ventures, said the feature cleared $100,000 worth of checks in the first 36 hours it was available.