As promised earlier this month, PayPal has brought contactless iPhone payments to Germany. German site iPhone Ticker reports that PayPal customers in Germany say they now have access to PayPal as an alternative to Apple Pay.
PayPal cannow offer contactless payments on the iPhone thanks to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, which required Apple to allow access to the iPhone’s NFC chip to outside developers. Third-party payment systems can now offer their own contactless payments solutions without being required to use Apple Pay or the Wallet app.
European Union users can use the new payment method at all terminals that support Mastercard payments. The PayPal app uses the “Tap to Pay” principle, users simply hold their smartphone near a payment terminal to initiate a payment.
If PayPal is not set as the default payment method, contactless payments can be made by opening up the PayPal app. The feature is not available on the Apple Watch, as Apple is not required to open up NFC on the Apple Watch to outside developers.
Germany is the first test market for PayPal’s new contactless payment, and the company is expected to roll the feature out to other European Union countries in the near future.
NFC access is available for banking and wallet apps in the European Economic Area, which includes the 27 European Union countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
