Update: And just like that, now Lexus enters the fray. Reports indicate the Toyota-owned luxury brand will add support for iPhone car keys in the coming months, according to references found in Apple’s backend code. It joins many others.
From a single BMW model in 2020 to dozens of brands today, Apple Wallet’s digital car key keeps gaining momentum. Could it soon become as standard as a seat belt? It looks to be headed that way, at least — and for good reason.
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.
To comply with EU mandates, Apple will open the iPhone’s NFC payment chip to third parties, the company said Thursday. Starting in March, users in the European Economic Area will be able to utilize tap to pay on iPhone services other than Apple Pay when making purchases.
The new payment option, part of sweeping changes forced on the iPhone and iOS by the EU’s Digital Markets Act, could cut into Apple’s services revenue. And the company warns that it could put users at risk. Read more about the expansion of iPhone’s Tap to Pay feature across Europe.
The days of the iPhone’s NFC capabilities being limited to just Apple Pay could be coming to an end. Apple is reportedly open to allowing other systems to use the wireless payment system.
It’s the company’s solution to European Union objections to the iPhone’s NFC limitation.
Using Apple’s Find My network, the new AirCard from Swiss company Rolling Square can slip into your wallet like a credit card and help keep track of it. But it’s not just a tracker.
“AirCard is the first card-sized tracker in the world with a digital business card,” the company said. Its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign has far-surpassed its goal with six days to go, so it’s likely the cards will ship.
As expected from previous actions and statements, the European Union formally objected Monday to how Apple denies other companies use of the technology that drives Apple Pay.
The European Union reportedly plans to accuse Apple of violating the law by limiting access to the iPhone’s NFC capabilities to the company’s own payment system. The goal is to give rival systems like PayPal access to the iPhone’s convenient tap-to-pay function.
Apple claims the limitation is there to protect users’ financial information. The EU calls it anticompetitive.
Apple is working to give iPhone the ability to accept contactless credit card payments over NFC without the need for additional hardware “in the coming months,” according to a new report.
You currently need a third-party credit card reader, like those made by Square, to use iPhone as a payment terminal. However, since iPhone 6 made it debut in 2014, Apple’s smartphone has been packing the NFC technology that’s needed.
Accessories brand MOFT and software startup Popl have released the new MOFT x Popl Tap-to-Connect Stand & Grip. It’s a small smartphone stand that uses software to let you share information easily.
Mobeewave helps handsets act like little cash registers. Apple reportedly purchased this company, which could lead to iPhones able to easily receive money from credit cards with just a tap.
If you own multiple iOS devices, then AirPods are supremely convenient. As soon as you connect them to one device, they automatically pair (and remain paired) to all your other devices. So, if you have a Mac, an iPhone, an iPad, and an Apple Watch, then all you have to do is tap connect on whichever device you want to use.
The problem is that the connect button is hidden, and a pain to reach. You have to swipe to open Control Center, then tap the AirPlay icon, then tap your AirPods in the list. And then wait a few seconds to see if it worked. Admittedly, this is a small inconvenience, but we can make it better. How about adding a button to your iPhone Home screen or Mac Dock that connects the AirPods with one tap?
Apple reportedly added code to iPhone and Apple Watch to let these devices function as car keys, giving users one less thing to constantly carry around.
The company began work on such a feature years ago, and supposedly how has finally reached the point where it’s building the feature into iOS and watchOS.
A new German law forces Apple to allow other mobile payment services to use NFC on iPhone.
Apple has allowed only Apple Pay to take advantage of the technology until now. But Germany has decided that it won’t stand for that anymore — despite Apple’s concerns.
Shortcuts has gotten so many amazing new tricks in iOS 13 that it’s going to take a while for us to cover them all. So, how about starting with the new NFC automations? This lets you tap your sleeping iPhone onto an NFC sticker or tag, and your iPhone will run a shortcut. This is pretty amazing, because you can walk around you home (or office), and just tap your iPhone onto objects to perform tasks: open apps, set timers, play music, dim the lights — in fact, you can do anything a regular shortcut can do.
Here are two great examples of using NFC shortcuts in iOS 13.
iPhone users will be able to scan German ID cards, passports, and more when iOS 13 rolls out this fall, according to local authorities.
The functionality will allow digital versions of those documents to be carried on an iOS device so that they are always accessible. Recent reports have confirmed users in Japan will be able to do the same with national ID cards.
The iOS 13 Shortcuts app brings plenty of radical changes — automatic scheduled and location-based shortcuts, for example — but one super-neat new feature will make a world of difference. Now, if you have a compatible iPhone, you can combine NFC tags with Shortcuts. That is, you can run any shortcut just by tapping your iPhone onto an NFC sticker.
Seriously. Pretty wild, right? You could tap your iPhone onto a sticker atop a speaker in your kitchen, and it would start playing the radio, for instance. Let’s check out how NFC shortcuts will work.
NFC support on the iPhone is about to get a lot more advanced real soon.
Apple revealed today that it is adding support for NFC stickers and tags that trigger Apple Pay for payment even if you don’t have the vendor’s app installed.
New photos reveal how Apple Card will be presented to consumers when it starts reaching early adopters this summer.
It’s the first time we’ve seen the titanium Card’s fancy packaging since it was announced back in March. It is said to be in beta testing with Apple employees ahead of its launch.
Apple has reportedly agreed to open up its NFC capabilities on the iPhone for a U.K. government app. This Brexit app will help EU citizens apply for residency in the U.K. after it leaves the European Union.
The EU Exit app allows users to scan the chip inside their passports with their smartphone’s NFC reader. While this has been possible to do on Android phones, Apple has not previously allowed developer access to its NFC reading tech.
The UK government wants Apple to open up developer access to the NFC chips inside iPhones. The reason is because it plans to launch a new app designed to help EU citizens apply for residency in the U.K. after it leaves the European Union.
However, as part of the app, the government wants to let users scan the chip inside their passports with their smartphone’s NFC reader. Unfortunately, while this is possible to do on Android, Apple does not allow developer access in this way. And the British government wants that to change.
Square got its start by letting businesses take credit cards with just an iPhone or Android, and the company now offers multiple payment methods. Today it launched Square Terminal which accepts credit cards and Apple Pay, and can even print receipts.
This could help spread the availability of Apple Pay, as this new point-of-sale card reader is intended to replace older, simpler ones that can’t accept the iPhone’s payment system.
It’s irritating when your iPhone runs out of battery. But it can actually be life threatening if you depend on your phone’s NFC feature to get into your dorm room or onto a train.
That’s why the iPhone XS and the other 2018 models still offer some NFC transactions even when down to the power reserve.
One feature that didn’t get mentioned during this week’s iPhone event is the fact that the new iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR models let users scan NFC tags without requiring an app running in the background.
This means that places such as museums, retail stores, and other locations which make use of NFC tags can utilize them more readily — or, at least, that iPhone users can access them more easily. Instead of having to launch an app that puts your iPhone in NFC Reader mode, just walk up and scan any compatible tag. Easy, right?
The end of money can’t come soon enough for Apple CEO Tim Cook.
During Apple’s annual shareholders meeting today, Cook told investors that mobile payments like Apple Pay haven’t taken off quite as fast as hoped. However, he said he sees promising signs that the death of cash could soon be upon us.
One of the largest banks in the U.S. is embracing Apple Pay and contactless payments by finally adding it to its ATMs across the country.
Wells Fargo revealed today that more than 5,000 of its ATMs have been upgraded recently to support Apple Pay, allowing customers to get cash without having to carry around a physical debit or credit card.