NFC Forum announces 'Multi-Purpose Tap' technology to do more with just a single tap

Near-field Communication (NFC) Forum is working on a new concept to enhance the user's contactless experience, called Multi-Purpose Tap. As the name suggests, it will support several actions with a single NFC tap when doing different things, such as making payments or using public transit.

NFC is a set of short-range wireless technologies that transfer small amounts of data between an NFC tag/reader and a compatible device such as an Android smartphone or iPhone. NFC connections only work when the distance between devices is 4cm or less.

Multi-Purpose Tap can transfer receipts directly to the smartphone when someone makes a payment, perform automatic identity verification to cancel payments for alcohol to minors or transfer loyalty reward points in the same transaction as the payment is being made.

According to the forum, Multi-Purpose Tap is currently in the ideation stage, and its first overview has been published. Any device that supports NFC dual-mode will be able to perform transactions aimed at multi-purpose tap.

Explaining how dual-mode can bring multi-purpose tap into action, the forum writes:

Certain NFC devices such as smartphones can operate in both reader/writer mode and card emulation mode, referred to as dual-mode devices. This means that mobile developers can design custom applications that interact with other NFC devices supporting any mode, all with a single tap.

The technology can have several use cases. The NFC Forum is trying to figure out the requirements for each market it can potentially serve and deliver unique value for individual use cases.

For instance, an electric car owner can simply tap their smartphone at a charging station to start the vehicle charging process and make payment in one go. It can be used in public transport where fare collectors can make a single tap on the passenger's device to issue and validate tickets on the fly and accept payments.

NFC Forum is made up of over 600 companies, comprising OEMs, silicon vendors, and app developers. Major names on its board include Apple, Google, Huawei, Identiv, Infineon, NXP, Qualcomm, Sony, and STMicroelectronics.

Apple and Samsung, being top-tier members of the forum, suggest Multi-purpose Tap might arrive on their respective devices sometime in the future. Although Apple was late to the party, it has been a decade since Apple started supporting NFC, powering features like Apple Pay.