Tech giant Apple on Wednesday said developers will soon be able to offer near-field communication (NFC) contactless transactions using the secure element from within their own apps on iPhone, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
Developers will be able to offer in-app contactless transactions for in-store payments, car keys, closed-loop transit, corporate badges, student IDs, home keys, hotel keys, merchant loyalty and rewards cards, and event tickets, with government IDs to be supported in the future, the company said in a statement.
The NFC and SE APIs will be available to developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and the US in an upcoming developer seed for iOS 18.1, with additional locations to follow.
Developers need to enter into a commercial agreement with Apple, request the NFC and SE entitlement, and pay the associated fees, said the company. Developers and users will continue to have access to the easy, secure, and private experience of Apple Pay and Wallet.
“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,” said Apple.
The tech giant said it 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.
“To make a contactless transaction within an app that utilises these APIs, users can either open the app directly, or set the app as their default contactless app in iOS Settings, and double-click the side button on iPhone to initiate a transaction,” said the company.
