New iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 incorporate NFC chip for Apple Pay in apps, but not in-store tap-to-pay

Posted:
in iPad edited November 2014
Apple's newest iPads feature one of the same chips used by iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to handle tap-to-pay NFC transactions, but the new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 only support Apple Pay within apps, sparing users the embarrassment of carrying around a gigantic alternative to their credit card.

Apple Pay devices


After iFixit.com identified a NFC chip (the NXP 65V10 NFC Controller) in Apple's new iPad Air 2 as being the same as one found in iPhone 6 and 6 Plus (highlighted in green, below), a variety of news sources speculated that this would enable a future software upgrade to NFC proximity Apple Pay transactions.

However, the new iPads lack both supporting logic chips and the antenna required to perform wireless transactions over NFC. This will also prevent merchants from being able to use the new iPad as an NFC "Point of Sale" device to accept Apple Pay transactions.

Fortunately, however, Apple Pay can also be transacted via merchant apps, obviating any need for stores to actually replace all of their existing POS devices with new iPad models in order to begin accepting Apple Pay purchases.

iFixit Apple iPad Air 2


Apple's own retail store app, along with apps ranging from OpenTable and Groupon to Lyft and Uber to Instacart and Hotel Tonight to Panera Bread and Target (and expanding to AirBnb, Disney, Starbucks, Levis, Sephora, Eventbrite Ticketmaster, StubHub and the Major League Baseball app by the end of 2014) have already initiated Apple Pay within their apps, enabling new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 users to make secure purchases via Touch ID just as iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus can.

Because the latest iPads with Touch ID can support Apple Pay in apps, but not at retail stores, they do not have a Passbook app. Instead, they handle all Apple Pay credit card configuration entirely within Settings under "Passbook & Apple Pay" (shown below).

Passbook & Apple Pay

Apple Pay requires an NFC Secure Element

This type of in-app Apple Pay requires an NFC "Secure Element," a special storage block typically built into an NFC controller chip, which securely stores the user's payment information. This chip interfaces directly with the separate Secure Enclave processing core in Apple's A7, A8 or A8X Application Processors to authenticate the user via a fingerprint scan and then unlock the user's payment credentials in the form of a secure token.

This payment mechanism erects firewalls that strictly prevent any apps on the system from being able to sneak any access to either the user's fingerprint-related data or their credit card credentials, even if the user were tricked into installing a malicious app designed expressly to steal their information. In-app Apple Pay requires an NFC "Secure Element," a special storage block typically built into an NFC controller chip, which securely stores the user's payment information

The only way Apple Pay can access the account token from the Secure Element is by verifying a fingerprint with Touch ID. And the most cost effective and secure way to create such a secure environment is to incorporate a Secure Element on a standard chip designed to support NFC payments.

Last year's iPhone 5s has Touch ID and an A7 with the Secure Enclave to secure their fingerprint data (the chip doesn't actually store a fingerprint image, but rather a number derived from the user's fingerprint scan that can be used to verify subsequent scans as coming from the same user and nobody else).

However, the first generation Touch ID phone lacks an NFC chip supplying a Secure Element, so iPhone 5s can't make in app Apple Pay purchases (or of course, NFC in store purchases) unless it is paired with the upcoming Apple Watch, which will incorporate its own NFC wireless radio.

Because Apple Watch verifies the user via a PIN code entry when it is put on, Apple Pay on Apple Watch won't require Touch ID, meaning it will work with both iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s. Once Apple Watch is removed, it erases its PIN and requires the user to again authenticate before making new Apple Pay transactions, a design intended to prevent theft.

All Apple devices capable of running iOS 7 or iOS 8 also support Activation Lock, which prevents thieves from simply erasing and factory resetting stolen iOS devices for easy resale once a passcode is set up.

Apple's Touch ID additionally simplifies the use of passcodes, making it effortless to unlock an iPhone or iPad secured with Activation Lock without constantly retyping one's passcode.

Outside of Apple: activation lock & NFC on Android and Windows Phone

Smartphones from Google and Microsoft are legally mandated to supply a similar anti-theft mechanism by the middle of next year under a new law passed in California. Complying with this law will be complicated by the fact that most non-Apple phones lack a fingerprint sensor for easily unlocking the device, and those that do (like Samsung's Galaxy S5) reportedly do not work well and are not similarly secured by a mechanism like Apple's Secure Enclave.

Galaxy S5 fingerprint


Additionally, while early Android phones supporting NFC payments via Google Wallet incorporated an NFC Secure Element, Google shifted its proximity payment strategy after gaining very little traction for Wallet (even as it financed and built out much of the existing NFC infrastructure needed to support Apple Pay by iPhone 6 models and Apple Watch) to instead use "Host Card Emulation," which is verified in the cloud rather than against data stored locally in a Secure Element.

This enabled new Android devices to ship without a Secure Element (such as the 2013 Nexus 7) and yet still make NFC purchases.

However, because "HCE" Google Wallet transactions must verify transactions via the cloud, payments only work when the user has data service. In-store Apple Pay does not require data service to function, so it will work for merchants in underground malls or--perhaps in the future--to buy drinks on airplanes, even without logging into Gogo inflight Internet.

This summer, Google Wallet was identified as a built-in Android app susceptible to the Fake ID flaw, which allows any Android app to pretend to be another app, and thereby gain all of its privileges.

Any app pretending to be Google Wallet can gain full access to the user's NFC payment credentials. This sort of NFC exploit is not possible on iOS, firstly because Apple's mobile OS actually verifies app's security certificates, and secondly because there are no apps on iOS that can read the Secure Element without first authenticating through the Secure Enclave built into in Apple's custom Application Processors.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 87
    I can confirm that the S5 sensor is lousy, I saw a guy once, not knowing I was watching, have to swipe five times before it recognized him. The first two times I don't even think the phone realized what the user was doing.

    Personally, I'm happy because my credit union put out a letter a few days ago saying that ApplePay support is coming soon. Considering they're a small CU with four branches, that was a bit unexpected.
  • Reply 2 of 87
    Can't wait till I can use the phone to pay for gas at the pump.
  • Reply 3 of 87
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I'm disappointed Apple didn't include the NFC antennas in the iPad, not for making ?Pay payments, but for accepting them. I think that could have helped drive even more iPads used as registers, as well as boosted the number of places that accept ?Pay, which is something that will take longer with the Mom & Pop shops, as it is.
  • Reply 4 of 87
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    Interesting.

    As the great Phillip J. Fry once said:

    [B]"Shut up and take my iPad!".[/B]

    How DO they fit all this wonderful stuff in such a tiny (and getting tinier) package?

    [URL=http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/51352/]
    [/URL]
  • Reply 5 of 87
    robmrobm Posts: 1,068member
    yea - that's the missing link right there Soli. It would make it so easy.
    I put in a pos system for a client not so long ago using magento for shop sales.

    Used ecwid for another client. Still have to Pfaff around with card readers.
    It works but a little klunky on the front end, makes their back end life easy tho.
    accepting through Apple pay from a clients device would have been brilliant.
    Maybe they will one day
  • Reply 6 of 87
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    I'm disappointed Apple didn't include the NFC antennas in the iPad, not for making ?Pay payments, but for accepting them. I think that could have helped drive even more iPads used as registers, as well as boosted the number of places that accept ?Pay, which is something that will take longer with the Mom & Pop shops, as it is.



    Really not needed. Terminal solutions like the one Square is working on for the iPad will have NFC built in anyway and take ?Pay. You need a processor like Square anyway. Apple is not going to become a CC processing company. Now, on the other hand, they might let IBM take on that roll and benefit from it. However, like Square, Apple will just benefit from the relationship with IBM in the form of additional iPad sales.

     

    You don't even need an ?Pay secure element to take ?Pay transactions. So companies like Square can design for the older Retina iPad Mini 2 and Mini 3 and let businesses get into a nice ?Pay terminal really, really, really cheep.. 

  • Reply 7 of 87
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member
    Apple is merely yanking your chain- it will come in next year's iPad and you will buy one all over again. History is repetitive.
  • Reply 8 of 87
    adrayven wrote: »

    Really not needed. Terminal solutions like the one Square is working on for the iPad will have NFC built in anyway and take ?Pay. You need a processor like Square anyway. Apple is not going to become a CC processing company. Now, on the other hand, they might let IBM take on that roll and benefit from it. However, like Square, Apple will just benefit from the relationship with IBM in the form of additional iPad sales.

    You don't even need an ?Pay secure element to take ?Pay transactions. So companies like Square can design for the older Retina iPad Mini 2 and Mini 3 and let businesses get into a nice ?Pay terminal really, really, really cheep.. 

    Pretty much. It was funny to see how Square had no plans for NFC until ApplePay was announced, then they went for NFC. Say what you want about Apple but they make things work.
  • Reply 9 of 87
    Sigh.

    Yet another mistake by Apple.

    Why shouldn't I be able to pay in store with an iPad? If I'm in a cafe, it's more of a hassle getting my iPhone out.

    If Apple are going to rabbit on about the iPad's camera capabilities, then they need to accept that it is just as valid to use them for Apple Pay.

    First the mute switch removal fiasco, now this. Someone needs to knock some heads together at Apple. They are known for good taste, but they're not currently seeing sense.
  • Reply 10 of 87
    hillstoneshillstones Posts: 1,490member
    Anyone waving an iPad at a pay terminal would look like a complete retard anyway, just like they do holding them up to take pictures. More people carry their iPhones with them, not an iPad.
  • Reply 11 of 87
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post





    Personally, I'm happy because my credit union put out a letter a few days ago saying that ApplePay support is coming soon. Considering they're a small CU with four branches, that was a bit unexpected.

     

    The secret is your credit union gives their backend operations to a major bank (I've seen stuff go through US Bank and BNY Mellon). With four branches, they don't do any investing either, your money is deposited with a large bank called a Corporate Credit Union. The biggest two of them, US Central and WesCorp, took major losses due to subprime loans, took bailout cash and then shut down.

  • Reply 12 of 87
    hillstones wrote: »
    Anyone waving an iPad at a pay terminal would look like a complete retard anyway, just like they do holding them up to take pictures. More people carry their iPhones with them, not an iPad.

    NEWSFLASH: no waving required.
  • Reply 13 of 87
    konqerror wrote: »
    The secret is your credit union gives their backend operations to a major bank (I've seen stuff go through US Bank and BNY Mellon). With four branches, they don't do any investing either, your money is deposited with a large bank called a Corporate Credit Union. The biggest two of them, US Central and WesCorp, took major losses due to subprime loans, took bailout cash and then shut down.

    They partner with a couple of card processing networks and other credit unions, they may only have a few branches but actually have quite a lot of money. Their backend is aided by "Co-Op Credit Unions".
  • Reply 14 of 87
    Oh look!!! Apple left a gap open! Hey Samsung, here's you're chance to swoop in and fill it for the 23 people in the world who want this.
  • Reply 15 of 87
    hillstones wrote: »
    Anyone waving an iPad at a pay terminal would look like a complete retard anyway, just like they do holding them up to take pictures. More people carry their iPhones with them, not an iPad.

    I personally don't worry too much what people use to take pictures. An iPad isn't that much larger than a DSLR.

    Camera is great for listing things on eBay, or for quick shots. I don't use it for photography because my iPhone is so much better, but, as always, the best camera is the one you have with you.
  • Reply 16 of 87
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pazuzu View Post



    Apple is merely yanking your chain- it will come in next year's iPad and you will buy one all over again. History is repetitive.

     

    Stop claiming for a fact what you believe others will do, you filthy, filthy troll. 

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Benjamin Frost View Post



    Sigh.



    Yet another mistake by Apple.



    Why shouldn't I be able to pay in store with an iPad? If I'm in a cafe, it's more of a hassle getting my iPhone out.



    If Apple are going to rabbit on about the iPad's camera capabilities, then they need to accept that it is just as valid to use them for Apple Pay.



    First the mute switch removal fiasco, now this. Someone needs to knock some heads together at Apple. They are known for good taste, but they're not currently seeing sense.

     

    You're something else. "Fiasco"? Tell me, at what point does something become a "fiasco"? If you simply define it as such?  Words have meaning. So does a word like "mistake". It's not a fucking fact that it's a "mistake", you simply define it as such, pretty baselessly. 

     

    I haven't read a single review where the removal of the mute switch was considered a "fiasco" or even an "issue". Much more radical removals were done under Steve's time, which provoked infinitely more outrage than this ever will. Maybe, just MAYBE, rarely used functions don't need their own physical switch? You push down volume for 1/2 second, and it mutes. A swipe and tap locks the orientations. Not a big fucking deal. Except, predictably, you desperately, desperately want it to be. You beat the fucking bend-gate thing to death, milking it for everything it was worth (which was nothing). You you claim a new "fiasco", again, baselessly. Knock some heads together? Maybe you should bang you head against something and stop being such a damned incessant troll, proclaiming the end of the world at every minor decision you personally don't agree with. Thank God Apple is maintaining Jobs' philosophy of removing useless shit, and streamlining further. It'c clear you've never understood Apple, and you never will. But keep trolling. 

  • Reply 17 of 87
    slurpy wrote: »
    pazuzu wrote: »
    Apple is merely yanking your chain- it will come in next year's iPad and you will buy one all over again. History is repetitive.

    Stop claiming for a fact what you believe others will do, you filthy, filthy troll. 
    Sigh.


    Yet another mistake by Apple.


    Why shouldn't I be able to pay in store with an iPad? If I'm in a cafe, it's more of a hassle getting my iPhone out.


    If Apple are going to rabbit on about the iPad's camera capabilities, then they need to accept that it is just as valid to use them for Apple Pay.


    First the mute switch removal fiasco, now this. Someone needs to knock some heads together at Apple. They are known for good taste, but they're not currently seeing sense.

    You're something else. "Fiasco"? Tell me, at what point does something become a "fiasco"? If you simply define it as such?  Words have meaning. So does a word like "mistake". It's not a fucking fact that it's a "mistake", you simply define it as such, pretty baselessly. 

    I haven't read a single review where the removal of the mute switch was considered a "fiasco" or even an "issue". Much more radical removals were done under Steve's time, which provoked infinitely more outrage than this ever will. Maybe, just MAYBE, rarely used functions don't need their own physical switch? You push down volume for 1/2 second, and it mutes. A swipe and tap locks the orientations. Not a big fucking deal. Except, predictably, you desperately, desperately want it to be. You beat the fucking bend-gate thing to death, milking it for everything it was worth (which was nothing). You you claim a new "fiasco", again, baselessly. Knock some heads together? Maybe you should bang you head against something and stop being such a damned incessant troll, proclaiming the end of the world at every minor decision you personally don't agree with. Thank God Apple is maintaining Jobs' philosophy of removing useless shit, and streamlining further. It'c clear you've never understood Apple, and you never will. But keep trolling. 

    So why didn't they remove the mute switch from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 BendPlus?

    What's more, with Handoff, your iPad is now effectively your iPhone and in even more need of a physical mute switch to silence calls.

    I rest my case.
  • Reply 18 of 87
    So why didn't they remove the mute switch from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 BendPlus?

    What's more, with Handoff, your iPad is now effectively your iPhone and in even more need of a physical mute switch to silence calls.

    I rest my case.

    Probably because the iPhones are 6.9 and 7.1mm thick, respectively, whereas the iPad is 6.1mm thick.
  • Reply 19 of 87

    Have we already discussed why ?Watch won't link to iPad Air 2 for ?Pay, in the same way it does to the listed phones? 

     

    I mean, if my tablet is in my messenger bag or backpack, on my person... why the heck not??

  • Reply 20 of 87
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Benjamin Frost View Post





    So why didn't they remove the mute switch from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 BendPlus?



    What's more, with Handoff, your iPad is now effectively your iPhone and in even more need of a physical mute switch to silence calls.



    I rest my case.

     

    I think the fact that you're equating the importance of a mute switch on a phone, and a tablet, shows the utter extent of your stupidity, and non-existent powers of analysis. Unreal. Re calls, does the Mac have a mute switch? Should they add it cause of handoff? Muting is one tap on an iPad. I have an iPad Air, use it everyday, and I touch that switch maybe once a week. It's always been in Apple's DNA to refine and streamline physical aspects that are not critical to the experience, or used often enough. This EASILY falls under that category. I wonder how how you would have shrieked if Cook was heading Apple when they removed a million ports, floppy drives, optical drives, created a phone with no physical expansion, made batteries non-removable on their entire lineups, offered their OS as download only, removed ALL buttons from their touchpad, etc etc. 

     

    The fact that you're still trolling the bend thing is beyond the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.

     

    It's clear you're a foaming at the mouth Apple-hater, I have no idea why you even post here. No sane, rational, fair-minded human being can continue beating a dead-horse like you do, and continue to cheerlead a lie with such passion and commitment. 

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