If you are using the Apple Cash service, the Cupertino giant is offering a new feature coming with iOS 17.4 that will help you purchase goods and services even without the Apple Pay option. This is with the new "Virtual Card Number" that will be generated uniquely for your account and now adds a card number users may utilize for transactions and payments.
Through this, users who are faced with limited payment options like Apple Pay not accepted by a certain merchant may use Apple Cash and their balance on it.
Apple Cash gets a Virtual Card Number with iOS 17.4
Apple
The latest feature discovered on the Apple Beta Software Program for iOS 17.4 now brings a new experience for the Apple Cash service, offering a virtual card number to use for applicable transactions. It is known that Apple Cash is a prepaid debit system but it can only be used to send money to contacts, bank transfers, or top up the balance on the Apple Card.
In this latest discovery, 9to5 Mac reported that iOS 17.4 beta users were offered a chance to set up their Virtual Card Number that would make Apple Cash available for different needs.
Users may use the virtual card numbers to setup up online payments like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and other retail stores, including the purchase of services like plane tickets, booking hotels, and more.
Before this, the Apple Cash service was an in-app feature only, but it cannot be used directly for transactions or payments. Through this new feature, users may now use it as a direct debit payment option with its dedicated virtual card number which is as good as a regular debut card.
It will also help users who are shopping online and find themselves not seeing any Apple Pay options to settle their bill, available via Safari AutoFill.
Apple Pay and iOS 17.4
Amidst the sweeping changes brought by the European Commission's Digital Markets Act, many are changing for Apple's operations in the EU region, with these centering on the iOS 17.4 update. It will offer certain features like allowing sideloading for the iOS platform, including the third-party payment channels offered to users, opting for one outside the App Store.
However, one of the biggest changes coming for Apple Pay is its exclusive access to the iPhone and Apple Watch's NFC hardware that allows contactless payments via the Wallet app. Soon, iOS 17.4 would also open up access to the device's NFC chip to third-party payment platforms to use directly, but would only be available in the EU to use for these companies.
Massive changes are coming to iOS 17.4 and this will bring everything that the company changed in adherence to the European Commission's DMA. However, not all features coming to iOS 17.4 would be exclusive to the EU, as certain features are coming to the US with Apple Cash's new virtual card number to use as a debit card for various transactions.
