Dive Brief:

• Apple, the world's most valuable public company, has added the ability for users of its iOS software to make recurring payments via Apple Cash, its own digital card. The company had announced the feature on its website in June.
• The latest version of Apple's iPhone software, iOS 17, became available yesterday for public beta testing, according to 9to5Mac, an online media outlet that follows Apple. It allows users to send money via Apple’s messaging platform iMessage on weekly, bi-weekly and monthly intervals.
• The update will make it “even easier for parents to pay allowances or for users to pay back friends and family for regularly shared expenses, such as rent payments,” said Apple spokesperson Alyssa Hayes in an email.

Dive Insight:

Apple has been steadily expanding its financial offerings in 2023. In March, it debuted a buy now, pay later service called Apple Pay Later. Then a month later, it added a high-yield savings account backed by investment bank Goldman Sachs. 

The moves are part of a push to expand the company’s revenue by providing services, according to Bloomberg. That share was just 8% roughly a decade ago. Last year, services accounted for nearly 20% of Apple’s revenue, according to the outlet. The sale of products, including its iPhone and iPad, make up the bulk of its revenue.

But all is not well inside Apple's carefully curated software and hardware ecosystem. After just three months of backing Apple’s saving account, Goldman Sachs is reportedly seeking to offload it — and Apple's credit card — to credit card giant American Express.

iOS 17 is expected to be released to all iOS users sometime in mid-September, according to 9to5Mac.