Mobile wallets and payment apps aren't emerging channels; they're already central to how consumers move and manage money. Onbe and NRG's 2026 Payouts Landscape Report puts hard numbers behind what most of us already sense from our own phones: digital payment habits have gone fully mainstream, and payouts haven't caught up. Ninety-eight percent of consumers now use digital payments monthly, and 89% say they'd rather receive a payout digitally than by check — yet checks remain the third most common payout method businesses issue, even though they rank only sixth in consumer preference. That gap is exactly where mobile wallets and payment apps come in.

Mobile wallets are mainstream

Confidence in mobile wallets for everyday purchases like groceries is no longer a generational divide so much as a generational gradient:

• Gen Z: 92%
• Millennials: 91%
• Gen X: 74%
• Boomers: 38%

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Monthly mobile wallet usage has climbed to 35%, up eight points year over year — a trajectory consistent with Onbe's broader finding that 74% of consumers overall now feel confident paying in person with just their phone, itself a six-point jump from the prior year. Wallets aren't a novelty reserved for younger cohorts; they're becoming the default way a majority of consumers expect to pay and be paid.

Payment apps dominate consumer preference

Payment apps show the same pattern of mainstream, sticky adoption:

• PayPal remains the preferred app for 82% of payment-app users, with Venmo (41%) and Cash App (40%) also widely used.
• Consumers keep at least two preferred apps in rotation, on average.

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That multi-app behavior matters for payout design. Recipients don't want to be routed to a single provider — they want a payout to land wherever they already keep their money.

Adoption is cross-generational

Mobile-first behavior isn't just a Gen Z story:

• 62% of Gen X and 41% of Boomers report using PayPal for mobile payments in the past six months.
• Separately, Onbe's research found that half of Gen Z and Millennial respondents now prefer payment apps over ACH specifically for receiving payouts — not just everyday spending.

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The behavior showing up at checkout is starting to show up in payout preferences too, across every generation a business is likely paying.

The opportunity (and the risk) for businesses

Rising adoption of mobile wallets and apps is a signal to embed these choices into payouts, not just everyday spend. As Onbe CEO Melissa Hentschel put it in the report's release, "consumers are no longer experimenting with digital payments; they depend on them." Businesses that keep leaning on checks and ACH by default aren't just accepting inefficiency — they're leaving a loyalty opportunity on the table for competitors who meet recipients where they already are. Businesses that integrate wallet and app rails can better meet demand for seamless, digital-first experiences and turn a routine disbursement — a rebate, a refund, an incentive — into a moment that builds trust instead of friction.

How Onbe makes it simple to add wallets and apps — without rebuilding anything

Adding wallet- and app-based payouts doesn't require tearing out an existing disbursement program. Onbe operates as a single payouts gateway: one integration point that already connects to the payment methods consumers are asking for, so businesses can turn on new rails as a configuration change rather than a rebuild.

Payout options Onbe supports today include:

• PayPal & Venmo — recipients can send funds from an Onbe virtual card straight to a PayPal or Venmo account they already use, or open one in minutes if they don't have one.
• Send to Wallet — one-click provisioning of a virtual card into Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay, with no app download or bank details required.
• Push to Card — near-real-time delivery of funds directly to a recipient's existing debit or credit card.
• Virtual and physical prepaid cards — instant, flexible spend for recipients who don't have, or don't want to use, a bank account.
• Express ACH and international bank transfers — including local transfers and wires reaching 170+ countries and 145+ currencies, for recipients who prefer funds to land directly in an account.

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All of these rails sit behind one integration, so adding PayPal, Venmo, or mobile-wallet provisioning to an existing card or ACH program is a configuration change on Onbe's side — not a new vendor relationship or a new build for internal engineering teams. That's the practical version of "premium digital payouts are already here": the demand already exists in your recipient base, and the rails to meet it are already available inside the platform you're using today.

Talk to an Onbe payments expert about adding mobile wallets and payment apps to your existing payout program.