Apple Card
The most recommended of 5 credit cards
Recommended for 3% cash back and 0% installment plans on Apple purchases, plus privacy and fast transactions. Common caveat: weak rewards and limited use outside Apple Pay.
Recommended for 3% cash back and 0% installment plans on Apple purchases, plus privacy and fast transactions. Common caveat: weak rewards and limited use outside Apple Pay.
60 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 27
- criticize it
- 33
- approval share
- 45%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 3 years
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 27 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong cash back rewards
“3% cash back plus 0% APR installment on Apple product purchases is a nice double dip that most cards can't touch”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “Apple Card can also sometimes offer 3% like at Walgreens and you can also get 6 months of free Uber One.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “The Apple Card does 2% cash back which you can just transfer to your bank account.”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Capital One to buy fintech firm Brex in $5.15B deal” - Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card”
0% installment plans on Apple purchases
“I've used my Apple card to buy a few Apple devices and indeed with 0% interest.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “Sign up for Apple Card and you can purchase on a payment plan.”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: Are you still using your Vision Pro?” “the blissfully simple Apple Card payment plan”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “iPhone Upgrade Program” Transaction data kept private
“does not resell your granular transaction data to 3rd party brokers”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “They also kept transaction data more private than other cards”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “does not resell your purchase history to data brokers”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” Polished app and customer experience
“I love the customer UX, including the privacy from vendors part.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “they come with a pretty amazing customer support system”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “the application for it in Wallet is first rate”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “JPMorgan Chase Reaches a Deal to Take over the Apple Credit Card”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Weak rewards outside Apple Pay
“For everything where Apple Pay works, it's a great deal; for everything else, it's below average”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “If you care about earning cash back and points it's only a good card for buying Apple products.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” No card number for online use
“bad cashback, no printed number making it useless for e.g. hotel or airline card number confirmations at checkin”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “IIRC the card doesn't actually have a number anywhere, so if you ever need to enter it, you're out of luck.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” Hard to get disputes resolved
“Goldman, the bank operating Apple Card in the U.S., has previously refused to perform that block future debits process for me”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “YouTube locked my accounts and I can't cancel my subscription” “people have said it’s been very very hard to get Goldman Sachs to dispute a transaction”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” Few perks and Apple-only features
“it's very annoying to use outside of Apple ecosystem”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “Has none of the usual expected perks like rental car insurance or damage/theft protection on purchases.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card” “The only fully-functional interface for viewing statements and scheduling payments is on iPhone.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card”
Other credit cards people recommend
The four most recommended other credit cards, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple CardThis page | 27 | 33 | 45% | 6 | 3 yrs4 owners | — |
| American Express credit card | 20 | 25 | 44% | 11 | — | — |
| Discover it cashback credit card | 8 | 3 | 73% | 6 | — | — |
| Robinhood Gold Card | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Chase Sapphire credit card | 7 | 2 | 78% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 69 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the experience was perfectly frictionless and very Apple”
“was a PITA to deal with internationally”
“I clicked away anything about the Apple Card in Wallet and I just had it sitting right at the top”
“the blissfully simple Apple Card payment plan”
“Sign up for Apple Card and you can purchase on a payment plan.”
“why is this heavy titanium card one of the few that doesn't work on his tap reader as expected?”
“Apple is amusingly bad at it if you have the Apple Card and your wife has you shared on hers”
“the Apple Card is awesome. We have it & love it.”
“At least apple credit cards give you money for that”
“Goldman, the bank operating Apple Card in the U.S., has previously refused to perform that block future debits process for me”
“The Apple Card does 2% cash back which you can just transfer to your bank account.”
“IIRC the card doesn't actually have a number anywhere, so if you ever need to enter it, you're out of luck.”
“people have said it’s been very very hard to get Goldman Sachs to dispute a transaction”
“A nice feature of the Apple Card is the very fast processing of transactions.”
“The Apple Card would be pretty amazing in either market in my experience.”
“The only fully-functional interface for viewing statements and scheduling payments is on iPhone.”
“3% for $60 annual fee is not bad”
“it's very annoying to use outside of Apple ecosystem”
“Apple Card can also sometimes offer 3% like at Walgreens and you can also get 6 months of free Uber One.”
“does not resell your granular transaction data to 3rd party brokers”
“Has none of the usual expected perks like rental car insurance or damage/theft protection on purchases.”
“bad cashback, no printed number making it useless for e.g. hotel or airline card number confirmations at checkin”
“more than pays for itself with either the 3% IRA match or 1k free margin”
“does not resell your purchase history to data brokers”
“If you don't want to mess with points, its a great card.”
“the Apple Card's being that you have to use Apple Pay, which is still not available at many online merchants”
“For everything where Apple Pay works, it's a great deal; for everything else, it's below average”
“Apple had a promotion at the start of 2025 with 5% cash back on everything up to $50k.”
“they come with a pretty amazing customer support system”
“No I’ve been using them since 2020 and it’s fantastic”
“so they are fine with giving out the 2-3% "free money" for a lot of chances to collect 17-28% interest.”
“For the iPhone, the fine print says you (now) have to sign up with one of their pre-approved carriers.”
“I love the customer UX, including the privacy from vendors part.”
“I've used my Apple card to buy a few Apple devices and indeed with 0% interest.”
“3% cash back plus 0% APR installment on Apple product purchases is a nice double dip that most cards can't touch”
“Does the Apple one not? It shouldn't really affect you if you know what you're doing”
“If you care about earning cash back and points it's only a good card for buying Apple products.”
“Apple card with GS was amazing deal for people who didn't have prime credit.”
“They also kept transaction data more private than other cards”
“the application for it in Wallet is first rate”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.