Apple is set to make splitting group bills easier than ever with a major new feature coming to Apple Cash in iOS 27 and watchOS 27. According to Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman, the upcoming tool will let users simply photograph a receipt, assign individual items to different people, and automatically generate payment requests — all within the familiar Apple Cash ecosystem.
This marks the latest expansion of Apple’s push into everyday financial services. The feature directly challenges popular third-party apps like Splitwise, Venmo, and others by integrating seamless receipt scanning and item-level splitting right into iOS and watchOS. No more manual math or awkward “who owes what” conversations after dinner — just snap, assign, and send.
How It’s Expected to Work
• Photograph a Receipt: Use the iPhone or Apple Watch camera to capture the bill.
• Assign Items: Tap or select items on the digitized receipt and assign them to specific participants (including tax and tip distribution).
• Generate Requests: Apple Cash will calculate shares and send personalized payment requests via Messages or directly through the Wallet app.
• Cross-Device Support: Deep integration with both iOS 27 on iPhone and watchOS 27 on Apple Watch for on-the-go convenience.
The move builds on Apple’s growing financial toolkit, which already includes Apple Pay, Apple Card, and Apple Cash peer-to-peer payments. By adding intelligent receipt parsing (likely powered by on-device AI and vision capabilities introduced in recent iOS updates), Apple is positioning Apple Cash as a more comprehensive daily money management tool.
While details are still under wraps and the feature is in development (per people familiar with the plans, according to Gurman), it’s expected to debut alongside other iOS 27 enhancements later this year. This could be particularly popular for families, roommates, group outings, and business expense sharing.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple has been steadily expanding its services revenue, and any features increase engagement with Apple Cash could drive further growth in transaction volume and user stickiness within the ecosystem.
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