This one of those important developments that may not have the glamour of a new device being unveiled, but it may well prove pivotal to how developers are able to design their app’s functionality and therefore how you use your iPhone. Apple has confirmed that with iOS 18.1 that rolls out later this year (it’ll of course follow iOS 18, expected in September), app developers will be able to offer NFC, or near field communication, contactless transactions using Secure Element from within their own apps.
Users will now be able to set a third-party app as the default payments app on their iPhone, instead of being restricted to Apple Pay, and which can also be invoked by double clicking the side button on the iPhone. So far, that can only be mapped to Apple Pay, in countries where the service is available. This development can be seen as a continuation of developments earlier in the year, when Apple proposed to open iPhone payments using the NFC method to third-party apps in the European Union, following an anti-trust investigation by regulators in the region.
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On the point of availability, the changes envisioned go much further than just the EU. Apple confirms the NFC and SE APIs (or application programming interface; a software that allows an app to interface with the operating system and other apps), will be available to developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. in an upcoming developer seed for iOS 18.1. They also indicate that additional locations will join in the weeks and months after, but specific details are awaited.
For now, don’t get your hopes up about the launch of Apple Pay in India.
The upcoming changes with iOS 18.1 won’t be restricted to only payments, but include a broader contactless ecosystem including digital car keys, transit cards, student IDs, keys for digital locks at home, hotel room keys, as well as various types of loyalty and rewards cards, This far, NFC access for third-party apps on an iPhone, was limited to reading tags.
In case you are wondering what Secure Element (SE) really is, it’s a chip on the device that’s running the Java Card platform, an industry standard for compliance with electronic payments. It is one part of the broader Apple Pay component security, which also includes Secure Enclave which uses Touch ID fingerprint authentication to allow a payment transaction to proceed, as well as Apple Wallet where your card and other payment details reside
“To make a contactless transaction within an app that utilizes 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,” says Apple, in a statement.
It is expected there will be no limitations to unlocking the NFC chip and accompanying security measures for at some some generations of older iPhones we well. Hints can be drawn from iOS 18 compatibility, which goes as far back as the iPhone XR, released in 2018. For the sake of veracity, it must be noted that the NFC chip has been available from the iPhone 6 onwards, while Secure Enclave has been around since the iPhone 5s. However, backward compatibility is dependent on iOS and software security, and will be limited to as far back as iOS 18 support goes.
Apple insists that availability of NFC and SE for third party apps would first require developers to enter into a commercial agreement with Apple. “This ensures that only authorized developers who meet certain industry and regulatory requirements, and commit to Apple’s ongoing security and privacy standards, can access the relevant APIs,” the company confirms in a statement.
Late last month, Apple released the first developer beta for iOS 18.1, which incidentally introduced the much-awaited Apple Intelligence features for testing. As is the case with beta versions, there will be a few more iterations released for testing, before the final version of iOS 18.1 rolls out to users a few weeks post the availability of iOS 18 next month.
