Norwegian app 'Vipps' becomes first to support NFC wallet API on iPhone

The European Union's Digital Markets Authority (DMA) antitrust law forced Apple to give developers greater access to the iPhone's NFC reader, a change that was implemented earlier this year in iOS 17.4. Now, Norwegian payment platform Vipps has become the first to use the new API to allow users to pay with NFC directly from their iPhone app.

Vipps is the first app to add NFC payments for iPhone users

As reported by Tek.no, the latest update to the Vipps app allows iPhone users to make contactless payments in stores using their cards – all without leaving the app or relying on Apple Wallet. Users can even replace the Apple Wallet app with Vipps, so that double-clicking the side button opens Vipps instead of Wallet.

Vipps currently only supports Bankaxept (Norway's national payment system) cards, but the platform says Visa and Mastercard support will be added “in a few months,” allowing users to pay contactlessly with Vipps worldwide.

“We’ve been fighting for years to be able to compete on equal terms with Apple, and it feels almost surreal to finally be able to launch our own solution. It’s going to be a very exciting battle between the world’s biggest brand and Vipps,” says Rune Garborg, CEO of Vipps MobilePay.

In August, Apple announced that it would be making the ability for third-party apps to act as NFC wallets available in more countries. With iOS 18.1, which was released in October, the company made the NFC & SE platform API available to developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.

With this API, developers can create wallet apps that support payments, digital keys, IDs, and even tickets. Apple says the API takes advantage of the iPhone’s Secure Enclave to ensure that all data is managed privately.

More information about NFC & The SE platform API can be found on the Apple Developer site.