Apple to extend iPhone NFC capabilities for EU Brexit app by end of 2019

“Apple will expand the iPhone’s NFC chip reading capabilities before the end of 2019 so that it can be used to read data stored in security chips like those used in passports, according to comments made by the UK government,” NFC World reports.
“The UK Home Office has been in talks with Apple to extend the capability of the NFC chip to reading passports so that a smartphone app used to verify the identity of EU citizens applying to continue to live in the UK after it leaves the EU can be used on iPhones,” NFC World reports. “The iPhone’s NFC functionality is currently restricted so that it is only able to read NDEF data, so the UK government has been unable to make its EU Exit app available to EU citizens with an iPhone.”
“The EU Exit: ID Document Check app remotely checks a resident’s identity by verifying the chip in their passport or identity card, scanning their details and adding the information to their application,” NFC World reports. “Face recognition is used to verify their identity and check that the document belongs to the applicant.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Notee: Late last month, The Guardian‘s Lisa O’Carroll reported:
Sajid Javid has announced that the controversial Brexit app for EU citizens’ residency rights will finally work on iPhones.
The home secretary has struck a deal with Apple a year after the Home Office was ridiculed for developing an app that only fully worked on Android phones, even though iPhones account for 48% of the market… “I’m pleased to confirm that Apple will be making the necessary changes and the app will be working on their mobile and tablet devices by the end of the year,” he said.
The government launched the new app last year in a series of tests but it quickly emerged that the ID verification element did not work on iPhones.
The Home Office was heavily criticised after officials suggested that EU citizens could “borrow someone else’s phone”.
Javid’s announcement comes as the government rolls out the registration process for EU citizens who are settled in the country or who want to settle in the country after Brexit.
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]