One week with the revolutionary new Apple Card

Anabel Pasarow for REFINERY29:

I’ve been using my very own Apple Card since last week, and while I don’t yet have my physical card, I’m super impressed with the digital card (which is more beneficial to use than the physical card, anyway — more on this later). Ever since making it my default Apple Pay and Safari auto-fill card, I’ve been using it exclusively (well, except for places that don’t take Apple Pay), without having to whip out my wallet. And I’m here to tell you: it’s good.

My favorite feature by far is the Daily Cash, which sets Apple Card apart from some of its competitors by doing away with points altogether. Instead of complicated incentives or bonuses, there are three simple rewards tiers with Apple Card: You get 3% Daily Cash on all Apple purchases, 2% Daily Cash with every Apple Pay transaction, and 1% every time you use your physical card… You get Daily Cash every day, and you can use it whenever.

There’s something really satisfying about being able to see that cash amount so plainly (which, by the way, I can transfer into my external bank account, send via iMessage, or use to pay down my credit card bill at any time). I can also break down my transactions into spending categories or view them by merchant — which makes it really easy to view spending patterns. Plus, no more confusion around that mystery vendor on your credit card bill.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple and Goldman Sachs have a big winner on their hands here. Anecdotally, and via our own poll from a few weeks back, it looks like many really want to get their own Apple Card!