New Apple iOS 11 Support for NFC tags Opens a World of Possibilities

The industry has been anticipating the Apple NFC announcement for a long time and now Apple iOS 11, slated to release in the fall of this year, will support reading NFC tags ISO 14443 and 15693 (NFC Tag Type 1-5) on iPhone 7 and newer devices. The beta version and the supporting API documentation are now available and HID has already developed a working app that we are currently testing.   

It’s been a long time coming, but what does Apple’s support for NFC actually mean for the RFID industry in which there are many industrial NFC applications in use? The answer is twofold: First, organizations can now manage and deploy Apple devices to their employees in a closed B2B environment in order to leverage enterprise NFC applications in the workplace. Secondly, Apple is joining a mature ecosystem of existing technology and IOT applications. For many years, Android, Microsoft and other NFC-supported devices have been enabling a mobile workforce with innovative use cases for automating security patrols plus maintenance and inspection services, along with manufacturing and healthcare applications.

Now that Apple has joined the ranks with NFC support, consumer-based applications are able to take advantage of the power of NFC and the market is fully primed for global adoption of the technology. For example, major brands and other organizations can use NFC to increase consumer and end-user engagements by easily extending campaign reach with cost effective, measurable digital out-of-home location-based marketing programs using NFC tags and applications. Anti-counterfeiting and brand authentication are additional use cases that leverage NFC technology, which can be embedded into products, labels, stickers and other customizable form factors.

As you can imagine, we are excited to hear about this week’s announcement from Apple. It is directly in line with HID’s strategic position and extensive portfolio of identification technologies that can link physical products to the digital world regardless of device or frequency. And, as the Internet of Things continues to become part of our daily lives, HID Trusted Tag Services secure these IoT applications which rely on mobile devices for convenient trusted interactions in an increasingly connected environment. By incorporating the level of trust needed to protect users and organizations against potential threats, HID Trusted Tag Services secures the interaction--from the tap of a tag using your Apple or Android mobile device to the web or mobile engagement.

As I mentioned in my previous blogs, HID Global is committed to provide visionary platforms to fuel limitless opportunities for our partners and users to develop novel IoT applications using the power of NFC and BLE technologies. The market is ripe and the time is now to incorporate NFC into your identification strategy – Apple finally did.