Tap To Pay On iPhone: What Is It & When Can You Use It?

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The iPhone is getting a new capability called Tap To Pay but it isn't available yet and not every iPhone will be compatible. With quite a large number of people having side jobs these days, the ability to accept payments is not only of interest to business owners, but almost anyone looking to get paid.

There are third-party solutions that allow iPhone owners to accept credit and debit card payments. One of the top names is Block, formerly known as Square, a company that offers a small device that attaches to an iPhone using the Lightning port at the bottom. For older iPhone models, a headphone jack accessory is available as well, which places the card-reading slot at the top.

Related: How To Use Apple Wallet For Card Payments, Public Transport & Tickets

Apple's Tap To Pay feature allows iPhone owners to accept contactless payments using the NFC (Near Field Communication) chip built into newer iPhone models. The feature is compatible with businesses of all sizes, even 'solopreneurs,' meaning one-person operations. Tap To Pay can accept Apple Pay, of course, allowing iPhone to iPhone payments by 'tapping' which means bringing the devices close to each other without actually touching. Tap To Pay will also be able to read contactless credit and debit cards from American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa. Apple will begin accepting Tap To Pay in Apple Stores later this year and third-party apps will help other business owners incorporate solutions in the future, with Stripe payment processing and Shopify's app among the first to support this new iPhone ability.

While this built-in solution will challenge some of the Square hardware, Block offers several other solutions that go beyond what is possible with just an