Apple Devices Could Get New ‘NFC Multi-Purpose Tap’ Feature

Apple devices could perform multiple NFC-enabled actions with a single tap in the future thanks to a new technology unveiled today — reports MacRumors.

The NFC Forum, the leading standards body for Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, has published details of a new “Multi-Purpose Tap” functionality. According to the organization’s description, Multi-Purpose Tap makes it so multiple NFC-enabled actions — such as payment processing, point-to-point receipt delivery, loyalty program tracking, identification, and transit ticketing — can be performed at the same time with a single tap for improved user convenience.

Apple is one of the NFC Forum’s foremost members. The tech giant was likely involved with the development of NFC Multi-Purpose Tap and, as such, it’s safe to assume that the new feature will make its way to iPhones and Apple Watches at some point. When that might happen, however, is entirely up in the air at this point.

Apple first debuted NFC functionality with the iPhone 6 and the first Apple Watch. At the time, NFC was primarily meant to enable contactless payments via Apple Pay. However, the company has steadily added support for more NFC features like reading NFC tags, and the NFC chips found in today’s Apple devices have gained many more uses with time.

With NFC Multi-Purpose Tap, Apple users could, for example, make a contactless payment while simultaneously logging loyalty points and getting a digital receipt for their purchase — all with a single tap of their iPhone or Apple Watch.

At least in Europe, where Apple is set to open access to the NFC chips on its devices to settle a longstanding European Commission investigation into Apple Pay’s dominance, users could eventually make contactless payments using services other than Apple Pay while also performing other actions with the same tap.