Personal Finance
3 Personal Finance Features Found in Apple’s iOS 18
This week, alongside a new slate of iPhones, Apple introduced its latest mobile operating software update: iOS 18. And while the “Apple Intelligence” features that the company has hyped didn’t end up making it into this initial release, the upgrade does include a number of new features. This happens to include a few finance-related features that may be worth checking out.
Whether you’re on the fence about updating your device or already have and are still exploring what’s new, here are three iOS 18 features that involve your money.
Top 3 iOS 18 Financial Features
Control Center shortcut
At this point in my life, I’d say that I utilize Apple Pay fairly frequently (but I do use it way more while traveling overseas). Yet, for whatever reason, it seems I can never find the Wallet icon when I need it — even though it’s right on my homescreen! Instead, I catch myself going to Search and entering “wa” to find it. And although there are other options for creating shortcuts to the service, I’ve never used them.
That’s why I’m excited that iOS 18 has given me a new way to access Wallet — and one that I might actually use. Now, you can add a Wallet shortcut to Control Center. This means that you can now swipe up from the bottom of your screen to not only access brightness and audio controls, toggle on airplane mode, and set Focus modes, but can also launch Wallet with a tap thanks to new customization options.
When I updated my phone, this shortcut was already added to my Control Center — albeit without an icon for some reason. But, by holding down anywhere but an icon while Control Center was open and then tapping “Add a Control,” I was then able to add a Wallet shortcut with an actual logo. From there, you can also reorganize your widgets however you please. For example, you can see that I moved my Wallet icon further up so it’s right under my main widget box on the left.
While tapping your Wallet icon will, of course, launch your Wallet, there are a couple of more specific things you can do from the Control Center using the shortcut. If you tap and hold the icon, you’ll be able to select your Default Card, view your Last Transaction, or Tap to Cash (which we’ll talk about more in a moment). Alternatively, you can give Tap to Cash its own shortcut by going back to Add a Control and looking under the Wallet options.
Tap to Cash
Sending money via Apple Cash was already a pretty simple process, but iOS 18 brings a new feature: Tap to Cash. With this option, you can send or receive money by holding your device near another. This will work with two iPhones, two Apple Watches, or even an iPhone and an Apple Watch. What’s nice about this option is that you won’t need a person’s contact information in order to send/receive funds and no such info will be shared in the transfer.
To get started, the sending user can select their Apple Cash card and Tap to Cash option. Then, they can enter how much they’d like to send and have the option to put a note with it. After hitting “Next” and confirming by double-tapping the side button, senders can hold their device near another eligible device to complete the transfer. Of note: there is a sending and receiving limit of $2,000 per 7-day period.
Since I haven’t had a reason to pay anyone in person since updating to iOS 18, I have yet to try this feature. However, I do appreciate the idea behind it. In fact, I could see the concept expanding to include all kinds of payments including donations — perhaps even posing a threat to the likes of Square. I could easily see local farmer’s market vendors preferring this payment option over paying a credit card fee to Square or similar services. Therefore, I’ll count this Tap to Cash feature as a win.
Use rewards in Apple Pay
When Apple unveiled iOS 18, they also teased that Apple Pay customers would soon be able to redeem their earned credit card rewards using the service. Now, that’s come to fruition. The catch is that, for the time being, the only issuer in the United States participating in this option is Discover.
When I went to my Discover card in Wallet, I noticed an option to connect to my Discover app in order to see balances and transaction history. This may have been there before but I figured it was a requirement to access the new rewards option. Alas, while that may have been a part of it, there was at least one other step I needed to take.
In the Discover app, I selected the Rewards tab and then hit “Redeem” and then “Pay with Rewards.” From there, I could select Apple Pay to allow access. After doing this, my Cashback Bonus balance is displayed in Wallet.
Even though I’ve now connected everything, I’m still not 100% sure how this feature works. Tapping the Cashback Bonus in Wallet, there’s an option to Use Rewards… but this just launches the Discover app. Granted, I haven’t made an Apple Pay transaction using my Discover card since activating this feature, so perhaps that’s the problem.
Overall, I’m interested in this capability and getting it to actually work for me. So, I’ll be sure to give this article an update once I figure it out.
UPDATE: I did figure it out. When using my Discover card via Apple Pay to reload my Starbucks card, I did indeed have the option to use my cashback rewards instead. That’s pretty cool — but I’m still unsure if you could select to use your rewards when making an in-person Apple Pay purchase. Maybe I’ll find out one day.
Even if you don’t plan on purchasing one of the new iPhone 16 devices, you may still want to update to iOS 18. While we wait for the arrival of Apple Intelligence, these small but useful financial features might still be worth the upgrade (which is free, by the way). So, whether you want a new way to access Apple Pay, send money without sharing personal info, or redeem your Discover cashback, iOS 18 has you covered.
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