Apple Pay Keeps Activating at Airport Security

[dvdvd]

Did anyone else run into the problem at the TSA security checkpoints where you pull up a plane ticket on the home screen to scan, but Apple Pay keeps activating, preventing your eTicket from being scanned? Seems like the scanner is also an NFC terminal. Was turned away to get a physical ticket and was a huge incovenience that almost made me miss my flight. There should be some way for the iPhone 6 to differentiate between a pay terminal and security terminal for NFC.

 

[lordofthereef]

I was wondering if this would ever be an issue. NFC always on seems like not the greatest solution for a mobile device, IMO.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Awesome, that means if MCX retailers cave in and offer Apple Pay along with CurrentC, it'll also prevent CurrentC QR reader from reading the code as Apple Pay will keep popping up.

 

[deeddawg]

Awesome, that means if ...

Why are you assuming that either there is no way for Apple to prevent the popup or that Apple won't make the necessary software updates if there is a way?

As this whole thing is under three weeks old, it's rather premature to announce that the sky is falling.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Why are you assuming that either there is no way for Apple to prevent the popup or that Apple won't make the necessary software updates if there is a way?

As this whole thing is under three weeks old, it's rather premature to announce that the sky is falling.

It was a joke aimed at CurrentC.

 

[deeddawg]

It was a joke aimed at CurrentC.

Oh.

I completely missed that.

Whoops.

 

[Rigby]

Did anyone else run into the problem at the TSA security checkpoints where you pull up a plane ticket on the home screen to scan, but Apple Pay keeps activating, preventing your eTicket from being scanned? Seems like the scanner is also an NFC terminal. Was turned away to get a physical ticket and was a huge incovenience that almost made me miss my flight. There should be some way for the iPhone 6 to differentiate between a pay terminal and security terminal for NFC.

See this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1808847/

Someone reported that it helps to pull up the boarding pass in the airline app instead of Passbook. But I agree that this is an issue that Apple should address (e.g. by having a switch to turn off NFC in the control center).

BTW, Apple Pay also pops up when I hold my phone up to the RFID scanners used by the door entry security system at my work place.

 

[deeddawg]

BTW, Apple Pay also pops up when I hold my phone up to the RFID scanners used by the door entry security system at my work place.

Makes sense in a way since NFC is a flavor of RFID (loosely speaking).

 

[Rigby]

Makes sense in a way since NFC is a flavor of RFID (loosely speaking).

I know, but it would be nice if the iPhone could detect if the NFC initiator is actually a payment terminal or something else (like a TSA RFID passport reader or a door scanner) and only pop up the Apple Pay screen when it is applicable. Not sure if that is possible with NFC in passive mode though.

 

[deeddawg]

I know, but it would be nice if the iPhone could detect if the NFC initiator is actually a payment terminal or something else and only pop up the Apple Pay screen when it is applicable.

I'd be surprised if it weren't possible. Time will tell of course. Access control isn't a big deal but situations like the TSA scanners will need to be solved.

 

[Rigby]

Another annoying situation might be if you want to use Apple Pay in a store together with a Passbook-based loyalty card. Perhaps the easiest solution would be to just disable NFC while any Passbook card other than a credit card is showing on the screen.

 

[deeddawg]

I suppose any loyalty card interference would have to do with how close the NFC reader and the optical scanner were placed. NFC does need you to be pretty close.

Correction to my above post: Access card scanners would be an issue if someone kept their card in a wallet case.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I know, but it would be nice if the iPhone could detect if the NFC initiator is actually a payment terminal or something else (like a TSA RFID passport reader or a door scanner) and only pop up the Apple Pay screen when it is applicable. Not sure if that is possible with NFC in passive mode though.

Yeah, I don't think that's possible with a NFC inductor coil being in the passive mode. All NFC signals look the same to it.

Someone reported that it helps to pull up the boarding pass in the airline app instead of Passbook. But I agree that this is an issue that Apple should address (e.g. by having a switch to turn off NFC in the control center).

That's a good workaround. I recall accidentally closing the Passbook and opening a different app while it was within NFC range, so pulling up the boarding pass in the airline app will work.

 

[dvdvd]

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll keep in mind to open tickets in app for the time being until this hopefully gets resolved