Apple CEO Tim Cook said the Apple Card would arrive in August on the company’s last earnings call, and here it is: Apple’s new credit card, issued in partnership with Goldman Sachs, will begin a “preview rollout” today, and then become broadly available to all iPhone owners in the US later this month.
Apple says a random selection of people who signed up to be notified about the Apple Card will be invited to sign up today, although the company won’t disclose exactly how many people will be in the preview group. The signup process, which requires iOS 12.4, involves entering your address, birthday, income level, and last four digits of your Social Security number. That information is sent to Goldman Sachs, which will approve or decline your application in real time — Apple says it should take less than a minute. (There’s a TransUnion credit check involved, so if you’ve locked that info you’ll have to unlock it.)
Apple says the Apple Card is not meant to directly compete with premium cards like the Chase Sapphire or American Express Platinum cards — the goal is to be broadly accessible to every iPhone owner, so the signup requirements will not be as strict as those cards.
Once you’ve been approved, your new card will show up in your Apple Wallet immediately and be available for use — you can request Apple’s fancy titanium card for free during setup and it will arrive in the mail later. Setting that card up is neat: the envelope it’s in has an NFC tag, so you just tap the phone to it and it activates automatically, no phone call or sticker required.
I got to hold the card itself and it is very nice, although it is fairly thick and felt a little bit heavier than the typical metal credit card. You can use the card without your phone nearby like any other card, but it doesn’t support contactless payments — Apple obviously wants you to use your phone or watch for that.
Once you’re all set up, you will actually have three credit card numbers associated with your Apple Card: the number assigned to your phone, the number assigned to the physical card, and a virtual number you can access in the app for online merchants that don’t take Apple Pay. You can request a new virtual number at any time. The card itself doesn’t have a expiration date or security code, and it doesn’t have a number printed on it, but you can lock the card if you misplace it or deactivate it entirely from the Wallet app with a single tap.
The Apple Card interface in the Wallet app is extremely nice: it provides detailed information about all your purchases, using machine learning to clean up merchant names and categorize your spending over time. You can set payment schedules in a variety of ways, play with a circular slider to see exactly how much interest you’ll be charged, and see how much you’re spending weekly and monthly.
Compared to something like Intuit’s Mint, it’s definitely smarter and simpler, but it’s also limited to just one card, so its overall utility is a little limited if you have any other cards or payments in your life to manage.
Apple isn’t charging any late fees, annual fees, or international fees on this card, and it says that it doesn’t see any of your purchase data at all — all that transaction data cleanup and categorization happens locally on your phone. Goldman Sachs can obviously see that data since it has to approve or decline purchases, but Apple says it’s entered into a special privacy agreement with Goldman that restricts Apple Card purchase data from being used for anything other than operating the card itself — it can’t be used for advertising, sold to third parties, or anything else.
Apple’s rewards program is much simpler than any other major card: the company offers 3 percent cash back on any Apple transaction, from the Apple Store to the App Store to even iCloud storage, 2 percent on any Apple Pay transactions, and 1 percent on purchases made with the physical card or virtual card number. That cash hits your Apple Pay Cash account every day, and you can use it to pay off your balance, send it to friends, or transfer it a bank.
It’s a little skimpier than other premium card perks like access to airline lounges, concierge services, and so on, but Apple believes the simplicity and speed of just getting cash back will entice premium card customers who are frustrated with complicated points schemes to switch, while the payment and financial health features will appeal to everyone else. (Basically: people with less money.)
There has been some fierce criticism of Apple’s fairly standard APR, which starts at 12.99 percent and goes up to 24.24 percent, but Apple says its goal is to be among the lowest possible rates you can qualify for. This is impossible to know until people start signing up, but it’s fair to say that this is still a credit card, and you should definitely treat it like one, regardless of how good the software looks.
And just like any other credit card, while it’s easy to sign up for an Apple Card and easy to spend money with it, it’s not necessarily easy to get rid of it: canceling an Apple Card requires messaging or calling Goldman Sachs.
That’s actually the most interesting thing about the Apple Card, and the thing we’ll see shake out as people get them: Apple is providing a lot of the user experience of the card, but the card itself is still a credit card issued by Goldman Sachs, and when you click the support button in Apple Wallet, you’ll be chatting with Goldman Sachs reps. Apple says the two companies are working very closely together, and that Goldman Sachs employees are being trained using Apple tools and technologies, including specific language around helping people understand credit issues. Basically, Apple says this is much more than just a very nice front-end to a Goldman Sachs card — it’s a product Apple has designed like any other.
But the end of the day, Apple can’t issue a credit card without a bank, and Goldman Sachs is that bank. We’ll just have to see how the experience of the Apple Card matches up with the high expectations of Apple customers.
Comments
An ok card for as a starter card but not really worth it if you already have a DoubleCash or Freedom or It card. Hope they introduce a more enticing higher tier version soon.
By FORESEE on 08.06.19 6:31am
Pretty much. Although I am speculating the credit approval levels are more towards the higher end of the market (especially with no fees) and most qualified applicants are not going to be able to use this as a starter card. It’s almost just a big proof of concept right now.
By Gamble20 on 08.06.19 8:41am
I mean it also offers other things like better categorization of purchases, data privacy, and I think they had said that it should appear very quickly as soon as you make a purchase and with little icons of the brand or store. Compared to other crappy bank apps.
By popepe on 08.06.19 9:33am
I’d personally go for better rewards, all the time vs. getting less for my purchase but having it post a little bit quicker. But I’m a budget conscious person so I’m keenly aware of what’s going in and out and never spend more than 25% of my limit at one time, paying it off as soon as it posts.
By FORESEE on 08.06.19 3:03pm
This matches the card they’ve already had with Barclay for years, so I’m sure they’re already happy with what they’re offering.
By BlatantNinja23 on 08.06.19 10:33am
Matching in what way? The Barclays apple rewards card did not have cash back and the Apple Card does not offer interest free financing.
By ACW90 on 08.06.19 11:25am
It had the interest free for the first 30 days (basically a hop on and get a laptop kinda thing) and the cash back exists but only in apple gift cards. So matching was the wrong word but this new card is a lot more flexible so they probably already see it as a better option.
By BlatantNinja23 on 08.06.19 12:03pm
Every card is interest free for 30 days
Interest compounds after a monthly statement cycle; unless you cash advance, which is daily.
By BulletTooth_Tony on 08.07.19 7:20am
Any purchase within those 30 days becomes interest free for 3-12(?) months based on the dollar amount.
By BlatantNinja23 on 08.07.19 1:16pm
I’ve never been excited about a credit card before but here I am hoping I get chosen for the early release!
By IsaacC on 08.06.19 6:56am
Why are you excited about it? There are credit cards with far better benefits and rewards so this card honestly seems to be rather pointless. I average over 4% in cashback with the credit cards I do use and they come with a hefty set of benefits.
I honestly can’t think of someone who wouldn’t be better off with a different credit card.
By pixelated_soul on 08.06.19 9:23am
Dat logo tho
By droidface on 08.06.19 9:32am
Says the guy with a username "droidface" lol.
By fakejobs on 08.06.19 9:36am
He’s right though. Right now there’s little incentive, it’s mostly about being in the brand.
By BausFight on 08.06.19 9:41am
Because having a username that displays an allegiance invalidates an opinion, right ‘fakejobs’?
By Jimk4003 on 08.06.19 10:06am
But I wasn’t talking about logos or why people buy/use products because of logos. You can’t call people out on logos when you have a username like "droidface". That was my point, ‘Jimk4003’.
By fakejobs on 08.06.19 10:34am
Of course I can
You weren’t talking about logos but a quick glance through your post history is just you talking shit about Google, Microsoft, Tesla and Samsung. So you should have a moment of self reflection before you start calling other people out for bias fanboy nonsense.
Attacking the messenger instead of the message is what you do when you have nothing.
Have a great day fakejobs
By droidface on 08.07.19 9:53am
Because I don’t want a part time job managing which purchases are "in" this month or out. Basically all of my purchases are Apple Pay purchases these days, which means I’ll get the same 2% as Citi double cash, but with added privacy + better UI.
In general people get hyped over rewards too much. At the end of the day you get around 2%, and I’m not interested in another job managing points or categories or fees or intro offers or whatever.
If I didn’t use Apple Pay so much I would probably get the Citi double cash. But since I do use Apple Pay so much this seems like a better option.
By Resiroth on 08.06.19 10:48am
Amen to the part time job managing which purchases are in or out this month. I’m a bit older and my husband and I have two Amex rewards cards (a gold card for 4x points on groceries and dining and 3x on flights and a Delta Skymiles card for the free companion ticket each year and travel perks). We pay our balances off in full each month and have no interest in "earning" cash back while paying off a balance on a Double cash back card (newsflash, you are actually losing more than you are earning when you accrue interest there but thats how the game works).
This Apple Card appeals to me as a backup card for when we travel overseas and Amex is not accepted. Plus the 2% cash back on Apple Pay transactions is better than the basic 1x points/1x miles we get on the other two cards on everyday transactions so might as well put it to use. The 3% back on apple purchases is nice but not as nice as the extended warranty I get when using an Amex card (I’d rather have a free extra year of warranty than 30 bucks on a 1000 dollar purchase). The security features also appeal to me so we will probably give it a spin.
By minimalist on 08.06.19 1:33pm
Yeah good point about the warranty thing. Maybe I’ve been fortunate but either something dies fast or it lasts a while, but still nice feature.
The security/privacy aspects are worth extra $$$ to me given how often these breaches seem to be happening.
Also interesting about the citi cash back thing, didn’t know it accrued interest. The other card I was considering was 2% flat on everything with fidelity, but I’m with vanguard currently.
Sometimes less hassle is worth losing out on an extra 30-40 bucks of rewards
By Resiroth on 08.06.19 2:05pm
Ive used that Amex warranty thing several times over the years and they are so good about it. I used it to repair a MacBook Air i bought that had an issue after a year and a half and I used to replace a pair of Beats X headphones that died on me at like month 15 or so. No questions asked, no hassles just pointed them to the transaction and (in the case of the Macbook) send them an estimate of the repair costs and boom, the credit was on my account the next day. Amex also credited a charge from a vendor that never shipped a product my husband ordered.
As far as I can tell, the Citi Double Cash back card gives you 1% on purchases and then another 1% on the balance you carry (which of course they are charging you more than 1% to carry so really they ought to call it the 3/4 cash back card if they were being honest.
We don’t plan on using the Apple MasterCard very often but seems like its a sensible backup card for when Amex can’t be used or jut for when you can use Apple Pay for a daily expense not covered by the Amex cards.
By minimalist on 08.06.19 4:14pm
When I use my Amazon Chase card, there’s no job of managing anything. When I buy stuff, it shows my available credits at check out on Amazon. It’s extremely common where my whole order is 100% covered by points with some left over. I don’t even think about it, just tons of free stuff I actually was going to buy already. My balance is auto paid monthly, no interest, so not even a thought there either.
I use Amazon pretty much for everything though and don’t use Apple Pay ever, so makes sense for me.
By BausFight on 08.06.19 1:39pm
Word, I have thought about the amazon 5% card if that’s what you’re talking about. That’s basically the only non-Apple pay stuff I buy, but at the end of the day it’s still not all that much.
I’ve been considering getting rid of my prime membership too now that it’s 120 a year. With Walmart and target offering free 2 day shipping and prices largely similar, it’s mostly down to prime video.
If I used all the prime benefits (I think there’s like music, photo storage(?), and some other big ones) it would be a no-brainer, but 2 days is good enough for me haha.
I actually get 10% cash back on Whole Foods with square card, one of the few things I bother with since that can be easily 10-15 dollars on a normal shopping trip.
By Resiroth on 08.06.19 2:12pm
Ha, ha! Think of it as recouping some of the Whole Paycheck tax. We shop there too but you have to be careful about what you buy there and what you buy elsewhere.
By minimalist on 08.06.19 4:17pm
Yeah, everyone competing with Prime has been great for consumers. We use Prime Video a lot, and One-Day shipping is incredible (especially since we live very rural). One other major perk over other retailers is customer service.
As of now, Amazon is just a very attractive place to shop with Reward Points, 1-day shipping, Video, and customer service. Pretty much the only time I shop anywhere else is if there’s an insane deal that is worth dealing with slow shipping etc.
By BausFight on 08.07.19 10:02am