Can we emulate NFC cards in iOS 13?

Question

Apple just announced new NFC Core API to public.

Here is what they said.

Core NFC

With Core NFC framework, your apps can now support tag writing, including writing to NDEF formatted tags. The framework also provides supports for reading and writing tags using native protocols such as ISO 7816, MIFARE, ISO 15693, and FeliCa. For more information, see the Core NFC framework documentation.

https://developer.apple.com/ios/whats-new/

So, now we have write and read API, and I read all documentation about Core NFC, but I couldn't find about card emulation.

Does this mean we can emulate the card like Android HCE? If yes, what API I have to use?

Nucleotidase

I don't believe the card emulation is available; only the ability to read and write the supported tag types. – Tani

@Pemassi, is there any hardware that we can plug in to iOS device to emulate a tag? I would like to have an iOS device to act as a (e.g. NDEF) tag (with dynamic values) – Flashbulb

@Flashbulb I think there is no. You need to make yourself I guess... – Nucleotidase

Answer 1

Also couldn't find any sign of HCE support in iOS 13 Core NFC and this really isn't a surprise. Supporting HCE would make it easier for payment companies to implement alternatives to Apple Pay, which Apple certainly will want to prevent.

Mohn

Just wondering why is Apple afraid of supporting HCE? Android has HCE features for a long time, however it doesn't affect Google Pay or Samsung Pay right? Are there any other prominent players using Android HCE technology which I'm not aware of? – Flashbulb

The difference to Android is, that Google (like other vendors) does allow for 3rd party payment apps. You can easily use your bank's individual app (like this one) for NFC payments, without Google Pay being involved. In the Apple ecosystem there's a legal and a technical barrier for payment providers to do so. Banks seem to be suing already to get access to the NFC functionality, so to me it seems, that the technical barrier is way stronger than the legal one. But that's of course just my very personal appraisal. – Mohn

It appears that there may be new potential for this to change: theverge.com/2014/9/16/6204999/… – Schema

This article is from 2014. – Mohn

Any news about that ? Can we emulate a card ? – Intuition

Answer 2

Apple does provide HCE, however it is under Apply Pay, using Apple Wallet, and requires a special entitlement and certificate you have to request from Apple.

The Wallet app on iPhone, iPod touch, and Apple Watch allows users to easily manage payment cards, boarding passes, tickets, gift cards, and other passes. Wallet is time and location enabled, so passes can be configured to display on the user’s device at the appropriate moment...

Near Field Communication

Passes can work with Near Field Communication (NFC) readers for contactless redemption. Users hold their device near a reader with contactless symbol to use a pass, with no need for a barcode. If you’re developing an NFC-enabled pass to use with Apple Pay, you’ll need to request an NFC certificate.

(Source: https://developer.apple.com/wallet/get-started/ )

From the certificate request page we learn the following:

NFC Certificate Request

Thank you for your interest in developing an NFC-enabled pass to use with Apple Pay. Before we provide an NFC Certificate, we need some additional information about your company and how you propose to use NFC with your pass in Wallet.

Mule

Answer 3

Update in 2022

The latest version iOS 16 still does not support emulating for normal developer.

Nucleotidase