Braintree launches Braintree Auth, a tool that integrates payment processing in apps

Braintree has introduced a way for merchants to incorporate the payment processing service directly into their sites, apps, and products. Called Braintree Auth, it manages payments on ecommerce stores and can access transaction data for analysis or accounting purposes. It’s currently available by invite only in the U.S.

This release comes the same week as when Square debuted its own platform enabling merchants and developers to integrate its payment services into their apps. But while Square has branched out into a new space, this has been something Braintree has specialized in for quite some time. Geared toward developers, Braintree Auth can easily be integrated into any app. When it’s enabled, merchants can log in using their Braintree credentials to accept payments from credit and debit cards, as well as from PayPal.

This platform also powers payment processing from Venmo, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Coinbase, and more, all thanks to a few lines of code that have to be included in any mobile or web app.

Although it’s still in private beta, Braintree has named some partners that support this platform, including Bigcommerce, WooCommerce, and 3dCart. Developers who want access can submit an email to auth@getbraintree.com. The service allows the company to better compete against Square and Stripe, two of its main rivals.

“With Braintree Auth we hope to establish an ecosystem of partners vastly expanding the ways merchants can start ecommerce experiences using Braintree and PayPal, in turn offering numerous add-on services that extend and complement the payments service that Braintree provides,” general manager Juan Benitez wrote in an email to VentureBeat.

Braintree Auth is the latest effort from PayPal to push its products to developers, after it fell behind in this area while owned by eBay. The volume of total authorized transactions it processes has been increasing — it was to do $50 billion in 2015, but there have been some missteps recently, specifically with regard to developer advocacy and API usage. Earlier this month, Braintree stopped giving new developers access to its Venmo peer-to-peer payment API, cancelled its annual BattleHack hackathon, and laid off its developer advocacy team.

Reiterating the statements of previous spokespeople, Benitez explained the company’s recent actions: “Developer advocacy has become an integral part of the PayPal and Braintree businesses and is at the core of everything that we do. As such, having a branded developer advocacy group is no longer necessary. The team most recently known as BraintreeDev will no longer operate under that moniker, and some members of the team will be integrated into developer facing roles throughout Braintree.”

Benitez hopes that Braintree Auth will entice ecommerce platforms that can use it to quickly process payments and also service providers/developers that help connect merchants with Braintree directly.

Updated on 8:11 a.m. Pacific: This post has been updated to clarify that Braintree didn’t just enter in-app purchases and that the release took place in the same week as Square’s announcement. Additionally, the request for access email address has been updated.