Apple Card Family is live, and it's incredibly easy to add someone to your account

Last month, Apple announced several notable updates to the Apple Card, including an option to easily add authorized users to your account. Best yet, you can share your credit history with individuals you choose to add, so they can build credit without having an account of their own.

The information for the Apple Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

With the company's latest addition, Apple Card Family, the primary account holder can share their card account with up to five other people who are 13 years or older and members of the same Family Sharing group.

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This new feature became available on Monday, so I updated my iPhone to iOS 14.6, as required, and added my mom to see how the process works.

After my mom and I both updated our iPhones to the latest software version, I opened my Apple Card in the Wallet app, clicked the settings option in the top-right corner and tapped to "Share My Card."

Already on my Family Sharing group, my mom appeared as an eligible user right away. Once I tapped her name, I could opt to add her as a co-owner or participant — I chose the latter since co-owners will be prompted to merge their existing Apple Card account with your own, or open a new account if they don't already have one.

Next, the app had me select a pre-defined transaction limit amount — $25, $50, $100, $250 or "no limit."

I opted for the lowest amount and clicked to submit. Her invitation arrived right away.

My mom was prompted to enter her social security number on her own device, so she never had to provide it to me. She was also given the option to request a free physical card to be shipped to the address on her iCloud account, which is due to arrive in between six and eight days.

Related: Apple Card Family makes it easy to help kids, family members build credit

Once she was done, I immediately had the option to adjust her transaction limit, register for notifications, or lock or remove her account.

While the initial screen only offers pre-set transaction limit amounts, you can enter any amount you wish after you add a participant to your account. The app allowed me to go beyond my own credit limit, though I imagine a transaction much higher than that amount would likely be declined.

Bottom line

While I don't have any immediate need for Apple Card Family, it's certainly helpful to have an easy option to add authorized users to your account — and help family members easily build their credit in the process.

Plus, as someone who's had to spend much of the past few days calling around to various airline and hotel reservations lines to make changes to an upcoming trip, I have to say that being able to manage my account entirely from the Wallet app is a much-welcome change of pace.

While the card's rewards structure leaves a lot to be desired, especially for anyone looking to earn free flights and hotel stays, Apple has clearly hit a home run on the technology front.

Featured rendering courtesy of Apple