Apple Pay Later expanding to retail employees as testing continues

Announced at WWDC 2022, Apple Pay Later is one of the features planned to launch during iOS 16’s lifecycle. Exclusive to the US, this function will bring a “seamless and secure way” to split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments spread over six weeks, with zero interest and no fees of any kind.

Last week, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said the company’s employees are beta testing this buy-now-pay-later feature. “It will be launching soon,” he said. Now, according to a report by Bloomberg, Apple has expanded its internal test to its thousands of retail employees. The publication says:

The tech giant contacted retail staffers this week to offer them a test version of the service, according to Apple workers who asked not to be identified. The offering, called Apple Pay Later, lets shoppers split the payment for purchases into installments. The company previously rolled out a test for corporate employees.

Bloomberg says Apple is also working on Apple Pay Monthly Installments, which will split up the cost of large transactions over several months with interest.

As we expect iOS 16.4 beta 1 to be announced sometime this week, this operating system could not only feature Apple Pay Later but new emoji and even the long-promised Apple Music Classical app.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman already touted in 2022 that this feature wouldn’t arrive until iOS 16.4 in the spring as Apple Pay Later had been facing “fairly significant technical and engineering challenges.”

Here’s how Apple described this feature when it was introduced last year:

Apple Pay Later provides users in the US with a seamless and secure way to split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments spread over six weeks, with zero interest and no fees of any kind.

Built into Apple Wallet and designed with users’ financial health in mind, Apple Pay Later makes it easy to view, track, and repay Apple Pay Later payments within Wallet. Users can apply for Apple Pay Later when they are checking out with Apple Pay, or in Wallet.

Apple Pay Later is available everywhere Apple Pay is accepted online or in-app, using the Mastercard network.

BGR will let you know once iOS 16.4 beta 1 is out and every new feature available with this upcoming update for iPhone users.