Apple’s new savings plan basically turns your iPhone into a bank
As if Apple wasn’t omnipresent enough in our lives, the tech giant is now offering Apple Card users the opportunity to open a savings account on their iPhones.
The feature was originally announced back in October 2022 as a way for Apple Card owners to save their Daily Cash rewards and grow them “in a high-yield Savings account from Goldman Sachs.” Some speculated the APY (annual percentage yield) would be 3.75 percent, but as it turns out, it’s actually 4.15 percent which the company claims is currently “more than 10 times the national average”. Be aware the APY isn’t set in stone as it could jump up or dip at any time in the future. Besides the high yield, it functions similarly to any old savings account you get at a typical bank with the added benefit of having “no fees, no minimum deposits, [plus] no minimum balance requirements”.
Additionally, all Daily Cash earnings that you collect whenever you purchase something with your Apple Card will automatically be sent over to the new savings account. The neat part is there’s no limit to Daily Cash although the cash rebates differ from merchant to merchant. For example, if you buy a new Macbook from Apple’s online store, you get three percent of that particular purchase back.
Healthy finance
Vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet Jennifer Bailey stated in a release that the purpose of this recent move is to give people the tools to “lead healthier financial lives” similar to Apple Pay Later which launched in late March. To further help, the Wallet app will have a dashboard for users to track account activities. Users can also connect a personal bank account if they want to deposit money from a personal account to their newfound Apple Savings. Of course, it’s possible to do the opposite by withdrawing funds to said personal account or from your Apple Cash card “with no fees.”
Apple states the new accounts will be protected by the same level of robust security users expect from the company. Since these accounts are being managed by Goldman Sachs, balances are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). So if by some freak occurrence, Apple’s financial endeavors implode, your money is covered by the FDIC.
Limitations
There are some limitations. First, only people living in the United States can create a Savings account since that is the only country where Apple Card is available. You must have an iPhone sporting iOS 16.4 or later. Accounts have a maximum balance of $250,000, according to a Deposit Account Agreement from Goldman Sachs. And in that same document, it states “[bank] transfers must be” between $1 to $10,000 with a weekly limit of $20,000.
Instructions on how to create the account on the Apple Wallet app can be found on Apple’s Support website.
It wouldn’t surprise us if the idea of a savings account with no fees and high APY is making you consider buying an iPhone just to have one. If this is you, be sure to check out TechRadar’s recently updated list of the cheapest iPhone deals for April 2023.
