iPhone and Apple Watch Likely to Support NFC Multi-Purpose Tap in the Future

iPhones and Apple Watches could support multiple actions via NFC simultaneously in the future, the NFC Forum today suggested.

The NFC Forum, the leading standards body for Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, today published its first overview of NFC Multi-Purpose Tap. The technology, which supports multiple actions with one tap, is designed to bring more convenience to various NFC use cases such as point-to-point receipt delivery, loyalty programs, identification, and total-journey transit ticketing.

Apple is a prominent member of the NFC Forum and likely contributed to the development of the technology. The company first introduced NFC in the iPhone 6 and original Apple Watch, initially focusing on Apple Pay, allowing users to make contactless payments.

NFC Multi-Purpose Tap would allow ‌iPhone‌ users to perform multiple transactions with a single tap. For instance, consumers could make payments, log loyalty points, and receive receipts instantaneously. The potential applications are considerable, from retail payments to public transportation, where users could tap their ‌iPhone‌ to pay for a journey, apply discounts, and get travel receipts all at once.

Since Apple is a member of the NFC Forum, it seems highly likely that NFC Multi-Purpose Tap will come to the ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch at some point in the future. The company often adds support for new NFC functionalities, such as reading NFC tags and facilitating more interactions with a broader range of NFC devices.