Apple and the European Commission came to an agreement on opening up iPhone to rival digital wallets and tap-and-go systems. The days of the iPhone’s NFC capabilities being limited to just Apple Pay are at an end. In Europe, anyway.
But in the rest of the world, it’s Apple Pay or nothing.
Apple Pay is no longer the only tap-and-go option in EU
iPhone owners can use Apple Pay to make a transaction at a store or restaurant point-of-sale machine. The connection between the two devices happens over NFC (Near Field Communications), and the “tap and go” process very convenient, especially as many shoppers and businesses move away from cash. But don’t try that same trick with PayPal — Apple doesn’t allow it.
The EU formally objected to this policy in 2022, stating that it “stifled innovation and prevented competition in the mobile wallet market.” But on Thursday, Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s commissioner for competition, announced that the EC is satisfied with the changes Apple made to the iPhone to address the commission’s concerns.
A complete change
Under an agreement, Apple commits to giving third-party mobile wallets access to the iPhone’s NFC functionality for ten years. And the agreement goes beyond that.
Third-party wallets can be made the standard option on a user’s iPhone. They can be set up so that double pressing the side button on the handset opens the rival wallet, not Apple Pay. And these applications have access to Face ID for securing access.
Apple has until July 25 to make all these changes, according to Vestager. It’s likely an iOS update will come before them to implement them.
For Europe only
Again, just so there’s no confusion, this change applies to only the countries in the European Union. On the rest of the world, the only iPhone tap-and-go payment option is Apple Pay.
This is the latest modification to Apple’s business practices forced by the EU. The most notable one is opening the iPhone to applications installed from outside the App Store, also known as sideloading.
