When Apple made its official reveal of the card-less merchant service Apple Pay earlier this month, it stated that the service would be available to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch using NFC technology. Despite these NFC chips having the potential for loads of added functionality, Apple has said that this technology is currently restricted to use with Apple Pay, Cult of Mac reported.
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According to the report, the NFC functionality of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will be restricted to third-party developers at least for the phone's first year. It seems like Apple is keeping this new technology (new to Apple phones, at least) close to the vest for now.
It could be, though, that developers just need to be patient for the time being. Once the iPhone 6 has been out for a while, there's no reason to think that third-party developers will still be kept out of the loop. With the iOS 8 update coming tomorrow, the Touch ID technology introduced last year in the iPhone 5S will be unlocked to developers after previously being restricted to default apps.
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Opening up the NFC chip to third-party functionality would offer developers an alternative to utilizing Bluetooth technology in their apps. NFC has several advantages over Bluetooth. It uses less power than Bluetooth and also doesn't require the sometimes frustrating pairing process of Bluetooth. More usefully, NFC has a very small detection range, which means that there's much less chance of a device "accidentally" picking up an NFC connection. If you connect over NFC, it's because you're purposefully holding your device close to another.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will hit store shelves starting Friday. The Apple Watch, which will also contain NFC capabilities, will be available sometime next year.