After offering to open up its wallet API access earlier this year to the European Union, Apple is now following through and allowing any developer in select countries to build an app with access to the iPhone’s NFC chip for payment and more.
This means, in theory, that some Canadian banks can now add the ability for their apps to be used as digital wallets on iPhones. Or, in an even funnier turn of events, even Google could bring Google Pay to the iPhone.
On top of that, and what I think will be implemented a lot with this change, automakers can now add digital car keys to their own apps without using Apple’s CarKey API. Will this provide a smoother experience than CarKey? Probably not, but it might be more straightforward for many non-tech-savvy users.
This change is starting now, and developers using iOS 18.1 can start coding their apps using the iPhone’s Secure Enclave and the iPhone’s biometric security elements like Face and TouchID. Notably, you can set one of these new payment/digital key apps up as your new default double-tap action of the iPhone’s power key. Previously, this was locked to Apple Pay, but now that it’s being opened up, it will be interesting to see if it will be locked to tap cards or if developers can turn it into another Action button similar to the backtap gesture.
If you’re a dev, you can check out the APIs on Apple’s site, and you can learn more by reading the full Apple press release.
Source: Apple
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