According to Apple, its new credit card was specially designed to be transparent and simple. It now seems that it was also designed to make sure that the cardholder always owns an iPhone or iPad.
Apple Card offers no paper statements. You have to access everything – from balances to transaction histories, payments and previous statements – via the iPhone’s Wallet app. There is no website where you can make a direct payment or view transactions if you no longer have your iPhone and its Wallet app.
If your iPhone gets stolen or you lose it, how do you pay your Apple Card’s outstanding balance? Buy a new iPhone? There’s no information about that on Apple’s support website. BuzzFeed News contacted the company via its text message and phone support system and received this reply.
Your first option is to use an iOS device such as an iPad to log into the Wallet app. Alternatively, you can phone Apple Support who will then transfer you to a Goldman Sachs Apple Card specialist. To make a payment over the phone, you will have to supply info such as your full name, the last four digits of your Social Security number, date of birth, and the phone number linked to your Apple Card account.
On its website, Apple advises iPhone owners to activate Find My iPhone to help find and, if necessary, remotely wipe data from a missing phone – and to add a password for enhanced security. Setting up regular payments in Wallet could also help eliminate late payments if you lose access to your device.
Apple Card’s back-up plan for owners who lose access to their iPhones appears remarkably archaic compared to alternatives such as Citibank, Capital One and American Express Blue Cash cards, which all offer statements and enquiries via both an app and a website. In this respect, the numberless titanium Apple Card doesn’t quite live up to its futuristic promises.