Apple has announced that Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available in France, allowing independent sellers, small merchants, and large retailers in the country to use iPhones as a payment terminal.
Introduced in February 2022, the feature allows individuals and merchants with an iPhone XS or newer to accept contactless payments through supported iPhone apps. The merchant simply holds out their iPhone, and the customer holds their iPhone, Apple Watch, another digital wallet, or contactless credit card near the device and a secure payment will be made via NFC technology.
No additional hardware or credit card machine is required to use Tap to Pay on iPhone. The feature uses NFC technology to securely authenticate contactless payments, plus the feature also supports PIN entry, which includes accessibility options.
The Tap to Pay service on iPhone is available to payment platforms and app developers in France, who can integrate it into their iOS apps and offer it as a payment acceptance option to their business customers. The BPCE Group (Banques Populaires, Caisses d’Epargne and Payplug) and the companies Adyen, myPOS, Revolut, SumUp, Viva Wallet, and Worldline now offer Tap to Pay on iPhone to their French professional customers, and will soon be joined by BNP Paribas, Crédit Coopératif, Market Pay, Stancer, and Stripe.
From today, Tap to Pay on iPhone is available in all Apple Stores in France, and being deployed in numerous points of sale, notably those of the Christian Dior Couture brands, belonging to the LVMH group, Dyson, Rituals and Sézane. L’Addition has integrated Tap to Pay on iPhone into its POS system used by thousands of restaurants in France. Sephora, which also belongs to the LVMH group, will deploy Tap to Pay on iPhone in the coming weeks in its stores in France.
“We are very excited to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone to merchants across France, so that they have a simple, secure and confidential way to accept contactless payments while benefiting from the power, security and usability of iPhone,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. “With over 90% of bank cards in France equipped with contactless technology, and the growing adoption of contactless payments, merchants will be able to accept payments from their customers with a simple tap on their iPhone.
France becomes the eighth country to support Tap to Pay, following similar rollouts in the U.K., Australia, Taiwan, Brazil, Ukraine, and the Netherlands earlier in the year.