Activating Apple’s new titanium Apple Card credit card uses a different process depending on which model iPhone you have. With Apple Card being rolled out to the public starting today, the company has posted multiple videos to YouTube showing users about the card. Two of them detail the activation process for the physical card itself once it arrives. It’s broken down by iPhone XS and XR, and then all of the older models capable of running iOS 12.4.
Activating Titanium Apple Card in iPhone XS and iPhone XR
Apple’s current generation of iPhone—iPhone XS/Max and iPhone XR—apparently have something in them designed to work with the titanium Apple Card. To activate your card with these devices, simply open the packaging your Apple Card ships in, wake up your phone, and then hold it near that open packaging. Its presence will be autodetected (similar to activating AirPods), and you’re good to go. Here’s the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdYXLUjwPhc
Activating Titanium Apple Card in iPhone X and Earlier iPhones
For older iPhones—including the previous generation iPhone X/Max—you’ll need to go through a couple of extra steps. You open your Apple Card packaging, open your iPhone, open the Wallet App, tap the Activation button that will be waiting for you if you’ve already been approved for an Apple Card, then hold it near the packaging.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrybAHup-Sc
It’s semi-interesting that we’ve been walking around with something prepped for Apple Card for months before Apple Card was even announced.