Apple has announced Tap to Pay on iPhone in France, allowing independent sellers, small merchants, and large retailers in the country to use iPhones as a payment terminal.
Tap to Pay first arrived in February 2022 in the US, and allows iPhones to accept payments via Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets. All transactions are encrypted, and Apple has no information about what is purchased or the person who made the purchase.
No additional hardware or credit card machine is required to use Tap to Pay on iPhone. The feature uses NFC technology to securely authenticate the contactless payments, plus the feature also supports PIN entry, which includes accessibility options.
"We are very excited to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone to merchants throughout France, so that they have a simple, secure and confidential way to accept contactless payments while benefiting from the power, security and usability of the iPhone," said Jennifer Bailey, Apple Vice President of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. "With more than 90% of bank cards in France equipped with contactless technology, and the increasing adoption of contactless payments, merchants will be able to accept payments from their customers with a simple gesture on their iPhone."
The banking group BPCE (Banques Populaires, Caisses d'Epargne and Payplug) and along with Adyen, myPOS, Revolut, SumUp, Viva Wallet, and Worldline now offer Tap to Pay on iPhone to French customers. They will soon be joined by BNP Paribas, Crédit Coopératif, Market Pay, Stancer and Stripe, according to Apple.
Tap to Pay on iPhone requires iPhone XS or newer models, and works for customers as any normal Apple Pay transaction would. Sellers just need to open up the app, register the sale, and present their iPhone to the buyer, who can then use an appropriate contactless payment method.
France becomes the eighth region to support Tap to Pay, following similar rollouts in the U.K., Australia, Taiwan, Brazil, Ukraine, and the Netherlands earlier in the year.
