Skip to Content
PaymentsTap to Pay

Tap to Pay on iPhone

Tap to Pay on iPhone turns a recent iPhone into a contactless card reader for the Selflane POS. No Bluetooth reader, no countertop terminal — the customer taps their card or phone against the iPhone’s NFC area.

iPad is not supported. iPads do not expose NFC for this use case.

Prerequisites

Device

  • iPhone XS or later.
  • iOS 16 minimum; iOS 18 or later recommended.
  • Selflane POS  version 6.80 or later, installed on the iPhone.

Payment Processor

Enable Tap to Pay

  1. Open the Selflane POS app on the iPhone.
  2. Open an order and tap Pay.
  3. Under How to charge, choose Tap to Pay on iPhone and tap Next.
  4. On the Tap to Pay page, tap Enable Tap to Pay. Follow the iOS prompts to allow location services, sign in with the Apple ID associated with your business, and accept the Tap to Pay terms. Enabling Tap to Pay disconnects any Stripe reader connected to this iPhone.
  5. When it shows Tap to Pay is enabled, the page closes and Apple’s guide to tapping a card opens. Close it, then tap Next again to charge.

If it doesn’t connect within 30 seconds, the page shows Connection timeout. Please try again.

The prompts appear once per device. Subsequent payments skip the setup.

Tap to Pay setup promptTap to Pay terms acceptance

Accept a Payment

  1. Build the order in POS as usual.
  2. Tap Pay. Under How to charge, choose Tap to Pay on iPhone, then tap Next.
  3. When prompted, hold the customer’s contactless card or phone over the top of the iPhone’s NFC area.
  4. Wait for the green check mark before handing the iPhone back.
Customer tapping a card on iPhone

What If…

  • The reader prompt doesn’t appear. Confirm the device is iPhone XS or later, on iOS 16+, with POS 6.80+. iPads will never show the option.
  • Apple ID is wrong. Sign out of the Apple ID associated with the previous business in the iPhone’s Settings, then re-launch POS.
  • A payment fails. The reason shows in red on the Create a payment page. Try again, or choose Other Payment Methods to use a reader or another tender. See Stripe reader troubleshooting for what each message means.
Last updated on
Stripe TerminalPAX Services