Apple appears be making moves to allow the iPhone’s NFC chip to handle more than just Apple Pay and Passbook functions. Engadget reports the Cupertino firm is opening the chip up to developers in iOS 11, albeit in a limited way.
Although the feature didn’t get any airtime onstage Monday, iOS 11 Beta adds support for Core NFC to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. (And presumably future hardware as well.) In release docs, Core NFC is described as “a new framework for reading Near Field Communications (NFC) tags and data in NFC Data Exchange Format.” At the moment, the iPhone’s NFC chip is useless for anything other than Apple’s in-house payment system, but the new framework appears to let the chip in the latest iPhones read any tags — not just Apple Pay tags — and take action on them based on the phone’s location. NFC could open up more ways for iOS apps to communicate with connected devices and iPhones could also replace NFC-based keycards or transit passes like London’s Oyster card and the Bay Area’s Clipper card. In theory, Core NFC could also enable functions like tap-to-pair Bluetooth speakers — something Android users have been enjoying for awhile now — but it’s possible Apple could block such features to keep the “magic” pairing experience limited to AirPods and other devices with its proprietary W1 chip.
Apple will need to handle this carefully, as opening up the iPhone’s NFC chip to developers in iOS 11 could open up possible privacy issues, a subject Apple has based much of its vaunted reputation on protecting.
While use of NFC tags can improve the consumer experience, much like Apple’s iBeacons, it can also gather user information from interactions using the NFC chip. Rules will need to be put in place to carefully protect user privacy.
