PayPal announced millions of retailers across the US will now accept payments from its Venmo mobile application, as it continues to expand service amid increasing competition.

The move will allows users of Venmo, long operated as PayPal’s person-to-person (P2P) payments service, to use balances on their app or linked banks card to pay for goods from a majority of merchants which accept PayPal payments.

PayPal first introduced the capability to make payments on Venmo in early 2016, but only to a select number of businesses.

In a Venmo blog, the company explained users must update to the latest version of the app to access the extended services, which would also open the door to other benefits including notifications for purchases made and the option to share and split purchase costs with others.

Venmo allows users to track the purchases made and make secure transactions through encryption technology “to protect card and bank data”.

Eligible purchases are also covered by PayPal’s authorised merchant payment protection plan.

Venmo has been part of PayPal since 2013 and is one of the most popular mobile applications for making P2P payment in the US, Reuters reported. The app processed $8 billion in payments in Q2 this year alone, but faces increasing competition as new rivals enter the space.

Apple, for example, is planning to launch P2P payments and allow users to make money transfers through iMessage, while Facebook is also pushing its own service.

A consortium of US banks in September launched Zelle, a service allowing customers of member banks to quickly transfer small amounts of money through smartphones.

Ben Mills, head of product at Venmo told Reuters the vision from the very early days was to enable people to use the app “for whatever you want to buy”.