Key Takeaways
- Available only to Apple Card holders, Apple’s high-yield savings account offers a reasonable rate and is federally insured.
- You pay for Apple’s convenience with a notably lower APY compared to today’s best high-yield savings accounts.
- The Apple Card’s savings account works well for a small cash cushion, but for larger balances, higher-paying accounts can help your money grow faster.
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What Apple Card Savings Promises
If you’re a smartphone user in the U.S., there’s a better-than-50% chance that your device is an iPhone. If that’s the case, and you also have Apple’s (AAPL) credit card, you’re eligible to open Apple Card Savings—the high-yield savings account offered by the tech giant.
The Apple Savings account has no monthly fee or minimum balance requirements. Launched in 2023, it’s provided by Goldman Sachs and is federally insured for balances up to $250,000. At the time of launch, it paid 4.15%, but today’s rate is down to 3.65%.
You need to be an Apple Card holder to access this savings account. One feature of the credit card is the ability to earn cash back on your purchases, which Apple calls Daily Cash. Daily Cash can be redeemed anytime after the transaction posts to the credit card account, whereas many reward cards make cash back available only after your statement closes. To then redeem your earned cash, you can deposit the Daily Cash into an Apple Savings account so it will start earning interest.
Why This Matters for You
Apple Card Savings makes it fairly effortless for iPhone users to keep cash in one place and earn some interest along the way. But while the rate handily beats the national average, it trails the top high-yield savings accounts considerably—meaning your money could grow faster elsewhere.
How Apple Card Savings Stacks Up—And Where It Falls Short
Apple Card Savings’ annual percentage yield (APY) is more than nine times the national average of 0.40%. But its rate is far below top-tier savings accounts. In our daily ranking of the best high-yield savings accounts, 14 pay between 4.30% and 5.00% APY right now. For example, Varo Bank and AdelFi are offering 5.00%, Pibank pays 4.60%, and many others pay above 4.25%.
One reason it’s important to earn a competitive return is to help your money stay ahead of inflation. The latest Consumer Price Index, released in September for August prices, was 2.9%. If your savings account pays less than that, your money is effectively losing purchasing power over time.
Apple Card Savings currently beats inflation, but its APY may drift lower if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates further. Either way, many other accounts pay significantly more in interest, giving you a larger cushion above inflation and helping your savings better maintain value.
When Apple Card Savings May Still Make Sense
If you have an Apple Card and want an easy way to boost your savings, the Apple Card Savings account delivers on convenience. You can view and manage your Savings account in the Wallet app, alongside your Apple Card. And once you set up your Savings account, your Daily Cash is automatically deposited into Savings, so there are no follow-up steps to ensure your money goes to the right place. (Apple Cash or an external bank account can also fund your Savings account.)
For smaller balances, some users may feel this convenience outweighs the account’s lower APY. It’s an easy, integrated option for Apple Card holders who want to keep a modest savings cushion within the Wallet app. And though it pays less than the top high-yield accounts, it still offers a better rate than accounts from some other well-known banks:
- Ally Savings Account: 3.40% APY
- American Express High Yield Savings Account: 3.50% APY
- Capital One 360 Performance Savings: 3.40% APY
- Discover Online Savings Account: 3.40% APY
But if you’re holding a larger savings balance, convenience comes at a real cost. Even a small difference in APY can add up to hundreds of dollars in lost earnings over time. So for a significant savings balance, it’s worth moving your funds to a high-yield account that pays more and helps your money work harder.
Daily Rankings of the Best CDs and Savings Accounts
We update these rankings every business day to give you the best deposit rates available:
Important
Note that the “top rates” quoted here are the highest nationally available rates Investopedia has identified in its daily rate research on hundreds of banks and credit unions. This is much different than the national average, which includes all banks offering a CD with that term, including many large banks that pay a pittance in interest. Thus, the national averages are always quite low, while the top rates you can unearth by shopping around are often 5, 10, or even 15 times higher.
How We Find the Best Savings and CD Rates
Every business day, Investopedia tracks the rate data of more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs and savings accounts to customers nationwide and determines daily rankings of the top-paying accounts. To qualify for our lists, the institution must be federally insured (FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions), and the account’s minimum initial deposit must not exceed $25,000. It also cannot specify a maximum deposit amount that’s below $5,000.
Banks must be available in at least 40 states to qualify as nationally available. And while some credit unions require you to donate to a specific charity or association to become a member if you don’t meet other eligibility criteria (e.g., you don’t live in a certain area or work in a certain kind of job), we exclude credit unions whose donation requirement is $40 or more. For more about how we choose the best rates, read our full methodology.