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NFC chip use in access control

NFC Chip use in access control

Apple make the NFC chip open for use in access control and 3rd party apps.

It has long been a bug bear of mine that Apple, when they introduced Apple Pay, took over the inbuilt NFC chip. This meant that it could not be used for any other purpose other than for Apple Pay.

So it was with a sense of excitement (how sad is that!) when I heard that Apple are finally opening up the chip so that it can be used for other purposes too: for example, access control or e.g. sending fitness data—like the number of calories burned and heart rate—to gym equipment.

This means now that contactless access control can now be implemented on mobile phones whilst up until now it has only been possible using electronically generated QR codes and bar codes. The NFC chip is always available (you don’t have to ‘generate’ it. It would mean that clubs would no longer have to buy relatively

expensive physical credentials in order to gain access to a facility with contactless access control.  And given that it is on your mobile phone you are far less likely to want to lend your phone to someone for any period of time.

It will require integration by the Leisure Management software providers and could well be a key differentiator when it comes to evaluating which system to buy.

View our access control solutions herehttps://www.turnstile-systems.com/.

Some articles of interest are listed below:

Overview of the changes

https://www.fungglobalretailtech.com/news/apple-grants-third-party-app-developers-access-iphones-nfc-chip/

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/05/25/apple-to-reportedly-unlock-iphone-nfc-chip-capabilities-in-june

Technical information on how to use it:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corenfc