During last year’s WWDC Apple event, the company announced Tap to Pay, a new feature for iOS that enables small and medium-sized businesses, as well as freelancers, to use the iPhone as a portable terminal. So far, the feature was available in the United States, Taiwan and Australia, but Apple has just announced its launch in the United Kingdom as well.
How does Tap to Pay on iPhone work?
For starters, to receive money via the Tap to Pay feature you must have an iPhone XS or newer. The process itself is quite straightforward — the merchant simply has to open the supporting app and register the sale. Then the client places their own phone, Apple Watch (or any other smartwatch capable of making contactless payments), or debit/credit card and the transaction is made.
The whole process is secured like with any other transaction you make using Apple Pay, namely through FaceID. There is also the option to use a PIN code.
The feature is making use of NFC technology, which is the same thing that helps you pay at regular post terminals or easily connect to peripheral devices. Fun fact: the upcoming Name Drop feature that will be part of the iOS 17 update also uses NFC to make the seamless exchange of your phone number and contact details.
For now, two of the most popular payment platforms, Revolut and Tyl by NatWest, are the first to implement Tap to Pay in the U.K. That being said, Apple says others like Adyen, Dojo, myPOS, Stripe, SumUp, Viva Wallet, Worldline, and Zettle by PayPal are coming soon too.
What other regions is Tap to Pay coming to?
Currently, there is no word from Apple on the next countries that will get Tap to Pay, but it is safe to say that the feature will slowly but surely spread in other regions too.
