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Developers gain access to NFC transactions via secure element in iOS 18.1

Posted on by darion

This morning, Apple announced another major new feature coming to iOS 18.1: the ability for third-party apps to offer NFC transactions via the iPhone’s secure element:

Starting with iOS 18.1, developers will be able to offer NFC contactless transactions using Secure Element from within their own iPhone apps, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. 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 transportation, corporate IDs, student IDs, home keys, hotel keys, loyalty and rewards cards for merchants, and event tickets, with support for government IDs in the future.

This will arrive in iOS 18.1, which will also mark the official debut of Apple Intelligence. Better yet, Apple has published extensive documentation for the new APIs, from which I noticed one detail: in addition to overriding the iPhone’s double-click side button with another app, a third-party app running in the foreground will still be able to initiate its own NFC transactions, even if you set a different default app.

Authorized apps running in the foreground may prevent the system’s default contactless payment app from launching and interfere with NFC transactions.

AND:

You can get a presentation intent confirmation to suppress the default contactless app when the user has expressed an active intent to perform an NFC transaction, such as by selecting a payment or closed-loop transit credential, or by activating the presentation UI. You can trigger the ability to confirm intent only when your app is in the foreground.

The irony of all this, of course, is that Apple is under regulatory scrutiny in both Europe and the US over its inability for third-party developers to offer alternative wallets and contactless payment systems on the iPhone. But as has become increasingly obvious lately, there is no greater driving force behind new iOS features than the fear of regulation.