Apple have released their new payment option, Apply Pay Contactless. This new payment option has essentially started a new era of payment methodologies from a pioneering electronics company. Apple has been working behind closed doors with MasterCard and Visa with a huge investment of man and thought power to bring Apple Pay Contactless to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch users.
Let’s talk technology.
Biometrics and Security
Biometrics is a complex sounding term that is easy to define and even easier to understand but to get it right is a feat. Biometrics in this example is the practice of security by checking a part of the human body. With Apple Pay, it is a scan of your thumb or finger. Much like an electronic wallet, you can have multiple cards registered to one card. Apple Pay offers two options to set-up cards: take a picture of your card, or input your card details manually by entering the information into the app directly. This information can be removed or deleted at any time.
Apple Pay is inaccessible unless your device has a password or thumb-print recognition. So unless someone has access to your password or has stolen one of your thumbs, they do not have access to your Apple Pay. If your device gets stolen then you are able to clear it of this information remotely by using the ‘Find my iPhone’ feature so that your card details don’t fall into the wrong hands.
A further measure of security is one of the greatest and took a great investment of Apple’s time, working closely with companies like Visa and America Express. Apple Pay uses the technology idea of tokenisation (which you can read about here) and takes it one step further; the merchant never receives your card details. This is achieved by Apple Pay creating a token that gets sent instead of card information.
NFC is what the new contactless Apple Pay function uses to exchange information between two devices. NFC stand for Near Field Communication, it is present in a growing amount of electronics. Phones may use it to interact with one another and send information or media files between them. It has a wide application, but here it is used to interact from the Card Machine and the iPhone or Apple Watch.
In Practice
This is the exciting part, how does one use this new service? Well, there are many ways to use Apple Pay, for example you can simply scan your watch at the Subway against the reader to be allowed through. Convenient! You can perform transactions with compatible devices without ever pulling your physical wallet out of your pocket. You instead pick your phone up and hold it above the device. The biometric scan of your thumb is done quickly beforehand. To do it with your Apple Watch, merely double press the button on the side and hold it to the device.
That’s literally it, payment made and goods ready to be escorted from the shop. Easy as APC (Apple Pay Contactless).
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