As we illustrated in our previous blog about the History of NFC, Apple added NFC capabilities to the iPhone 6 in 2014 to support Apple Pay. Until now the NFC function on iOS was however limited solely to mobile payment (HCE mode). iPhones could not operate in peer-to-peer or reading modes.
Apple has announced during a developer’s conference on the 5th of June that a new core function, as part of iOS 11, will add support for NFC tag reading to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus as well as the Apple Watch.
According to Apple, “iPhones will be able to detect tags and read messages that contain NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) data.”
Soon available in bêta, iOS 11 is due to be rolled out to consumers in Autumn.
The news has been welcome by developers and all stakeholders within the NFC world – from tags providers to brands and iPhone users – who will be able to enjoy the benefits NFC can bring in their daily life.
To find out more about NFC applications, Watch this great video from NFC Forum.
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