Roadmap: Multi-Purpose Tap - Improving Contactless Experiences

Multi-Purpose Tap is a concept that has been emerging over the last few years, whereby users would be able to leverage the capability of NFC devices to allow both reading and writing of data across a connection to complete multiple actions at the same time. This would mean that transactions that would typically require multiple stages can be completed quickly and easily with ‘just one tap’. For example, when making a purchase in store, the payment could be made, and simultaneously any loyalty points would be awarded and a receipt sent all at once.

Seamless Service Discovery

One of the building blocks of a Multi-Purpose Tap solution will be the ability of NFC Reader Devices to specify and request specific credentials needed to perform a user action. Today, payment reading devices are able to request the preferred payment card from a mobile wallet to complete that transaction. The NFC Forum is exploring how new industry standards might enable a broader ecosystem of use cases so that NFC Readers of all types could request relevant credentials to complete a desired action.

The benefit to users is an improved user experience, whereby all credentials can be stored and accessed directly through a digital wallet. In the future, this could allow all forms of ID cards, digital keys, travel and event tickets, along with countless other credentials, to be accessible with a simple tap – and require no additional input from the user.

Strong User Interest

Time and again, when the NFC Forum and our research partners survey end consumers and product designers alike, the promise of Multi-Purpose Tap has strong appeal. The challenge with this concept is that unlike most NFC compliant product connections, many of the expected use cases require integration with back-office systems and service providers.

The NFC Forum continues to host meaningful conversations to progress the broader vision of Multi-Purpose Tap, and tangible steps like Service Discovery demonstrate meaningful progress and strong market interest for the concept.

The Value of Standards

Due to the extensive global adoption of NFC Forum Standards on smartphones, NFC Forum is well-positioned to advance the Multi-Purpose Tap initiative. While still in the ideation phase, subject matter experts from a number of verticals have come together within the Forum to collaborate on the next phase of the project. Their current work aims to determine a clear technical proposal for this feature and define how it will operate.

Our remit is to define baseline functionality to ensure technical interoperability across NFC Forum-certified devices. With multiple different markets and functionalities needing to align, defined and trusted standards play a critical role in specifying the guidelines of interaction between devices. This ensures that different applications do not disrupt or impact another service or component, ensuring that products perform as expected on a consistent basis, and deliver a seamless user experience regardless of the hardware used on either side of the transaction.

Multi-Purpose Tap is one of many topics featured in the NFC Forum’s 2026 Technology Roadmap. Keen to learn more? Read the press release.

Do you have access control and digital key requirements that NFC Forum can support? Join our community.