Beware of this potential pitfall on the free Apple Card AirPods deal

Yesterday saw the launch of an unusually generous Apple Card promotion, which effectively offers new cardholders a free pair of AirPods Pro 3.

However, we’ve noted that the fine print means that claiming your free AirPods isn’t simple, and there’s one particular potential pitfall you should watch out for…

AirPods Pro 3

We observed this to be the most lucrative sign-up bonus ever for the card, but you need to pay close attention to the fine print.

This is by far the most lucrative sign-up bonus Apple Card has ever offered. The bonus is even more attractive because Apple Card has no annual fee (but) the excitement is slightly dampened by the tricky redemption method. You’ll need to make more than 10 purchases each month to get this $25 bonus daily cash credit.

Readers in the comments found it to be too complicated and also disappointing for existing cardholders.

A particular potential trap

While you may think it’s simple to reach the minimum of ten transactions per month if you use it as your primary card, Macmonde highlighted one potential way this could go wrong.

You will also need to watch out for multiple purchases from a single supplier that are consolidated into a single purchase. The App Store does this: Make multiple in-app purchases within a day or two, and your card will usually only be charged once. These bulk purchases only count as one transaction for this purpose.

Apple isn’t the only company doing this. I’ve also seen this happen with Amazon transactions, even if they weren’t made on the same day. There are probably other companies doing the same thing.

The key here seems to be keeping a close eye on your transactions in the app and aiming to comfortably exceed the minimum number in order to allow for those that are then combined.