Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/2020/07/03/apple-launches-an-apple-card-web-portal/
Apple has at last launched a Web portal for the Apple Card so you no longer need to rely on your iPhone to check your balance or pay your bill. But it doesn’t provide all the capabilities available in the Wallet app.
I just don’t get it. The Apple Card was designed to be a digital platform and not reliant on traditional methods. But people are so resistant to change they demand it be “just like every other credit card” on the planet. There are posts on the Apple Discussion Forums who want their statements sent to them by traditional U.S. mail. They want web access to their account so they can ‘manage’ their transactions.
In short, everything they demand can already be done on their iPhone but that’s not good enough. You know they have an iPhone because that’s how you apply for the card in the first place.
No, it’s not. Even the largest iPhone has a tiny screen compared to my 27" iMac and no real keyboard, and I’m loath to keep personal financial information on my iPhone so no Quicken and none of the spreadsheets I use to track various things (and although I do occasionally use Excel on my iPhone, it’s painful.)
Just because something’s the new hotness doesn’t mean it should throw out everything that comes before it. Apple could get away with that somewhat with hardware, where the advantages of the Mac, macOS, iDevices, and iOS were sufficient that people generally put up with (complained about, but put up with) having to buy new cables and adapters and peripherals every time they bought a new Mac or iDevice, but with credit cards, Apple has hundreds of competitors, no real strong advantage, and no locked in ecosystem. If they want strong adoption, they’re going to have to do a lot of the things that everyone else already does and consumers assume come with a credit card.
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I don’t think it hurts to have a website for the card. What are you supposed to do if you stop using an iPhone? Also, I manage my finances on my Mac, not my phone. If my phone is nearby, it’s no big deal to get the statement and send it over to the computer. But if it’s not, I’d rather just use the website, which I can do without leaving my chair, than go find my phone.
That said, I do understand your criticism of people’s resistance to change. If Apple/GS never snail mails statements, that’s perfectly fine with me. If someone insists on that “feature,” perhaps they shouldn’t get the Apple Card. They have plenty of other choices.
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Josh, you say you can download, but not export past statements. What’s the distinction between the two? Also, I can login to my card account on the web with only fingerprint access. Are you calling that two-factor authentication? ―Ken
I’m old school in that I refuse to link my checking and savings accounts to digital bill pay systems and write a proper check to pay my credit card balances off each month. That said I use the late Hardy Macia’s “PocketMoney” on both my iMac and my iDevices with PocketMoney Desktop (PMD) being my primary data entry and then sync the PocketMoney iOS (PMiOS) to it. I don’t have any actual account information like institution name and account number in either PMD or PMiOS. I would primarily prefer to mail a check to Goldman Sachs to pay off the monthly balance on an Apple Card. If that was never possible, then I’d probably upload the amount to a PayPal account and then pay the Apple Card balance using the PayPal account.
Although I usually prefer doing things on my Mac vs. doing the on my iPhone, I can’t see this as something I’d really use.
The one thing Apple could do IMHO to improve Apple Card is to allow me to enter a comment when I make a payment so that that comment would then show up on my bank statement along with the charge. Presently my bank statement just shows I paid to Apple Card, but I have no clue what for.
Does anyone out there use Mint such that they could comment on this new integration?
Yes, it’s as described in 9to5Mac. Easy to add with AppleID and 2FA. Only shows Balance, Available Credit, Total Credit, APR and Total Fees. No transactions.
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You can only download them as PDF, which you can’t import into anything. Every time I log in, it asks for an extra two-factor code sent to my iPhone or Mac, but you might bypass that with Touch ID in Safari.
I need to add to my earlier reply that I must verify login, including 2FA, each time Mint accesses the Apple Card site for updates. I don’t have to do that with any of my other financial account.
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