Apple opens up iPhone NFC in iOS 18.1 even to developers outside the EU | Infinium-tech

Recently the European Commission forced Apple to open up the iPhone’s NFC functionality to third parties, paving the way for mobile payments that don’t involve Apple’s own Wallet.

Now, the company has unexpectedly taken things a step further by announcing that it will open up NFC to third-party developers based outside the EU. This will happen “in the upcoming Developer Seed for iOS 18.1.”

However, as is almost always the case with Apple, there are a few caveats. First, only developers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. will be eligible initially (in addition to developers in the European Union), with “other locations” to follow. Second, it won’t be free.

Apple being Apple means that it will charge a fee to interested developers – this openness does not mean that anyone in the above countries can create whatever app they want with NFC functionality, because “user security and privacy are of the utmost importance to Apple”, as the company itself proudly claims.

So, to make all this work, developers will first have to enter into a commercial agreement with Apple, “request NFC and SE (Secure Element) eligibility”, and then “pay the associated fees” (which have not yet been detailed by the company).

In conclusion, NFC on iPhones is becoming more flexible than ever, but despite this new openness from Apple, it still won’t be as open as it is on Android. Big surprise, right?

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