Here’s How to Add Money to Apple Pay Cash or Change Linked Bank Card

Want to add money to your Apple Pay Cash account, or change the card it uses for payments? Read on to learn how to do both.

Apple Pay Cash is Apple’s new electronic payment system introduced in iOS 11.2. You can use it to send and receive money in the Messages app. The service links to your bank debit card to cover charges that exceed whatever is in your Apple Pay Cash account. During beta testing you could link a credit card, too, but that doesn’t seem to be possible in the public release.

Add Money to Apple Pay Cash Account

You can load money into your Apple Pay Cash account to use for payments when sending money in the Messages app. Here’s what to do:

• Open the Wallet app on your iPhone, or go to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay on your iPad


• Tap your Apple Pay Cash card. iPhone users need to tap the Info button after tapping on their card.


• Choose Add Money


• Tap Add


• Choose how much money you want to add to your card. The minimun amount is US$10.

Tap the Info button (left) to add cash to your card (right)

How to Change the Bank Card Linked to Apple Pay Cash

If there isn’t enough money in your Apple Pay Cash account to cover a transaction your bank card kicks in to cover the rest. You’re better off using a debit card to avoid the standard 3% fee you’ll pay with a credit card. Right now debit cards appear to be the only option. Here’s how to see, and change, which bank card is linked to your Apple Pay Cash card:

• Start as if you’re adding money to your Apple Pay Cash card


• After you set an amount to add to your card tap Add


• Now you’ll see which card is linked to your Apple Pay Cash card. If that isn’t the card you want to use, tap it to see a list of available cards.


• Select the card you want to use from the cards linked to your Apple Pay account


• Tap Back

Wallet showing your default Apple Pay Cash card (left) and alternate card choices (right)

Just because you have more than one card linked to Apple Pay doesn’t mean you can use any of them with Apple Pay Cash. My debit card, for example, showed up as a valid Apple Pay Cash option, but none of my credit cards did. I also didn’t see my Apple Store gift card as an option, so it looks like buying gift cards at a discount to get free money is right out.

Want to learn more about setting up and using Apple Pay Cash? Check out TMO’s in depth how-to.

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