Apple Could Expand iPhone’s NFC Capabilities Beyond Apple Pay

At the moment NFC found inside iOS devices and the Apple Watch are primarily used for Apple Pay. In fact as it stands, that’s pretty much the only thing that the NFC technology inside these devices are used for, but it seems that Apple could be planning on expanding NFC capabilities beyond Apple Pay.

In an Apple developer document published this week, it suggests that iOS 11 could open up the NFC feature inside the iPhone to other uses besides Apple Pay. The document, which was originally spotted by Engadget, mentions a “Core NFC” framework that allows for access to certain high-level aspects of NFC hardware where developers will be able to build apps that can take advantage of it.

Exactly what kind of apps we can expect remains to be seen, but Apple’s VP of Technology Kevin Lynch hinted that watchOS will let users interact with gym equipment by tapping their device on an NFC reader. That being said, it isn’t really that surprising that Apple has taken this long to open up the NFC feature to third-party developers.

For example it took Apple a while before they opened up Touch ID to third-party developers, and it took them even longer before making Siri accessible by third-party apps.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: Apple Pay, iPhone