Tap to Pay: iPhone would have a new function to be POS

What was a little kept secret is now a reality; Tap to Pay officially confirmed by Apple. Last Tuesday, the tech giant announced a new feature for iPhones that would essentially turn them into point-of-sale terminals.

For now, it is a function that will be available in the United States, approximately by the end of 2022. The most important thing is that you will only need the mobile, without having to purchase additional hardware.

Tap to Pay: what is it?

In principle, it is the ability for a seller to receive contactless payments through their iPhone, without the need for an additional accessory.

In this way, the smartphone acquires the characteristics of a POS (point of sale terminal), so that payments are easier to make.

Indeed, it will only be enough for the buyer to bring his payment method (which we will mention the requirements later) to the iPhone to process the transaction.

For the seller, it would be a great economic advantage, since he could do without using a traditional point of sale. And it is that, the main disadvantage of these, is the initial or periodic expense that they entail to continue using their services.

In addition to that, in most cases, the points of sale are delivered by banks. Although it is no longer strictly necessary, the fact of being able to charge with the iPhone would be more than beneficial for any business, large or small.

Apple turns iPhones into POS

One of the important points to highlight in Apple's announcement is the availability of the service. In this sense, they confirmed that it will be enabled for any payment platform, as well as application creators.

In this way, they will be able to implement the operation of Tap to Pay to their apps, offering a better service to users. Needless to say, it will only be available for iOS.

In the same order of ideas, one of the first applications that will run the new function of the iPhones will be Stripe. It is a payment platform that is quite popular within the United States region.

In other words, for Tap to Pay, Apple needs these two functions, in principle, for it to start working. Therefore, it would not be specifically an exclusive service of the company.

It would be more than anything an SDK ( software development kit) that would give third-party applications the ability to pay contactless. In other words, transactions can be made without the need for hardware such as a point of sale.

What does it take to charge and pay for this new Apple feature?

We must emphasize that it is not just an application that we will download on our iOS device and start using as if nothing had happened.

To do this, it is necessary to meet a series of requirements that will make the platform as efficient as possible. However, even if they were announced by Apple, we still have to wait for the end of the year if they will remain the same.

iPhone version

One of the basic requirements for the process to work is that, in Tap to Pay, iPhone XS will be the minimum that we must have.

Going back, for example, if you have an iPhone 8 Plus, the service would not work under any specific conditions.

Supported Application

It is logical that you should have those applications that have accepted this new Apple function within their means of payment. In this order of ideas, we are already talking about examples such as Stripe, Shopify, Sumup and Square.

In this way, we will only have to bring the receiving mobile as close as possible to the customer's means of payment.

What does the buyer need?

It should be noted that, within the user's means of payment, he has the possibility of being his own iPhone or his Apple Watch. This, thanks to the company's own application for payments known as Apple Pay.

To them are also added the traditional debit or credit cards, which are accepted immediately by means of the integrated NFC chip. Likewise, it also accepts any other digital means that the buyer has to carry out their transaction.

On the other hand, in case of not having any Apple device, you also have possibilities to make the payment. Please note, only to pay, but not to get paid.

In this sense, you must have a smartphone or smartwatch that contains an NFC chip within its components. In turn, have your corresponding digital wallet configured and updated, which may well be Google Pay or Samsung Pay.

What's up with the privacy? Will this new method be safe?

One of the aspects that the company emphasized the most is the security and privacy section. Indeed, they highlighted that the new modality will have the same protection system as Apple Pay.

This system is made up of an encryption process which is processed through Secure Element. What it means is that Apple will in no way know what you're buying, let alone who will buy it.

For now, it is known that the new function will be compatible with the main cards in the world, such as American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa. The fact that they are debit or credit will not influence in any way.

When will Apple Tap to Pay be available?

As we mentioned before, we will have to wait until the end of this year for the first testimonials of the use of the application. Until then, we will not really know how efficient this revolutionary new payment method will be.

In addition, there are still information gaps that Apple must address regarding the main doubts of users.

One of these is whether the company will establish a minimum commission that sellers must pay to enjoy their services. This, applied either for large companies or small businesses.

Likewise, announcements are also expected regarding the plans that Apple has with the globalization of the new function. This, mainly because in Europe, NFC payment methods are already very useful in the market.

In short, there is no doubt that Tap to Pay will end up turning iPhones into POS terminals, resulting in a more dynamic buying and selling process.