Tap to Pay
Also known as: SoftPOS, Tap on phone
Tap to Pay turns an ordinary NFC smartphone into a contactless card terminal. The merchant opens a payment app, the customer taps a card or wallet on the phone, and no separate hardware is needed. Security is assessed under PCI SSC's MPoC standard for commercial off-the-shelf devices.
Last reviewed
Example
A market trader opens the payment app, types 18.50, and the customer taps a card on the back of the trader's phone.
Most card machines are a box you buy, charge and carry. Tap to Pay removes the box.
The merchant's phone does the job of the terminal. A payment app on the phone reads the customer's contactless card, or their phone or watch, over NFC. Apple describes its version as accepting payments "right on iPhone and without any extra terminals or hardware". Industry people also call the category SoftPOS, because the terminal is software.
What changes, and what does not
The payment itself is the same contactless payment. The card or wallet still uses the EMV contactless protocol, which generates a one-time code for every transaction. The same networks, the same acquirer, the same authorisation. What changes is the device that reads the card.
That device is an off-the-shelf phone, not a purpose-built terminal. So the security assurance comes from somewhere else. The PCI Security Standards Council publishes the MPoC standard for exactly this: accepting contactless data and PINs on commercial off-the-shelf devices. A Tap to Pay product is assessed under PCI SSC's standards for payments on commercial off-the-shelf devices: MPoC, and the older CPoC, which PCI SSC is sunsetting (as of October 2026, no new CPoC submissions will be accepted after 31 October 2026). The phone itself is not approved as hardware.
Where it fits
It suits the plumber, and the shop that needs a second till on a busy Saturday. It is a way to start accepting cards with nothing to buy.
It does not replace a counter terminal for everyone. A shop taking hundreds of payments a day usually wants a dedicated device with a printer, a PIN pad and a battery that does not also run the owner's calls. Tap to Pay lowers the cost of starting. It does not decide where you finish.
Availability depends on the phone, the operating system, the country and the payment provider. Check each before you promise a customer anything.
