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Depends on the country. In Poland, most banks use a standardized interbank instant cheque system which is integrated with your phone number, and everyone would use that for settling small sums between each other. Sweden has a similar system that's even more flexible.

Meanwhile, German banks offer a similar solution (giropay), yet - in this privacy-obsessed society - everyone uses PayPal instead.

>yet - in this privacy-obsessed society - everyone uses PayPal instead.

I don't get why to be honest. Banks are far more regulated than Paypal...

I don't think you have been to France. I am french, and I use Paypal all the time because I don't want to give my CC numbers and a majority of online store offer Paypal as an option to pay. Direct Bank transfer to pay online is not widely offered.

I have not spent much time in France, and I guess that use Apple Pay to accomplish the same goal of not sharing credit cards.

I'm from the USA but been living in Spain for ages, and I'm the only one I know that uses PayPal. Everyone does bank transfer.