As had been rumoured for a couple of weeks now, Apple has unveiled a new contactless payment feature for iPhone, ’Tap to Pay’. The feature will enable contactless payments to be made without the need for additional hardware such as a card reader. The recipient iPhone will require a partner app but the iPhone used to make the payment will be able to use Apple Pay.
Apple today announced plans to introduce Tap to Pay on iPhone. The new capability will empower millions of merchants across the US, from small businesses to large retailers, to use their iPhone to seamlessly and securely accept Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets through a simple tap to their iPhone — no additional hardware or payment terminal needed.
Apple
The feature will also enable contactless payment cards and other NFC enabled devices such as an Apple Watch or even an Android phone to make a payment to the recipient iPhone. The feature will be made available later this year in the United States initially. It will require an iPhone XS or later.
Apple is touting the privacy benefits of making payments using Tap to Pay on iPhone. Your payment information when sent to the receiving iPhone is encrypted with all processing occurring on device using the secure element. The secure element is a hardware security layer embedded inside the iPhone’s processor.
Apple will make the feature available to developers in an upcoming release of its iOS SDK.
2 thoughts