How They Work – Forbes Advisor

Apple Cash and Apple Pay are digital payment services from the tech giant Apple Inc. These services are available in your Apple Wallet, an app that digitally stores your debit and credit cards and other essentials. Together, Apple Cash and Apple Pay allow you to send and receive money in the Messages app (Apple’s instant messaging services) and make contactless payments at merchants.

If you’re thinking about using Apple Cash and Apple Pay, or confused about how they’re related, here’s what you should know about these services and how they work.

What Is Apple Cash?

Apple Cash enables you to send and receive money through the Messages app. Any money you receive or add from a debit card is added to your Apple Cash balance. You can use your Apple Cash balance to fund purchases wherever Apple Pay is accepted.

How Does Apple Cash Work?

Apple Cash works much like a physical debit card. It lets you:

• Send and receive money via Messages. You can use your Apple Cash balance or another debit card in Apple’s Wallet app to send and receive money through the Messages app.
• Use Apple Cash to fund secure, contactless Apple Pay purchases at stores, online and in apps. You can spend Apple Cash anywhere that displays the Apple Pay logo or contactless payment symbol. This is done through your iPhone, Apple Watch or iPad.
• Share funds with your family via their own Apple Cash account.
• Receive cash back rewards from your Apple credit card, if you use one.
• Transfer money from your Apple Cash balance to your bank account.

How To Set up Apple Cash

You can use Apple Cash so long as your Apple device is compatible (iOS 11.2 or later or watchOS 4.2 or later). You must set up two-factor authentication for your Apple ID, sign into iCloud with the same Apple ID on any device you want to use to send or receive money and add an eligible card to the Wallet app.

Here are the steps for setting up Apple Cash:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down and tap Wallet & Apple Pay.
3. Turn on Apple Cash.
4. Under “Payment Cards,” tap Apple Cash.
5. Tap “Continue,” then follow the instructions on your screen.

How to Transfer Apple Cash to Your Bank

To transfer money from Apple Cash, you can either use a bank transfer to send funds to your bank account in one to three days or an instant transfer to send funds to an eligible Mastercard or Visa debit card within 30 minutes.

If you have Apple Cash Family set up, children under age 13 can move funds from their Apple Cash account to a bank account. Meanwhile, teens who are 13 and up can transfer funds to their bank account or an eligible debit card through an instant transfer.

You can move up to $10,000 per transfer and up to $20,000 within seven days from Apple Cash to your bank account. You can transfer Apple Cash funds only to a U.S. bank account. Unless you use an instant transfer, there are no fees to transfer money from Apple Cash to your bank account. For an instant transfer, Apple charges 1.5% (with a minimum fee of $0.25 and a maximum fee of $15) of the amount.

What Is Apple Pay?

Apple Pay is a contactless payment technology that lets you make secure transactions using Apple Cash and any debit card or credit card you add to Apple Wallet. It also enables you to send and receive money with payment cards stored in Apple Pay.

Apple Pay provides a secure way to make payments via iOS, iPadOS and watchOS apps, and on websites through the Safari browser.

How Does Apple Pay Work?

You can use Apple Pay to make purchases at retailers in the U.S. displaying the Apple Pay or contactless payment symbols. Using Apple Pay, you can also send money through the Messages app on an Apple device. Your Apple Cash card is the default payment card, but you can switch to another card.

​​When you make a purchase at a retailer, Apple Pay creates a device-specific number and unique transaction code. Apple doesn’t keep your card number on your device or stored on Apple servers. And card numbers are not shared with merchants.

To send and receive money with Apple Pay, you must be at least 18 years old and be a U.S. resident. If you’re under 18 years old in the U.S., your family can set up Apple Cash for you as part of Apple Cash Family. Apple Cash Family accounts can send or receive up to $2,000 per transaction or within a seven-day period.

How To Set up Apple Pay

Apple Pay is already built into iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad devices. You don’t need to download a separate app, and you don’t need to go through a sign-up process.

To set up Apple Pay, you add your debit, credit and prepaid cards to the Wallet app. The first card you add to Wallet becomes your default payment card.

How Safe Are Apple Pay and Apple Cash?

According to Apple, security features are built into the hardware and software of its devices to help protect transactions. As further protection, you must set a passcode on your device to use Apple Pay, or you can use Face ID or Touch ID.

Also, according to Apple, it doesn’t store, nor can it gain access to, the original credit, debit or prepaid card numbers that you use with Apple Pay. When you use Apple Pay with credit, debit or prepaid cards, Apple doesn’t keep transaction information that can be linked to you.

Apple Cash relies on Face ID or Touch ID to verify transactions, adding a level of security. Plus, there’s no physical card, and your account number is never visible.

Regardless of security precautions, there’s always a level of risk involved with any payment method. There are many bank scams used by criminals to gain access to financial information.

A study released in September 2021 by researchers at the University of Birmingham and University of Surrey found that Apple Pay and Visa vulnerabilities could let hackers bypass an iPhone’s Apple Pay lock screen to carry out contactless payments.

If you’re uncomfortable using Apple Cash or Apple Pay, consider alternative methods to spend, send and receive money.

Apple Pay vs. Other Services

A couple of rivals of Apple Pay are available. Which one you use may depend on what kind of devices you have.

Apple Pay vs. Google Pay vs. Samsung Pay

Two key competitors of Apple Pay are Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Other digital wallets include PayPal, Amazon Pay and Walmart Pay.

Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay provide digitally secure ways to make purchases, send money and receive money. Here are a few differences:

• Apple Pay must be used on iOS devices, while Google Pay is available on Android and iOS devices. Samsung Pay is available on Samsung phones and watches.
• Samsung Pay is available at more locations than Apple Pay or Google Pay.
• Users give Samsung Pay a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5, Google Play a rating of 4.1 stars and Apple Pay a rating of 3.2 stars.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)