Apple is seemingly preparing to officially rollout Apple Pay Later in the U.S. following an initial invite-only “prerelease” that started in March, with updates to the Apple Support webpage on Tuesday hinting that a full launch is imminent.
As noted by MacRumors, Apple removed the references to Apple Pay Later being an invite-only “prerelease” feature from all Apple Pay Later support documents on Tuesday ahead of the imminent launch of iOS 17.1, which is expected to rollout today.
Announced last year, Apple Pay Later will work similarly to other buy now, pay later services such as PayPal that let users spread the cost of purchases over a set period.
Users are able to track, manage, and repay their Apple Pay Later loans in one location in Apple Wallet. Users can apply for Apple Pay Later loans of $75 to $1,000, which can be used for online and in-app purchases made on iPhone and iPad with merchants that accept Apple Pay.
With Apple Pay Later, users will be able to pay in installments for in-store, online and in-app purchases, with all installment payments available to view in the Wallet app on iOS, allowing users to see their upcoming payments and remaining payment period.
Apple Pay Later is enabled through the Mastercard Installments program, so merchants that accept Apple Pay do not need to do anything to implement Apple Pay Later for their customers. When a merchant accepts Apple Pay, Apple Pay Later will be an option for their customers during checkout online and in apps on iPhone and iPad. Goldman Sachs is the issuer of the Mastercard payment credential used to complete Apple Pay Later purchases.