When Chase revamped the Sapphire Preferred in June, most of the attention went to the headline changes.
The card’s annual Chase Travel hotel credit increased from $50 to $100. It added 3X points at gas stations and on EV charging, along with a credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS.
There were also significant drawbacks, including the loss of the annual 10 percent bonus points and a reduction in the value of transfers to World of Hyatt.
With all of that happening at once, I overlooked another new benefit hidden farther down the list: Sapphire Preferred cardholders can receive a complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year.
A Free Year Of Apple TV
Chase values the complimentary Apple TV subscription at $156. Cardholders must activate the benefit by December 31, 2026.
Activation is available through the Benefits & Rewards section of the Chase website or mobile app. From there, Chase sends you to Apple, where you connect the subscription to your Apple Account.
This isn’t a statement credit requiring you to pay with the card each month. Once everything is connected, Apple TV appears in your Apple subscriptions as being included with your Chase plan.
The benefit also complements one of the Sapphire Preferred’s existing bonus categories. The card earns 3X points on select streaming services, including several popular subscriptions. We’ve previously covered which streaming services qualify for the Sapphire Preferred’s 3X category.
What If You Already Subscribe?
This is where the benefit is more useful than many similar credit card offers.
If you subscribe to Apple TV directly through Apple, activating the Chase benefit will automatically suspend your existing paid subscription. If you later cancel the subscription provided through Chase, your previous Apple subscription will resume.
Chase also accounted for people who subscribe to Apple One, which bundles services such as Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and iCloud storage.
Instead of making the Apple TV benefit useless to those customers, Chase says eligible Apple One subscribers will receive an $8 monthly discount for 12 months after connecting the Apple Account used for their Apple One billing.
That isn’t the full $156 value that Chase assigns to the standalone subscription, but it still amounts to $96 over the year.
My Subscription Was Through T-Mobile
My situation was slightly different because I was receiving Apple TV through T-Mobile at a discounted price.
Since that subscription wasn’t billed directly by Apple, Chase couldn’t simply suspend it. I first had to remove the Apple TV benefit from my T-Mobile account.
After that, I returned to my Sapphire Preferred benefits, selected the Apple TV offer and connected my Apple Account. The process only took a few minutes once the T-Mobile subscription was out of the way.
Don’t Forget To Activate It
The Sapphire Preferred’s Apple TV benefit isn’t as attention-grabbing as a larger hotel credit or a new bonus category. It also isn’t a permanent annual benefit, at least based on the current terms.
However, a complimentary year of a service that normally costs $12.99 per month is meaningful, particularly on a card that still has a $95 annual fee.
Even existing Apple TV and Apple One subscribers may benefit, rather than being excluded because they already pay for an Apple service.
This was one of the quieter additions to the revamped Sapphire Preferred, but it may also be one of the easiest benefits to use. Just remember that enrollment isn’t automatic. Cardholders need to activate the offer by December 31, 2026.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
