The Apple Card is now available to anyone that wants to apply though the iOS Wallet app. The card has some innovative technology behind it, such as account access, information and support through the Wallet app, a deep connection to Apple Pay and a physical card that doesn't have a number or room for a signature. The Apple Card offers next-day cash back through Apple Pay Cash with the best deal being to use it in Apple Stores.
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Watch more videos about related subjects: iPhone (336 videos).
You can also watch this video at YouTube.
Watch more videos about related subjects: iPhone (336 videos).
Video Transcript
Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Today let's talk about Apple's newest piece of hardware, the Apple Card.
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So I've been using my Apple Card for about a week now. I signed up for the early notification email, got that email, and then signed up for it. Now it's available to anybody. The way you get the Apple Card is you just use your iPhone. You have to have the latest iOS, 12.4, and you go into the Wallet app and there request an Apple Card. I got to it by saying I wanted to add a new card to Apple Pay and one of the options there was an Apple Card. Then it walked me through the process which was really simple. Probably the easiest way to signup for a credit card ever. It already had my name and address and just asked me to confirm those things. I entered the last four digits of my Social and then I gave Goldman Sachs an estimate of how much I make per year. That was pretty much it.
After that it gave me a screen that showed my rate, and my limit. If I wanted to accept that then, pretty much immediately, I had the Apple Card. At least the digital version on my iPhone. In fact less than a hour later I went out to lunch and I was able to use Apple Pay at one of my favorite restaurants and I used the Apple Card as my Apple Pay source. So not only did the payment go smoothly but I got 2% cash back. So that's the main benefit of the Apple Card is you get a base 1% cash back but you get 2% if you use Apple Pay and 3% if you're at the Apple Store and some other places. Apple added Uber here at the last minute as a 3% retailer and they may add more.
So using the Apple Card with Apple Pay is just like using Apple Pay before. It's just another payment source in Apple Pay. You can also use the Apple Card as a regular credit card. So I was able to go into the app and there's a place there where you can get your number. Your credit card number for the Apple Card and I was able to enter that into, say, Amazon and use that as a regular MasterCard on Amazon. For that I was only getting 1% cash, but that was what I got on my credit card before.
What's cool is the advance functionality inside of the Wallet app. For instance, I can request a new card number. So if I think that number has been compromised I can just do that within the app and get a new number. I don't have to call anybody or anything. You also can contact Support inside the app and you can see all your purchases and they appear immediately. They don't appear as some cryptic, you know, eight character little code. You can actually see the name of the business. It grabs the logo for the business if it can find it. You see a location. Everything. So it's really easy to keep track of your purchases in there.
This is also where you can go for support. You get support through messaging in here. You can pay the card off in here as well. You get this little circle interface where you can choose how much to pay. You can pay on time or pay early. You can pay multiple times during the month. You can use that to basically bring your amount of interest you're paying down if you're carrying a balance. You can also do security things like lock the card here in the app.
Then there's the physical card. A week later I got the physical card which is metal, made out of titanium. It's really interesting because it has my name on it and that's it. The Apple logo, Goldman Sachs, MasterCard. It's got the chip there. It's got the strip to swipe. But there's really no identifying information beyond my name on the card. So there's no number on it. There's no place for a signature. There's no pin. So I was a little nervous the first time I used this. I purposely went to a restaurant that I know not only doesn't take Apple Pay but they don't even have a chip reader. They still swipe cards. The cashier looked at the card. Actually did look for the signature for a second but didn't say anything when she didn't see it. She went ahead, swiped it and I didn't have a problem.
I was a little nervous about this because every once in awhile I still get somebody examining my card closely, looking at my signature, asking to see my ID and what's going to happen when they get this card and there's not even a signature for them to compare it to. They're supposed to not need it anymore. That changed last year but some places are a little bit behind the times. So I'm definitely still carrying a second credit card with me whenever I go out because I don't want to end up washing dishes somewhere. But I would bet that I probably don't run into this situation. I'll have to see how it goes over the next few months.
Now you're going to be getting a lot of bloggers and YouTubers talking about the financials behind the Apple Card. They're going to compare it to their favorite credit card. They always seem to have a favorite and how that one has more benefits and more extras and things like that. I like the idea that there's really just cash back. You get that percentage cash back on each purchase. You get it the next day so you don't have to wait a month. It's just there in your Apple Pay cash to use for paying for other things. Usually I find that all the benefits and points and all that stuff that you get it doesn't pay as well as just getting cash. So for my other cards I always end up just converting the points to cash anyway.
Now some cards offer things like purchase warranties, they offer special, like, travel sites or shopping sites. Things like that. You don't have any of that with the Apple Card but we'll have to see what happens a year or two from now after the initial group of signups and Apple maybe wants to get more people on the card. Just the same there's a lot of people that just don't use that stuff. Maybe keeping it simple and just offering cash back and good customer service might be all that's really needed for a decent credit card.
Let me know if you have any questions about the Apple Card. I'll be using it as much as I can for the next few months and I'm sure to get a lot of good information about how well this card works and how it compares to my other cards.
Is the card usable in Canada? Is it necessarily related to Goldman Sachs?
Phillipa: It is a Mastercard. So it would work worldwide just like any other Mastercard. Only available to US customers right now. I don't know when it will be available to residents of Canada.
How does one pay the Apple Card bill? I pay my other credit cards through my bank’s online banking, but I believe Apple does not allow this. Am I wrong?
Lynn: You pay in the Wallet app. You add a bank account there and then transfer the money.
Thanks for the video on this topic Gary. I received my Apple Card within a day or two of when you did as I signed up for the early invite as well. I am impressed with Apple's take on this. The the few things I've found disappointing are:
1. Not nearly enough businesses in my area are using Apple Pay yet.
2. Not nearly enough businesses on the web use Apple Pay yet.
3. I can't add my wife to my account yet. Which is a bummer as we share all financial accounts.
Attaboy for Apple on this.
And the bad news are this card can not be attached for crypto transactions,right?
Actually so far I really love the AppleCard. I have watched several of these YouTube videos bashing this card as a “horror story”, etc., etc. However these so far have all been simply Apple haters in my opinion that have little good to say about any Apple product. Most have simply compared the Apple cash back to their favorite credit card rewards...hardly a “horror story”!
Gary, does the card have a magnetic strip and a CCV number on the back? Thanks
One thing I am suggesting to Apple to make this card even more useful to me is to add a manual category addition so I can change the spending category if the auto category choice is inappropriate.
Seeing my spending accurately categorized will be a great asset in transferring my expenses into my budgeting software.
@Karl Sorry to jump in here but I thought I more quickly answer you. Yes, there is a magnetic strip on the physical card, however the CCV is not printed on the card.
In Apple Wallet go to the card information tab for your card and you will find it there along with your card number and expiration date.
Is there a way to reduce interest rate charged on balances ?
Gary, one thing I noticed in the MasterCard section of the AppleCard literature is that even though Apple itself does not have warranty, travel benefits, etc., MasterCard does offer those things. So it may be possible to enroll for some of those features through MC until such a time as Apple perhaps offers them itself.
Gary: It is probably too early to know that. The first users haven't even had it long enough to carry a balance past the pay date. I'd imagine that as time goes on this is one of those things you can use the messaging support in the app for. After all, for other cards you usually need to call or message them to get a rate change too.
@Adam Snyder I am finding that most banks will no longer issue JOINT credit card accounts for couples. Generally you can still add a spouse as an authorized user on the account, however because of the AppleCard’s tight integration with iOS and your Apple ID, I am not sure how they are going to handle this.
They do have some family sharing options for apps, Apple Music and so on, so maybe they will offer it. Check with the customer service people for a definite answer.
Karl: As Randall points out, yes, there is a strip (I show it in the video) and the CCV number is in the app.
Randall: I agree with you about those "horror story" videos. I've watched some of them and the content sometimes doesn't even match the click-bait headline. For instance, they conclude the Apple Card is fine for some people. Hardly a "horror story," right?
Lubomir: As I understand it, many (or most?) cards don't let you purchased "cash equivalents" on credit. I can see where this would be a problem.
@Adam Snyder I was just making a suggestion to Goldman Sachs regarding another issue with the card, however they did confirm that the Apple Card DOES NOT support authorized users.
Unfortunately each spouse would have to apply and be accepted for their own account.
Gary - is there a way to download transactions to a financial software like Bankitivity? If so how do you do that?
William: Not currently. People are complaining about that. But the card just launched, so maybe they'll add it at some point soon. The first people to use the card won't even see a payment due email until the end of September.
I use Quicken and download transactions almost daily. Do you know whether the Apple Card will work with Quicken?
Karen: Not currently, no. But hopefully Apple will add that in the future. We haven't even gotten to the first set of payments (September 30) for everyone, so we'll have to wait and see.
Gary. What about security of card use? If the card is stolen from me, can anyone else use it without checks and balances?
Wade: If you notice the card stolen, you can lock it in the app. If the number is compromised, you can change it in the app. If someone steals it and tries to use it, it is the same as any other card. You'd need to contact support to report it and have the charges reversed, etc.
The link below is a tweeted reply to an Apple Insider tweet. It is a picture shared by someone that has had an Apple Card for about 2 months. The Apple Card will need to be protected in some sort of sleeve or it will not look good.
https://twitter.com/zed1291/status/1164312910245564416