Apple Card 3% Merchants: Latest Additions — Ace Hardware, Panera

The Apple Card's highest cash-back rate is available only on certain purchases when made through Apple Pay.
Sara Rathner
By Sara Rathner 
Updated
Edited by Kenley Young
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The Apple Card has added Ace Hardware to its list of merchants that offer 3% cash back through Apple Pay.

The 3% rate applies to purchases in the Ace Hardware app, on AceHardware.com and at participating stores nationwide. The cash back through the card — which accrues as Daily Cash — is in addition to the points customers receive from the Ace Rewards program.

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The Apple Card normally earns 2% back on purchases made with Apple Pay and 1% back on purchases with the physical card. But you earn 3% when you use Apple Pay at select merchants.

Ace Hardware is the first home improvement store to make the Apple Card's 3% roster, and it comes after a long lull. The last change was in August 2020, when Panera Bread was added as a 3%-back merchant.

Previously announced merchants:

  • Aug. 3, 2020: The first restaurant added to the 3% roster was Panera Bread. The 3% applies to transactions inside Panera stores, but also via the Panera app and on Panera.com. Online gift card purchases are not eligible.

  • June 29, 2020: Purchases with the card via Apple Pay at Exxon and Mobil gas stations earn 3% cash back. This rewards rate extends to fuel, car washes and convenience store purchases. The Apple Card with Apple Pay also works within the Exxon Mobil Rewards+ app, which itself allows customers to earn points toward future fuel savings. Those points are "stackable" with the 3% back that the credit card earns.

  • Nov. 25, 2019: Retailer Nike joined the list, meaning you can earn 3% cash back on purchases made with the Apple Card through Apple Pay in Nike stores, via Nike.com and on Nike apps. (Purchases at Nike-branded stores outside of the United States will not qualify for 3% back.)

  • Sept. 20, 2019: In-store T-Mobile purchases made with the Apple Card through Apple Pay will earn 3% cash back, as will bill payments and auto-pay online and in the T-Mobile app. The addition of this 3% category coincided with the release of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, although the offer applies to any purchase made at a T-Mobile location, regardless of equipment brand.

  • Sept. 13, 2019: Apple Card users earn 3% back on eligible Walgreens and Duane Reade purchases made via Apple Pay. This includes prescriptions, as well as purchases through the Walgreens app and on Walgreens.com.

  • Aug. 20, 2019: Uber and Uber Eats were added as 3% cash-back categories through Apple Pay. Those weren't listed among the Apple Card's bonus categories when the product was initially announced in March, but were included the day the card launched.

  • From the time the card debuted, all Apple purchases with Apple Pay have qualified for 3% cash back, including at physical Apple stores, within the App Store and for Apple services

Current Apple Card rewards categories

Rewards

Categories

3% cash back

• Apple Pay purchases made directly with Apple (including Apple stores, within the App Store and for Apple services).

Ace Hardware purchases via Apple Pay. This includes purchases in the Ace Hardware app, on AceHardware.com and at participating stores nationwide.

Exxon and Mobil gas station purchases via Apple Pay. This includes fuel, car washes and convenience store purchases.

Nike purchases via Apple Pay (in U.S. stores, on Nike.com and on Nike apps).

Panera purchases via Apple Pay.

• In-store T-Mobile purchases via Apple Pay.

Uber and Uber Eats purchases via Apple Pay.

Walgreens and Duane Reade purchases via Apple Pay.

2% cash back

All other purchases made via Apple Pay.

1% cash back

All purchases made with the physical Apple Card.

Note that you must request the physical Apple Card separately. It allows you to buy at retailers that don't accept Apple Pay, but typically only purchases made via Apple Pay are eligible for bonus rewards.

More about the Apple Card

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