Apple has announced that it will open the iPhone’s NFC chip to any third-party app that asks for the appropriate permission, what do we expect from this?
Those in Cupertino continue to make internal changes due to what has been observed in the European Union and in the Digital Markets Act. Just yesterday they announced a change expected worldwide, opening the iPhone’s NFC chip to all third-party applications that require it. In this case, The API that will allow developers to take care of this new feature will be available until iOS 18.1. What to do now that this API is free?
The iPhone’s NFC chip works for almost everything, the vast majority are app-dependent
You’d be surprised how many things you can do with the iPhone’s NFC chip. Is a technology that has been around for years and was implemented in the iPhone 6 and the first generation of the Apple Watch with the subtle difference that it was only used for Apple Pay.
Now things are going to change and it is Apple Wallet will no longer have exclusive use of NFC on iPhones by allowing other apps to have it and it can be used for various purposes. For example, if a country or bank does not support Apple Pay, Any banking or monetary transaction application could use the API to implement a contactless payment solution..
The Wallet app has many uses
Just as some cars are already equipped with digital keys, this The API would open the possibility for any car brand to implement it more easily. One of the things we might see in the future is a competitor planning to implement their own digital wallet as an alternative to Apple’s wallet.
In addition to payments, keys, credentials or identifiers could be implemented of any organization, entity, business, school, etc.; reward cards, tickets, badges and anything that is physical, contains data and can be transformed into digital.
Apple will secure it even if it is used by third parties
One of the advantages of this new implementation is that The API will have a Secure Enclave so that each of the processed data is managed privately.. For this reason, Apple Wallet can no longer be the default wallet for users and they can replace it with something else.
The API will benefit from a priority release since it will only be available, for now, to developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Developers themselves will have to request the use of the API with an authorization that will be evaluated individually.
The operation already established in the developer support guide indicates that it will work by configuring a contactless application (payment or wallet). The application that will now be the default application will start automatically when approaching an NFC terminal and user authentication with Face ID using the side button or Home button for iPhones with Touch ID.
Compatible iPhones within this new system will start with the iPhone XS running iOS 18.1 or later.
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