Apple brings Tap to Pay to more European countries

Apple just brought its Tap to Pay technology for iPhones to a host of new European countries, including Poland, Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, Portugal and several others. This allows for contactless payments. It works with credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and a number of third-party payment platforms.

That last one was once a contentious issue for Apple. The company only allowed third-party developers access to its NFC technology, which powers Tap to Pay, after EU regulators threatened it with a massive antitrust fine. Apple has even agreed to allow users to make third-party wallets their default app.

This means that many European customers will now be able to access third-party payment platforms without jumping through any hoops. For instance, iPhone users in Finland will be able to use Tap to Pay with Stripe, SumUp, Viva and many more. Hungarians will be able to use Adyen, Global Payment, myPOS and others. It’s a veritable cornucopia of NFC payment options.

Thanks to the EU’s stiff regulations and the region’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), America has also gotten in on the act. The company recently opened up its NFC tech for third-party developers in the US and Canada. This functionality came in a software update as part of iOS 18.1.

This feature works in today’s announced European countries so long as the customer has an iPhone Xs or newer and that they are running a recent iOS version. Merchants don’t need any additional hardware to complete transactions. Third-party payment platforms can also integrate Tap to Pay directly into their iOS apps.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-brings-tap-to-pay-to-more-european-countries-152350220.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-brings-tap-to-pay-to-more-european-countries-152350220.html?src=rss