PayPal has made its contactless payment feature available to iPhone users in Germany.
PayPal users in Germany say they can now complete contactless payments via iPhone, as Apple was forced to open up its NFC technology to third parties in the European Union.
Before the EU’s Digital Markets Act went into effect, contactless payments on iPhone were only available through Apple Pay. The company’s NFC technology remained exclusive to its payment service until January 2024, when Apple was required to grant third-party companies access to the same NFC chip used for Apple Pay.
Norwegian company Vipps MobilePay was the first in the region to implement contactless payments on iPhone, back in December 2024, and now it appears as though PayPal is following suit, though only in Germany. According to the website iPhone-Ticker.de, PayPal’s “Tap to Pay” feature is now available on iPhones in Germany.
The feature allows for contactless payments on iPhone, and can reportedly be used in stores with terminals that support Mastercard payments.
PayPal also has plans to expand its Pay Later feature to Germany. Known as “Ratenzahlung To Go” in the country, the feature will allow users to pay for their in-store purchases in installments over 3, 6, 12, or even 24 months. The company is launching a cash-back reward system in Germany as well.
“Put simply, we believe PayPal is better than cash,” said Joerg Kablitz, Managing Director of PayPal Germany, Austria & Switzerland. “Our App will make it easy and safe to pay with your phone in stores; it will give you more choice in how and when you pay; and even better – PayPal will help put money back in your pocket,” claimed Kablitz in an IBS Intelligence report.
Kablitz called the Tap to Pay feature’s debut “the biggest ever investment in product development for our customers in Germany,” adding that the company plans to make it available nationwide “in the coming weeks.”
While the contactless payment feature is available on iPhone, the same can’t be said for the Apple Watch. The EU never forced Apple to make the device’s NFC (Near Field Communication) chip available to third-party payment services rivaling Apple Pay.
The Digital Markets Act made it so that EU competitors are able to use the iPhone’s NFC chip for payment services and apps rivaling Apple Pay and the Apple Wallet app. Though it was under no obligation to do so, Apple has made secure contactless transactions available to developers in the United States as well.
