New German legislation allows access to the iPhone's NFC antenna

German Parliament has decided to require providers of technical infrastructures, such as Apple in relation to the Near Field Communication (NFC) antenna contained in iPhones, to grant access to those technical infrastructures to payment service providers (PSPs).

This new legal requirement is applicable since 1 January 2020. Apple has closed the NFC antenna in the iPhone so that only a card/token stored in the Apple wallet will be able to access the NFC antenna and communicate with a contactless terminal.