Alternative payment

Norwegian app first in the world with contactless payment using iPhones NFC

Norwegian Vipps challenges Apple Pay and launches its own tap to pay solution for iPhone.

Ove Kaufeldt

Published 7 January 2025 - 16:08

The Norwegian payment service Vipps is launching its own alternative to the tap to pay payment solution on iPhone, thereby competing with Apple Pay. Vipps has now launched a tap to pay solution that allows users to make contactless payments in stores with their iPhones, supported by most Norwegian banks. This enables Norwegian users to use an external payment service, thus breaking Apple's previous monopoly on NFC technology in its devices.

The payment solution became possible after the EU earlier this year forced Apple to open up its NFC technology to third-party providers. Since the launch of Apple Pay in 2014, Apple has had exclusive rights to this technology, but now the doors are open for competition in mobile payments.

With Vipps' new service, users can make payments by holding their iPhone close to a payment terminal, with authentication via Face ID, Touch ID, or the device's passcode. iPhone users can also set Vipps as the default app for payments and activate payments by double-pressing the side button just as they are used to with Apple Wallet and Apple Pay.

Vipps does not stop at Norway's borders. The company plans to add support for Visa and Mastercard and launch the service in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in 2025.