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From 2014 (when NFC support was introduced) until 2017 (when iOS 11 was released) there was no way for 3rd party apps to use NFC on iOS at all; only apps by App

by smitop 5y ago

From 2014 (when NFC support was introduced) until 2017 (when iOS 11 was released) there was no way for 3rd party apps to use NFC on iOS at all; only apps by Apple could use NFC. There is still no technical ability for 3rd party payment apps to be able to be used from the lock screen like Apple Pay, and according to other comments Apple Pay has some special hardware access (to be able to work faster?).

vlovich123 5y ago
> and according to other comments Apple Pay has some special hardware access (to be able to work faster?). Actually it's to store the payment credentials. Basically, you need a SE (secure element) that's physically tied to the NFC chip to handle payments if you want to be able to get banks to issue permanent keys you can use to sign. Some Android phones may support this (not sure), but Android Pay works a bit differently in that they're issued some small fixed number of single use tokens for payments that expire every 30 days and have to do a network attestation that they've kept the tokens secure to refresh them. Part of the attestation is a confirmation that the device isn't root kitted (this is done via complex fingerprinting that Google Play Services performs to try to detect running on a root kitted phone). It wouldn't surprise me in this case that bank requirements aren't a part of how Apple structured this system as a lot of this was developed before the banks had their shit together (Apple had to use a third party to manage some crypto keys whereas newer iterations of the standard remove the trusted partner). That being said, it also wouldn't surprise me if Apple did this to retain a monopoly over the payment infrastructure in their ecosystem as that's extremely strategic for them in the long term (e.g. Apple Card). There are also UX reasons why it makes sense to do the way they did (at least initially) but maybe there are ways to design out of it to allow for 3p partners.

by smitop 5y ago

vlovich123 5y ago

> and according to other comments Apple Pay has some special hardware access (to be able to work faster?). Actually it's to store the payment credentials. Basically, you need a SE (secure element) that's physically tied to the NFC chip to handle payments if you want to be able to get banks to issue permanent keys you can use to sign. Some Android phones may support this (not sure), but Android Pay works a bit differently in that they're issued some small fixed number of single use tokens for payments that expire every 30 days and have to do a network attestation that they've kept the tokens secure to refresh them. Part of the attestation is a confirmation that the device isn't root kitted (this is done via complex fingerprinting that Google Play Services performs to try to detect running on a root kitted phone). It wouldn't surprise me in this case that bank requirements aren't a part of how Apple structured this system as a lot of this was developed before the banks had their shit together (Apple had to use a third party to manage some crypto keys whereas newer iterations of the standard remove the trusted partner). That being said, it also wouldn't surprise me if Apple did this to retain a monopoly over the payment infrastructure in their ecosystem as that's extremely strategic for them in the long term (e.g. Apple Card). There are also UX reasons why it makes sense to do the way they did (at least initially) but maybe there are ways to design out of it to allow for 3p partners.