Apple Will Open NFC to Developers in iOS 18.1

In July, Apple announced it would open up NFC on the iPhone to third-party developers to avert an EU antitrust complaint. Today, the Big Tech company announced the timeline for this change, which is coming with iOS 18.1 in late 2024.

“Starting with iOS 18.1, developers will be able to offer NFC contactless transactions using the Secure Element from within their own apps on iPhone, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet,” the Apple announcement explains. “Using the new NFC and SE (Secure Element) APIs, 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.”

In mid-2022, the European Commission accused Apple of abusing its dominant market position by refusing to allow third-party developers to access the NFC mobile-pay technology in the iPhone, reserving that functionality for itself. By late 2023, leaks revealed that Apple had taken the first steps toward resolving that dispute, and in July, the Commission closed its investigation when Apple agreed to open up NFC to other developers.

More specifically, Apple pledged to give third-party developers in the EU access to the NFC chip in iPhones free of charge, let users in the EU view and configure alternative default payment services on their iPhones.

Today’s announcement provides a rough schedule–iOS 18.1 will ship in late 2024, after iOS 18 arrives in September–but it also expands the impacted audience, which was unexpected: Apple is opening NFC to third-party developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and the US first, with “additional locations to follow.” The initial access will arrive via an iOS 18.1 developer preview sometime this summer.

“Users’ security and privacy is of the utmost importance to Apple, (so) this new solution was designed to provide developers with a secure way to offer NFC contactless transactions from within their iOS apps,” Apple notes. “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. 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.”

Well, there you go. It took a few years, but unlike today’s Spotify concession, Apple is doing the right thing by making this available everywhere.