Apple plans to offer a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service in its new operating system iOS 16.
Apple Pay Later allows users in the US, to spread the purchase cost into four equal payments over six weeks without any interest or fees.
It is part of a new range of iPhone features that includes the ability to edit iMessages, and a feature to assist people in abusive relationships.
These features were revealed at WWDC, the annual developer’s conference of the firm.
BNPL services, which are not currently regulated in the UK, have been criticised because of the way they’re used by low-income individuals.
Panorama reported December 2021 that 15 million people in the UK were using BNPL. The main providers of the service are Clearpay, Laybuy, Klarna and PayPal.
After Citizens Advice discovered that 1 in 12 people use BNPL services for essentials like food and toiletries, concerns have been raised about whether they are relying too heavily on it.
Citizens Advice reported that young people, people with debt and people claiming Universal Credit were twice as likely to use BNPL for basic costs than any other group.
Apple has been approached by the BBC to comment on whether its BNPL service will be available in the UK.
iOS 16 will be available in Autumn and offer a variety of new features for the iPhone.
Users will be able to change the background image and lock screen on their iPhones.
It will be possible to adjust the clock’s lock and add widgets that show information such as weather and activity rings. This is also possible with Apple Watch.
You will be able to choose from different lock screens that have different functions, such as a lock screen that allows you to exercise and one with activity monitors.
Other notable announcements include the ability edit and “unsend” iMessages sent via Apple’s Messages app and the introduction of Safety Check, which Apple calls a feature.
Safety Check, it says, is designed to “protect individuals from abusive relationships”. It gives users the ability to quickly view and remove any permissions granted to another person’s phone.
This includes the ability to remove password access from other people, and Find My Phone.
Apple stated that this included an “emergency reset”, which allowed users to sign out from iCloud on all their devices and allowed only one device to send or receive messages.
Apple’s new feature has received praise online, with one person saying that it “will help so many people” and the director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation calling the feature a “good idea for survivors of intimate partner abuse”.
