Technologies

Apple Pay Later Rolls Out on iPhones. Here’s What It Means for You

Select users can now quickly finance purchases up to $1,000.

Apple has thrown its hat into the buy now, pay later ring. Its long-awaited Apple Pay Later service was «prereleased» this week, but only for «select users.»

Originally, Apple Pay Later was supposed to roll out at the end of 2022, after it was announced at Apple’s WWDC event last year. However, the product’s launch was delayed due to «significant technical and engineering challenges,» per Bloomberg.

Apple’s new payment service comes at a time when many retailers are accepting payments from BNPL apps such as Affirm, Klarna and Afterpay. Here’s what you need to know about the payment plan, how it works and when it will be open to all iPhone users.

For more on iPhones, learn all the cool new features in iOS 16.4 and 22 iPhone settings you should change right now.

How do I use Apple Pay Later?

Apple Pay Later lets you break the cost of purchases into four equal payments spread over six weeks. The first payment is due when you make your purchase, and the remaining payments are due every two weeks after that.

Once Apple Pay Later is set up on your phone, you have two options when completing a purchase: Pay in Full and Pay Later. Selecting the latter option will bring up a payment schedule displaying the amount of each of the four payments and when they’ll be due.

Stores and merchants don’t have to implement any changes in order to accept payments through Apple Pay Later. Transactions occur as they did before — the only difference will lie in how back-end payments are made. Apple Pay Later will work with any merchants who accept Apple Pay.

MasterCard Installments, the credit card company’s white-label BNPL service, is providing the merchant payments for Apple Pay Later. Apple has created its own financial subsidiary — Apple Financing — that handles loan approvals and credit checks. Banking partner Goldman Sachs is the official loan issuer.

Payments for Apple Pay Later must be made with a debit card; you can’t use a credit card. You can set up automatic payments or make additional payments at any time. Each BNPL purchase will be reviewed and approved or rejected using a soft credit check.

Apple Pay Later has no plan to charge fees for late payments, though it may use late payments as an excuse to reject future BNPL loans. The minimum purchase for Apple Pay Later is $50; the maximum is $1,000.

When can I use Apple Pay Later on my iPhone?

If you’re one of the «select users» to receive an invite from Apple, you can start using Apple Pay Later now. For the rest of us, based on the wording in Apple’s press release, Apple Pay Later will likely be enabled for all Apple Wallet users in a future update to iOS.

Apple has already released four point upgrades since iOS 16 launched in September 2022. The first update — iOS 16.1 — came in October 2022; the second — iOS 16.2 in December 2022; the third — iOS 16.3 — in January 2023; and the fourth — iOS 16.4 — in March 2023.

Based on that bimonthly release schedule, all Apple Wallet users can probably expect access to Apple Pay Later some time in May 2023.

How is Apple Pay Later different from Apple Card Monthly Installments?

Apple Card Monthly Installments is an Apple program that lets you finance the purchase of certain Apple products when using the Apple Card credit card. The length of the 0% APR period for these purchases depends on the product. Installment plans range from six months to two years.

Apple Pay Later isn’t restricted to Apple products, nor does it require the use of the Apple Card. With Apple Pay Later, you can finance any purchases from $50 to $1,000 using a debit card, as long as it’s connected to Apple Wallet. Also, the interest-free installment period for Apple Pay Later — six weeks — is much shorter than the payment plans offered by Apple Card Monthly Installments.

What other Apple Wallet features were added in iOS 16?

One new Apple Wallet feature that launched with iOS 16 is Apple Pay Order Tracking, which adds the ability for merchants to provide detailed receipts and delivery statuses for purchased products to customers via Apple Wallet.

Apple also expanded support in Apple Wallet for driver’s licenses and identification cards. Following IDs from Colorado and Arizona, Apple Wallet plans to add support for 11 more states.

You can now digitize and store your driver’s license in Apple’s Wallet app.

Apple

These driver’s licenses can be used at select Transportation Security Agency checkpoints. They can also be shared with other apps that require identification, such as alcohol purchases through Uber Eats.

Apple Wallet has also added support for sharing keys for locations such as hotels, offices or automobiles. New features let users share keys with friends or associates using email, text messaging or other messaging apps.

What other online services let you buy now and pay later?

Some existing online payment systems provide buy now, pay later short-term financing similar to what Apple Pay Later is offering. PayPal’s Pay in 4 program works very much like Apple Pay Later, except that purchases are limited to between $300 and $1,500.

BNPL app Sezzle also uses a system of four payments over six weeks, but permits users to reschedule one payment for up to two weeks later at no cost and postpone further payments for an additional fee.

Other BNPL apps such as Affirm and Klarna offer interest-free installment plans for short periods, or longer installment plans that add a variable interest rate.

Technologies

Verizon’s Simple Mobile and Total Wireless Plans Expand International Features

If you frequently call or visit countries outside the US, these prepaid phone plan improvements could help your travel budget.

Travel patterns are changing, with more people in the US venturing outside the country and needing to stay connected. To accommodate this surge, Verizon is boosting the international options in its prepaid Simple Mobile and Total Wireless phone brands starting Aug. 28.

Most phone plans include options to call and text people in Canada and Mexico, along with some roaming options for US travelers. Depending on the plan, those options are extended to many other countries around the globe. But you often end up paying for a more expensive plan than you need in order to get the travel benefits.

Now, the Simple Mobile and Total Wireless brands are expanding their international options and increasing data allotments so you can travel using the plan you carry every day without the stress of finding local coverage.

See also: Make sure you have a good phone for traveling.

Simple Mobile changes

The Simple Mobile prepaid plans include an allotment of high-speed data before downshifting to slower unlimited data. Be sure to check the details for specific countries on the site. Here’s how they break down:

The $25 Unlimited plan includes 15GB of high-speed data (up from 3GB) and unlimited calling to more than 100 countries.
The $30 Unlimited plan includes 20GB of high-speed data (up from 5GB) and unlimited calling to more than 125 countries (up from 100 countries).
The $40 Unlimited plan includes 30GB of high-speed data (up from 15GB) and unlimited calling to more than 125 countries (up from 100 countries).
The $50 Unlimited World plan, formerly named the Truly Unlimited plan, includes unlimited high-speed data and unlimited calling to more than 200 countries (a doubling of the number of countries from before).
The $60 Unlimited World Plus plan, formerly the Truly Unlimited Plus plan, includes unlimited access to Verizon’s fastest network, 5G Ultra Wideband (where available) and unlimited high-speed data. It also doubles the number of countries with unlimited calling to over 200, and offers international roaming in more than 140 countries.

Total Wireless Plans

The top two Total Wireless plans, Total 5G Unlimited ($50 a month) and Total 5G Unlimited Plus ($60 a month), feature unlimited high-speed data, including 5G Ultra Wideband speeds.

As of Aug. 28, roaming coverage for those plans doubles to more than 30 countries and international calling to 180 countries.

The Total Base 5G Unlimited plan stays the same with unlimited high-speed data (but not 5G Ultra Wideband), international calling to more than 85 countries and texting to over 200 destinations and roaming in Canada and Mexico.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 20 #535

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Aug. 20, No. 535.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a tough one. It helps to know a little something about different currencies, but there was one on there that was completely new to me. If you need hints and answers for today’s Strands puzzle, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Mint condition

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: We’re in the money!

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

GULP, GLOB, LORE, DOLL, DOLE, DOLED, ROPE, ROPER, WALL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

EURO, PESO, DOLLAR, POUND, RAND, RUPEE, KWANZA

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is GLOBALCURRENCY. To find it, look for the G that’s four letters to the right on the very top row, and wind down.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Aug. 20

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 20.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword has a few challenging clues (4-Down threw me off), but it’s mostly OK. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.