Apple Card on track to launch in the first half of August

Update 07/30/19: During its Q3 2019 earnings call on Tuesday, July 30, Tim Cook confirmed that Apple Card is slated for an August release.

Ever since the  iOS 12.4 beta began back in May, we’ve been waiting for the promised “summer” release of Apple Card. During testing, the iOS 12.4 update appeared to show no new features, and it was assumed to be made in preparation for the release of Apple’s credit card. On July 22 iOS 12.4 was released, with no Apple Card in sight.

A new report from Mark Gurman and Julie Verhage at Bloomberg now claims that the update does indeed contain the necessary code to support Apple Card, and that launch is coming in the first half of August—anywhere from one to three weeks from now.

iPhone users will be able to sign up for Apple Card within the Wallet app, and should be able to start using it within minutes. While the card, issued by Goldman Sachs and running on the MasterCard network, is in many ways a fairly standard cash-back card, it has a number of interesting and unique software and privacy features. You can read more about it in our Apple Card FAQ.

According to the Bloomberg article, the project is split between the two companies in ways you might expect:

Apple designed the card and will handle its software interface for iPhones. Goldman Sachs is responsible for the underlying infrastructure, managing payment disputes, handling transaction data and collating information for monthly statements.

Goldman Sachs currently has dozens of people working on the product out of its Manhattan headquarters, plus other dedicated employees in satellite offices, said the people. The Apple side of the project is managed by the company’s Apple Pay and Wallet app teams.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing. The Bloomberg article says that Apple’s feathers got ruffled just a couple months ago: “At the time, Apple informed the bank that it was unhappy with some of the card’s mechanics and asked for changes. The pressure mounted on Goldman Sachs staffers as the card neared its planned launch date.”

Apple hadn’t said anything about Apple Card since its introduction in March, but Tim Cook confirmed that it is slated for an August release in the company’s Q3 2019 earnings call on July 30.