FAQ: What is Apple VAS

Apple VAS (Value Added Services) are concerned with storing and using digital passes in your Apple Wallet. In the same way that Apple Pay replaces bank cards when making contactless payments, Apple Wallet will store NFC enabled digital passes, which replace physical loyalty cards, event tickets, club membership numbers, QR-codes and other IDs used for non-banking applications. NFC passes in Apple Wallet can only be used with readers that support the Apple Pay VAS (Value Added Services) protocol.

Apple VAS reader ‘Tap-and-Go’

VTAP Apple VAS readers auto-detect the relevant NFC pass from locked iPhones – making interactions hassle-free for users, and dramatically improving throughput for venue managers.
Ticket entry is many times faster with NFC wallet passes, compared to QR-codes – which must be manually selected from a wallet after first unlocking the phone.

Apple Wallet NFC reader security

All pass data exchanged over NFC is securely encrypted using ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) and merchant-specific key pairs.
Unlike QR-codes, NFC wallet passes cannot be copied by a screen-grab and then shared.

Apple VAS NFC readers

The range of VTAP NFC wallet pass readers has been fully certified by Apple to work with their VAS protocol – including all the features necessary to enable automatic pass selection and decryption.