Apple Cash and Apple Payments Inc. & Privacy
- June 7, 2024
- Apple
Table of Contents
Apple Cash and Apple Payments Inc. & Privacy
Apple Cash is designed to help you send and receive money in a secure and private way.
- Apple created Apple Payments Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, to protect your privacy by processing information about your Apple Cash transactions separately from the rest of Apple.
- When you use Apple Cash in apps and on the web, information necessary to process the payment is shared with the app or website. Your actual Apple Cash account number isn’t shared with the merchant.
- Apple Cash data that can no longer be tied to you may be retained for a limited period of time to generally improve Apple Pay and other Apple products and services.
Apple Cash allows you to send and receive money from other people in Messages and receive disbursements from and make direct payments to eligible businesses.
Making Person to Person Payments and Using Apple Cash (United States Only)
Apple Cash allows you to send and receive money from other people in Messages. When you receive money, it’s added to your Apple Cash card that can be used to make purchases using Apple Pay in stores, in apps, and on the web. Person to person payments and the Apple Cash account are services provided by Apple’s partner bank, Green Dot Bank.
Setting Up Apple Cash
When you set up Apple Cash, the same information as when you add a credit or debit card may be shared with Green Dot Bank and with Apple Payments Inc.
Apple created Apple Payments Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary and licensed money transmitter, to protect your privacy by storing and processing your personal information separately from the rest of Apple and in a way that the rest of Apple doesn’t know. Your personal information stored with Apple Payments Inc. is used only to provide you services that you request, for troubleshooting, regulatory purposes, and to prevent fraud for Apple Cash.
In addition, Apple Inc. will know if you have enabled Apple Cash, or used Apple Cash services. This information will be used only to help you discover and use Apple Pay features.
Verifying Your Identity
You may be asked to provide information, including your name, address, and social security number, to the bank and their identity verification service provider to verify your identity and to comply with banking regulations. Information you provide to verify your identity will be used only for fraud prevention and to comply with United States financial regulations. Your name and address are securely stored by the partner bank and Apple Payments Inc. If needed to verify your identity, you may be asked to provide additional information, such as date of birth, answers to questions (for example, confirming a street name you have previously lived on), or a copy of your government ID. This additional information cannot be read by Apple Inc.
Information Shared When You Use Apple Cash
When you use Apple Cash, including when you add money or transfer money to a bank account, our partner bank, Apple Inc., and Apple Payments Inc. may use and store information about you, your device, and your bank account in order to process the transaction, prevent fraud, and comply with financial regulations. This information is similar to that processed when you add a credit or debit card, but does not include the location of your device. We may also share information with Apple Inc. to help provide you with support.
Apple Payments Inc. will store and use your transaction data for troubleshooting, to prevent fraud, and to comply with financial regulations once a transaction is completed. The rest of Apple doesn’t know who you sent money to, received money from, or where you made a purchase with your Apple Cash card.
To assist Apple Payments Inc. in preventing fraud when you are using Apple Cash to send, request, and receive money, Apple Inc. may provide it with approximate use patterns from your device about how frequently you communicate with that person by phone, email, or in Messages. No content of your communication is collected. This information is stored for a limited time, and in such a way that it is not linked to you unless the transaction with which it is associated is determined to require further analysis due to suspicious activity. You can view which transactions required further analysis by going to your Apple Cash card transaction history.
When you transfer money to a bank account, your bank information, including account number and routing number, will be stored within iCloud Keychain to simplify future transfers. This information is encrypted and cannot be read by Apple Inc. or Apple Payments Inc.
Direct Payments and Disbursements
Apple Cash uses Apple Payments Inc. to allow participating businesses that you authorize to disburse funds directly to your Apple Cash account. Apple Payments Inc. also provides the Direct Payments Service, which allows you to use funds in your Apple Cash account to make payments to certain businesses that you authorize.
Information about disbursements you receive or direct payments that you make is used by Green Dot Bank and Apple Payments Inc. only to provide the service you have requested, to troubleshoot, to comply with applicable laws, and to prevent fraud for these transactions. Apple Payments Inc. retains transaction records, including transactions flagged as suspicious, as required by federal and state law for a period of up to five years.
Closing Your Apple Cash Account
If you close your Apple Cash account, information about the account, including transaction history, will be retained as required by law and for fraud prevention.
Apple Cash Family
When Family Sharing is enabled, a Family Organizer may allow family members under the age of 18, including those under the age of 13, to use Apple Cash. Apple will use information provided in the Apple Cash Family onboarding flow and share such information with Green Dot Bank to set up the child account. Information about the Apple Cash account will also be shared with Green Dot Bank to provide the account, prevent fraud, and comply with law.
Family Organizers may limit to whom a child may send money using Messages; anyone can send money to the child’s account. Apple will store the restriction to enforce the Family Organizer’s choices. The Family Organizer may view and change the Apple Cash child account settings at any time by tapping their Apple Cash card in Wallet, selecting Family Sharing Settings > Family Sharing
Apple Cash and tapping the child’s name.
Family Organizers, and parents and legal guardians will also be able to view the balance and full transaction history for a child account, including amounts, dates, and entities or persons transacted with. Additional transaction details may also be shown if available, such as descriptions provided in the memo field of a transaction in Messages. To view the child account transaction history, tap the Apple Cash card in Wallet, select Family Sharing Settings > Family Sharing > Apple Cash > [child’s name] > Transactions.
Children aged 13 and over may load funds onto their Apple Cash account. Any loading of funds will be visible to the account owner.
When a child turns 18, they can request to take ownership of their linked account and graduate it to a standalone Apple Cash account. Upon graduation, Family Organizers and parents or legal guardians will no longer be able to access the child’s account information or information about the child’s past or future Apple Cash transactions. The graduated account will continue to see information about transactions that occurred prior to graduation.
If the child leaves the Family, the linked child account will be closed, and information about the account will be handled as described above in Closing Your Apple Cash Account.
For information on Apple’s handling of children’s personal information, see the Apple Family Privacy Disclosure at www.apple.com/legal/privacy/parent- disclosure.
Other
You can learn more about how Green Dot Bank protects your personal information by reviewing their privacy policy at applepaycash.greendot.com/privacy.
At all times, information collected by Apple will be treated in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy.
Information about products not manufactured by Apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by Apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or use of third-party websites or products. Apple makes no representations regarding third-party website accuracy or reliability. Contact the vendor for additional information.
Published Date: April 26, 2021