Participant cannot add Apple Card to Wallet

I had this exact issue. I went from participant to co-owner and got the "invalid card" error. I was frustrated after speaking to Goldman Sachs and Apple and hearing "everything looks fine" so I just messed around until I was able to fix the issue myself.

Here's what I did (among other things that didn't work)....

1. I went in to my Watch app and removed the old "participant" card info from it. I made sure none of the other devices associated with my Apple ID had any old card information on them as well. 

2. I signed out of our family Apple ID (used for media and purchases) which has the co-owners Apple Card linked to it.

3. I signed out of iCloud entirely on my Apple ID. 

After doing those three things, I went back into the Wallet app. When I tried to add a card, it directed me to sign in to iCloud with my Apple ID. Once I did that, the new Apple Card (along with all the cards that were previously in my wallet) were listed as options to add to my wallet and it allowed me to add them all. I did have to re-enter some card information for each non-Apple card (verify cvv and exp dates) and it directed me to the card issuers to verify, so it makes me think that signing entirely out of iCloud revoked all previous privileges. That may be the key as perhaps some old info is remaining on the backend and it just needs a clean slate.

Note - I had previously selected to sign out of iCloud and it still gave me the same error. But I don't think I was truly signed out for some reason. There should be a very noticeable difference with your phone when you are signed out entirely. All the info should disappear from your Wallet app, for one thing. So make sure when you open the Wallet app it looks like you are using it for the first time.

Hi, to the best of my knowledge the issues with adding an Apple Card to the Wallet App on the iPhone are isolated and uncommon.

Here are some common issues that have helped other community members resolve their issues,

1. all iPhones must be iOS 14.6 or higher
2. turn off VPN
3. log out and in to your Apple ID
4. ask Participants and/or Co-owner to log out and into their Apple ID
5. make sure you and participants are currently in US.
6. make sure Participants and Co-owner has Apple Cash setup in Wallet App
7. Family Group members should update their age in Apple ID. >> https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204164
8. Participant must be using same Apple ID they use for Family Sharing Group
9. Two factor authentication must be turned on
10. Restart iPhone after performing any of the above

If you can let us know what steps above you’ve tried, we may be able to provide additional solutions.

I hope this helps.

What my issue was resolved as of August 31, 2021. The problem for me was a technical issue with Goldman Sachs. After calling a couple times they escalated a ticket I got a call back, then that was escalated to a more technical team. It took about 10 to 15 days from the time the ticket was filedg I wasn’t contacted but I attempted again to add my card and it finally worked.

If it’s absolutely imperative to add the function you could try a restore on her iPhone. This will effectively reset the phone as if it was brand new.

The basic steps are,

1) Backup iPhone to computer or iCloud

2) Turn off find my iPhone

3) Restore iPhone

4) Update iOS to 14.6

5) Log in to daughters Apple ID

6) Add her Apple Card - setup reporting

7) Restore her data from iCloud or computer

8) Verify Apple Card account is setup as she wants.

Here is the Apple Support article that covers restoring iPhone,

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201252

It’s a fair amount of work, but would be the fix if your theory is correct.

1. I made sure I was on latest OS.

2. I have changed the region, then back to U.S.

3. Signed out of My Apple ID, then singed back in

4. Restarted phone

5. I turned off purchase sharing in Family sharing and tried to add card

6. Made sure my personal info was correct

Thank you, yes, we've tried all those steps and meet all the qualifications, versions, US location, etc. The issue only affects my daughter after being removed and re-added. The problem was her original participant invite didn't have the SSN step, and did not enable participant credit reporting. We started our family group on the Apple Card early in May, apparently too early. When we realized she did not have credit reporting going, we followed this Apple Support Article HT212271 - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212271 - which states to either:

1. opt-in to credit reporting when accepting invitation (which did not present itself), or
2. Call Goldman Sachs: 877-255-5923

We called Goldman Sachs, over the past 4 weeks we've spent several hours on the phone with them and Apple Support. Eventually Goldman Sachs said Article HT212271 is wrong and they can't add a participant to credit reporting after they've accepted. And I'm like, "really? then what about all the kids who are added when they're 13-17, the moment they turn 18 they have to remove their current Apple Card, destroy the titanium card, and re-add themselves to the same family account just so they can enter their SSN and opt-in to credit reporting?" They said, "YES."

So we tried that, six times now, and every single attempt to re-add has failed. It shows successful on my phone, and if she tries to add another credit/debit card it immediately offers the Apple Card with my credit limit on it, but fails to complete.

I'm certain this is only a bug when trying to re-add someone to the same family after they've already been on that family Apple Card - the iOS software is leaving an artifact in the config, and causing the new Apple Card to think there's a conflict, that there's already an Apple Card in the Wallet, and it then fails to complete the add step.

The very last 45 minute phone call with Goldman Sachs ended up with them transferring me to an Apple Tech, who then spent another 15 minutes insisting that it is a Goldman Sachs problem with the card... But from my perspective, the card is getting issued correctly, heck, I can even accept the "Do you want to receive a physical titanium card in the mail?" option after it fails to add to the wallet - and it will send one!

At this point I'm hoping the next 14.6.1 or whatever iOS update fixes the bug and we can re-add her to the card cleanly.

Hi DamaraA,

I’ve helped dozens of community members get their cards added to their Wallet App. I’ve also helped in person probably ½ a dozen people locally resolve this issue or similar. I live in a fairly large metropolitan area and do a lot of Apple support locally.

This even included resolving this issue for my wife. Her issue was resolved when I removed her Apple Cash card and then added it back and added money to her account. Once I got her Apple Cash fixed, her Apple Card went right in.

Part of the complexity of the issue is that not being able to add the Apple Card is only a symptom. The root cause can be any one or combination of about 10 or more issues. These can range from incorrect personal information, not updating iOS to FedEx not showing the card was delivered.

The bottom line is Apple and Goldman Sachs are working on a fix, but this can take time while they determine the exact cause(s) for each support ticket.

However, I would strongly urge you to talk to both Goldman Sachs support team and Apple support. This will establish your support case and insure that a fix for your issue(s) is in the works and given a priority.

Hi, please make sure you iPhone is updated to the lastert version, iOS 14.7.1

A hard reset can’t hurt and just takes a minute or two. Worth a try. There was a post in the community here a week or two ago and the person needed to do a restore of their iPhone to iOS 14 and then update to 14.6. A lot of work and be sure to backup your iPhone first.

There was also a post several weeks ago where the person had to update other all there devices to 14.6. They had one on a lower iOS and it wouldn’t work. Not sure how accurate that is.

Have you tried reaching out to Apple Support (not Apple Card Support)? Try call 1-800-MY-APPLE and getting support to escalate your issue.

Hi, have you tried a hard reset of your iPhone? Are you behind a VPN, are you in the US? What iOS are you on?

Now that the outage is over I think restarting, logging in and out and a hard reset might do the trick. Please let us know if you get it working.

Hi, I’m running into the same issue. My fiancée added me as a participant. The card doesn’t show up in the wallet app on my phone. It shows up in the list of cards to add, but get the invalid card message after entering my Apple ID password.

The weird thing is that it shows just fine in the wallet on my iPad. The card is there, but not on my iPhone.

Hi, the unable to add card was my wife’s issue and I resolved it through trial and error. But she was never a Participant. I added her directly as a Co-owner, but couldn’t add the virtual card to the Wallet, so I couldn’t request the physical card for her. I didn’t involve either Apple or GS.

Im a former Apple Store Manager and have always been good at analyzing issues and figuring out how to resolve the issues. I do this stuff now for fun.

There will be a new iOS for iPhones and iPads in a few weeks probably. I’ve been beta testing the new iOS since June and reporting bugs to Apple.

Another approach people could take is to update their iPhones iOS to the Public Beta available here,

https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/

This is not necessarily for the average iPhone user. But you do get to test drive the new software. The fix to this issue may be contained in the beta. This is not something Apple Support or GS Support would ever recommend.

Using any beta software has risks and can result in loss of data or worse. Apple Support will not help if beta software is involved. Downgrading off the beta software is not easy and Apple Support will not be able to help.

This is a personal opinion and I think the fix for this issue >> may << be contained in iOS 15 when it’s released.

I’m always willing to help.