Apple is rumored to be working directly with financial institutions like Wells Fargo to show current bank balances in the iPhone Wallet app.
- According to the source, Apple is rumored to be developing a feature that will display your current balances across multiple banks in the Wallet app.
- Apple will interact directly with banks rather than using open banking APIs.
- This will bring the Wallet app closer to replacing your banking app.
Bank balances can go to the Apple Wallet app
Details about the alleged feature have been leaked via the @analyst941 Twitter account. While this particular analyst does not have an established track record, they accurately predicted the Dynamic Island feature and how it would perform months before the iPhone 14 Pro was announced in September 2022.
“Apple is working with multiple banking partners to include your current balances from multiple sources, all within the Wallet app,” the tipster wrote. The Cupertino giant is expected to debut the feature in the future with limited initial support because only Wells Faro and Bank of America are “on board for the tasting.”
This will be a slow rollout with 1v1 banks with only WF and BoA on board for tastings.
— 941 (@analyst941) April 13, 2023
Our opinion: it will happen
This is very similar to how Apple works. It first gets support from one or two big partners for a particular feature, encouraging competitors to eventually join the winning bidder, especially when Apple ramps up advertising for that feature.
Additional integrations may follow if the company is actually working on the feature. As a result, the Wallet app may eventually replace your banking apps.
It is not yet clear when the display of bank balances in the Wallet app may appear. The source claims that the feature will come in later 17.x updates, so it might not be ready for the fall launch of iOS 17.0. In fact, you may need to “wait until iOS 18″or “even later”.
But rest assured that “it’s coming,”the source wrote.
How about open banking?
In fintech, open banking means providing third-party applications and services with secure access to banking transactions and other data of financial institutions. Countries around the world use several different services and APIs that enable interaction between financial institutions and third parties.
For example, in the European Union, the United States and other countries, customers can integrate their bank accounts between banks.
The source claims that “Apple will not implement this.”
Instead, they continued, Apple will use its own technologies to work closely with banks, allowing the Wallet app to interact with your bank’s systems directly rather than through a third party.
“It will be Apple for the bank, not Apple → 3rd party → bank,” another tweet read.
New wallet features in iOS 16
iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura let you securely share your car, hotel room, and other digital keys in the Wallet app. The more important news is that these software updates have also added digital identities to the Wallet app.
This feature is only available in some US states, but will eventually be rolled out to all states (and beyond). The digital version of your state-issued ID in the Wallet app allows you to securely share your identity with apps and websites.
The Wallet app can also track your orders (and provides an order tracking widget for the lock screen) for Apple Pay purchases. In addition, you can now fund your Apple ID account with your Apple Account Card in the Wallet app.
The Apple website has more information about other improvements in the iOS 16 wallet.