It’s official: you can use your iPhone as a payment terminal to receive payments

A few days ago we told you that information was beginning to arrive about a new function that iPhones were going to have and that it could completely revolutionize the current system of sending money between devices, since it would enable the possibility of receiving payments on our phone. In other words, use it in the same way that in a store they charge us with one of those so-called contactless POS terminals. Now, we know that these rumors are true and that this function has been baptized by Apple as Tap to Pay, which allows our smartphone to be activated as a payment terminal to receive the money that another iPhone sends us through Apple Pay. And indeed, as you are thinking, in the end everything stays at home and Apple, through, seeing how the money flows between users… and to their accounts. At the moment, only in the US. Just as it happened in the past with Apple Pay, those from Cupertino are going to launch this Tap to Pay only in the US, as the first step for a more than likely international expansion to from 2023. By the time it arrives, and as announced in one of its official blogs, “merchants will be able to unlock contactless payment acceptance through a compatible iOS app on an iPhone XS or later device.” . It is important to emphasize the fact that they refer to “merchants”, and not to users, so it remains to be seen that finally anyone with an Apple smartphone in their pocket will be able to activate it. On paper, there should be no technical problem, beyond an attempt by Apple to regulate itself so as not to go too far and that the complaints of other players in the sector (the banks) make their initiative unfeasible. This Tap to Pay will also work with payments received from an Apple Watch with Apple Pay activated, thanks to the NFC technology of North American devices that, remember, are free of free use and only what the company considers appropriate is allowed. . Of course, this new money reception system will not arrive in a few weeks and will most likely become effective when we have the new 2022 iPhones already in stores. From Apple they want to take advantage of the announcement of this new service to remind us that “customer payment data is protected by the same technology that makes Apple Pay private and secure. All transactions made with Tap to Pay on iPhone are encrypted and processed with Secure Element and, like Apple Pay, Apple doesn’t know what is being purchased or who is buying it.” >