Cash App has added a new piece of hardware to its payments lineup: a $25 pearlescent, sparkly wand that turns a Cash App card into a tap-to-pay device. The accessory works anywhere contactless payments are accepted, and Cash App says it is meant to make spending feel more visible and expressive instead of disappearing into the background.
That is why people are searching for the Cash App Wand now. Cash App, the digital payments service operated by Block, has offered free physical cards since 2017, but this is a different kind of add-on: one that tries to make a card feel like an object people want to carry and show off. Thomas Templeton said the goal is to keep the payment tool “top of wallet,” and he described the wand as “fun.”
Templeton said digital payments have made buying things quicker and simpler, but also quieter and almost invisible. Cash App wants the opposite. “At Cash App, we think payment should be just the opposite,” he said. “It should be visible. It should be fun. And social and expressive.” He added that from a user perspective, the wand is “just delightful and fun and whimsical, and people like that.”
The setup is straightforward when it works. A user registers a Cash App card first, then links the wand to a Cash App account by holding the device to the back of a phone. Once paired, it works like a debit card. The wand can be used for coffee runs, fast food, a beer after work or even a transit fare; in testing, it was tapped to pay for a ride on San Francisco’s Muni trains.
But the playful pitch has a practical edge. The wand is supposed to feel effortless, yet the setup can fail if the card has not been properly set up first. That friction matters because Cash App is selling the accessory as something whimsical, not technical, and the product only works in the moments when the account is ready behind the scenes.
The wand is part of Cash App Tags, a broader line of NFC-enabled physical devices that do not need Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and are expected to come in a range of shapes and sizes. Templeton said Cash App had been thinking about the idea for a while, but that the company really started working on it in earnest over the last nine to 12 months. What comes next is still open: Cash App says more Tag designs are coming, but it has not said when they will arrive.
