Apple has begun rolling out its first “buy now, pay later”-style service after a lengthy delay.
Apple says it’ll begin inviting randomly selected users to access a pre-release version of Apple Pay Later, with plans to offer it to all “eligible” users on iOS 16.4 or iPadOS 16.4 in the coming months. Apple Pay Later was supposed to debut with iOS 16, but technical and engineering issues delayed its release.
The feature was first unveiled in June of last year as part of a broader push into financial services. Apple Pay Later was expected in September, but took several more months to be ready. The company said that a “pre-release” version of the service will be available for users on a “randomly selected” basis and that it plans to introduce it for all customers in the “coming months”.
The lucky Apple Pay users selected will be able to apply for Apple Pay Later loans of $50 to $1,000, which can be put toward online and in-app purchases made on iPhone and iPad with merchants that accept Apple Pay.
To get started with Apple Pay Later, users can apply for a loan within the Wallet app on iOS. They’ll then be prompted to enter the amount they’d like to borrow and agree to the Apple Pay Later terms. A soft credit pull will be performed during the application process, Apple says, and — after a user is approved — they’ll see a “Pay Later” option when they select Apple Pay at checkout online and in apps on iPhone and iPad.
A user’s Apple Pay Later loan payments are displayed in Wallet. A calendar view shows a user what’s due for all of their loans over a 30-day period.
Apple isn’t technically offering Apple Pay Later itself. Rather, the credit assessment and lending is being handled by Apple Financing, a subsidiary, which plans to report Apple Pay Later loans to U.S. credit bureaus starting sometime this fall. As for the merchant side, Apple Pay Later is enabled through the Mastercard Installments program, with Goldman Sachs serving as the issuer of the Mastercard payment credential used to complete all Apple Pay Later purchases.
