Apple Adds New Tap to Pay on iPhone Partner Prior to Launch

Apple in February announced an upcoming "Tap to Pay on iPhone" feature designed to allow compatible iPhones to accept payments through Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets, with no extra hardware required.

When Apple first introduced Tap to Pay, Stripe was announced as the sole partner, but Apple this week expanded to include another partner, Adyen. Dutch payment processing company Adyen announced the partnership in a press release, and said that it is planning to work with Apple to offer Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone‌ for its U.S. customers later this year.

Adyen will work with enterprise customers and commerce platforms that include Lightspeed Commerce and NewStore, expanding the number of businesses that will be able to take advantage of Tap to Pay.

Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone‌ is set to compete against existing ‌iPhone‌ payment solutions for merchants such as Square. It will let small businesses accept NFC contactless payments through supported iOS apps with an ‌iPhone‌ XS or newer. When checking someone out, the merchant will ask the customer to hold their own ‌iPhone‌, Apple Watch, digital wallet, or contactless card up to the merchant's ‌iPhone‌ to complete a payment quickly and easily.

The new payment feature is set to debut in the United States later this year, and though Apple has not yet provided a concrete release date, that new partners are being added suggests we could see a launch in the not too distant future.