Thanks to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple must allow competitors to Apple Pay on the iPhone. The first competitor is now a fact.
The first competitor to Apple Pay on the iPhone
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) has forced Apple to give developers more access to the iPhone’s NFC reader. Apple made that change to iOS earlier this year. The first app that actually uses the new API to let users pay directly from the iPhone app with NFC is now a fact.
It concerns a Norwegian payment app called Vipps. The website Tek.no reports that the latest update to the Vipps app allows iPhone users to make contactless payments in stores, without leaving the app or relying on Apple Pay. Users can even choose to replace Apple Pay with Vipps, so that double-pressing the side button opens Vipps instead of Apple Pay.

Vipps MobilePay
Currently, Vipps only supports Bankaxept cards (from Norway’s national payment system). According to the company, support for Visa and Mastercard will be added within a few months, so that users can make contactless payments with Vipps worldwide before the summer of 2025.
Rune Garborg, CEO of Vipps MobilePaysays about this:
We have fought for years to be able to compete on equal footing with Apple, and it feels almost surreal to finally be able to launch our very own solution. This will now be a very exciting battle between the world’s biggest brand and Vipps.
Loosely translated it says the following:
We’ve been fighting for years to compete on an equal footing with Apple, and it feels surreal to finally be able to launch our own solution. It will now be an exciting battle between the world’s largest brand and Vipps.
Apple Pay is no longer the only option
Since its launch ten years ago, Apple Pay has been the only way to pay with an iPhone. EU regulators found this anti-competitive, after which Apple opened up the unlocking of the NFC chip on the iPhone. For the first time, developers can now create apps that support payments, digital keys, IDs and tickets.
All in all, it’s an interesting test case, as it could open up a lot of new and useful ways to use your iPhone. But it can also cause chaos with competing payment platforms that don’t work together. More information about the NFC & SE Platform can be found on the Apple Developer website.