Apple is planning a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service as part of its new iOS 16 operating system.
Apple Pay Later allows US users to spread the cost of a purchase across four payments over six weeks without paying interest or fees.
It’s part of a slew of new iPhone features, including the ability to edit iMessages and a feature designed to help those in abusive relationships.
The features were unveiled at WWDC, the company’s annual developer conference.
BNPL services – which are currently unregulated in the UK – have been criticized for the way they are used by low-income groups.
Panorama reported in December 2021 that an estimated 15 million adults of all ages in the UK are actively using BNPL, with the main operators offering the service in the UK being Klarna, Clearpay, Laybuy and PayPal.
Concerns were raised over people relying on it too much after Citizens Advice found in March that one in 12 use BNPL services to cover essentials like groceries and toiletries.
Citizens Advice also said young people, people in debt and people claiming Universal Credit were at least twice as likely to use BNPL for these basic expenses than other groups.
The BBC has reached out to Apple for comment on whether it intends to bring its BNPL service to the UK.
The new version of iOS 16, which is due to be released in the fall, will bring a number of additional functions to the iPhone.
The iPhone lock screen is undergoing major changes as users can now do more than just change the wallpaper.
It will be possible to change the watch lock and introduce widgets to display information about the weather, the user’s activity rings and more, as is currently possible on the Apple Watch.
This will also introduce the ability to choose between different lock screens with different features – for example a lock screen for working out with activity monitors.
Other major announcements include the ability to edit and “unsend” iMessages sent using Apple’s Messages app, and the introduction of a feature Apple calls Safety Check.
It says Safety Check is designed to “protect people in abusive relationships” by giving users the ability to view and quickly remove any permissions granted to someone else on their phone.
This includes removing other people’s access to passwords, as well as Find My Phone.
Apple said this also included an “emergency reset” that allowed users to sign out of iCloud on all devices and only allowed one device to send and receive messages.
Apple was praised online for this feature, with one person saying it was “will help so many people‘, and the Director of Cybersecurity for the Electronic Frontier Foundation called it a ‘good thing for intimate partner abuse survivors’.
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