The Covid-19 pandemic has changed things in many ways, including accelerating trends that had already begun. One of the trends that had begun prior to the pandemic was contactless payments. Apple Pay has been available since 2014 with the release of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Even though Apple Pay has been quite successful, not everybody can use Apple Pay. There is an industry standard that many cards have incorporated that allow you tap on a payment terminal instead of having to insert your card and wait for authorization.

Yesterday, Apple announced that the ability to use contactless payments is coming to some models of iPhone. That feature is called "Tap to Pay". Tap to Pay will allow businesses to accept payments by using the Near Field Communication, or NFC, chip that is in an iPhone XS or newer.

"Tap to Pay on iPhone will work with contactless credit and debit cards from leading payment networks, including American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa."

This is not an automatic feature for businesses because it will require a "partner-enabled" iOS app as well. The first partner that Apple will be working with is Stripe.

Here is the best feature for businesses: "No additional hardware is needed to accept contactless payments through Tap to Pay on iPhone.". This means that as long as the business has an iPhone XS or newer, it should work.

Ultimately, this means that if you have a contactless credit, or debit, card and the merchant has an iPhone with a Stripe-enabled app that supports "Tap to Pay", you will be able to simply tap your credit or debit card and pay for goods and services. Similarly, you can also use your iPhone or Apple Watch to pay using its NFC chip.

The new feature will roll out in the United States first, and possibly other countries later on. Apple has stated that other payment providers. Tap to Pay will also be rolling out to Apple's own stores later this year.

Source: Apple