Your iPhone’s NFC chip is about to grow beyond Apple Wallet

Apple has confirmed third-party apps will be able to make use of the near field communications chip within the iPhone – outside of the current Apple Wallet and Apple Pay purview.

In an announcement today, Apple said it will enable apps outside of its own ecosystem to use NFC to complete in-store payments, scan reward/loyalty cards, open cars/hotel rooms, enter/exit transport turnstiles and ticketed events, use student/employee ID cards, and loads more.

Previously, this has been possible only by storing those cards/IDs, inside the Apple Wallet app. From iOS 18.1, Apple will enable these NFC connections to happen in-app.

While Apple is compelled to take this action under the EU’s Digital Market’s Act, the company is taking the action under its own volition in the UK, the United States and Canada.

Apple had previously cited security concerns over keeping the NFC chip closed, but the EU has decided this constituted anti-competitive behaviour. As such Apple has developed new APIs that protect the privacy of users while also giving developers access to the NFC chip.

Apple explains: “As users’ security and privacy is of the utmost importance to Apple, this new solution was designed to provide developers with a secure way to offer NFC contactless transactions from within their iOS apps.

“The NFC and SE APIs leverage the Secure Element — an industry-standard, certified chip designed to store sensitive information securely on device. Apple has dedicated significant resources to design a solution that protects users’ security and privacy, leveraging a number of Apple’s proprietary hardware and software technologies when making a contactless transaction, including the Secure Enclave, biometric authentication, and Apple servers.”

The change is likely to be a small one, as far as users are concerned. Most of us are used to opening the Wallet app to access our tickets, passes, cards and more. Often, when you attempt to pay within an app, the rewards card will automatically spring up within Wallet app anyway.

However, it’s now one less thing that Apple will have full control over and that, advocates say, could mean a more competitive marketplace. Developers making the change will need to sign a new commercial agreement with Apple.