Ten years ago today, the NFC industry collectively popped open the champagne to celebrate Apple’s launch — finally — of the first iPhone to include support for NFC. Now, a decade on, Apple has taken its first steps towards fully opening up access to the iPhone’s NFC functionality.
Will 2025 be the year that the original vision of NFC as the key to replacing your physical wallet — card, keys, cash and all — arrives? Or is it too little, too late?
“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,” Apple announced last month.
“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.”
“To incorporate this new solution in their iPhone apps, developers will need to enter into a commercial agreement with Apple, request the NFC and SE entitlement, and pay the associated fees,” the iPhone maker added.
“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 and users will continue to have access to the easy, secure and private experience of Apple Pay and Wallet.”
The list of countries is notable for the exclusion of any members of the EU, and many questions remain around exactly how “the associated fees” will affect adoption.
Over the coming months, NFCW will be diving deep into what the future holds via ongoing news reports and a new research service that will provide in-depth insights into the future of the market.
We hope you’ll join us as we embark on the next phase of the NFC and contactless journey!
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