Skip to main content

​
Requirements

  • iOS 13.0 or later
  • Device with NFC hardware (iPhone 7 and later)
iOS cannot act as a merchant. Apple restricts Host Card Emulation (HCE) to Apple Pay only. On iOS, TapRails can only operate in customer mode (reading NFC tags). The merchant device must be Android.

​
1. Install CocoaPods

After installing npm/yarn dependencies, run: 
cd ios && pod install && cd ..
Re-run this whenever you install new native packages.

​
2. Add NFC Usage Description

Open ios/<YourApp>/Info.plist and add the NFC usage description key:
ios/<YourApp>/Info.plist
<key>NFCReaderUsageDescription</key>
<string>We need NFC access to read contactless payment requests.</string>
This key is required by Apple — your app will be rejected from the App Store if it’s missing and the app uses NFC APIs. The string is shown to users in the iOS permission dialog.

​
3. Enable NFC Capability (if not already enabled)

In Xcode:
  1. Open your project’s Signing & Capabilities tab
  2. Click + Capability
  3. Add Near Field Communication Tag Reading
This adds the com.apple.developer.nfc.readersession.formats entitlement to your app’s entitlements file automatically.

​
4. Verify

Build and run your iOS app: 
npm run ios
# or
react-native run-ios
NFC entitlements only work on a physical device — the iOS Simulator does not support NFC. You must run on a real iPhone to test tap-to-pay.
iOS setup complete! You can now use useNFCCustomer and the customer PaymentFlowManager flow on iOS devices.