Apple Opens NFC IPhone Chip For Third Party Apps With IOS 18.1

Apple has announced that it will open the NFC iPhone chip (photo: x @santana08642)

JAKARTA- Apple has announced that it will open the NFC iPhone chip using the Secure Element to allow contactless payments by third-party apps, apart from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. This feature will be introduced in the upcoming update of iOS 18.1 and will be available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and the United States.

This change came after Apple announced it would open the NFC chip for third-party apps in the European Union in accordance with the Digital Markets Act.

In a press release announced today, Apple explained that NFC chips can be used for various things such as payments, car keys, student identity cards, hotel keys, and more. These changes will begin to be implemented with iOS 18.1 for developers:

"Starting iOS 18.1, developers will be able to offer NFC contactless transactions using Secure Elements from within their own app on the iPhone, apart 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 payments in stores, car keys, closed transits, company badges, student identity cards, home keys, hotel keys, loyalty cards and merchant prizes, as well as event tickets, with support for future government IDs."

Apple also says that users will be able to set third-party apps as default apps for contactless payments through the Settings app on their iPhone.

Apple added: "To integrate this new solution into their iPhone app, developers need to make commercial agreements with Apple, request NFC and SE rights, and pay related fees." Currently, Apple has not published details about the cost structure.

Apple has published more details about its plans on its developer website, with instructions on how developers can contact Apple to express interest in this offering.