A new patent application uncovered by Patently Apple reveals that the company may be considering the expansion of Apple Pay into a wallet system capable of handling person-to-person transactions. Patent application 20150186887 describes a method that would allow two iPhone users to make a private sales transaction authenticated with Touch ID.
The system would leverage the iOS Wallet/Passbook app and an encrypted wireless communication channel between the two devices likely similar in concept to the technology Apple already uses for transferring data via AirDrop; the Wallet app would identify nearby devices enabled for receiving payments and allow the user to select a target device to send a payment to, enter an amount, authenticate the payment with Touch ID, and send it to the other device. The receiving user would then have the option of accepting or declining the payment, and choosing a target payment applet such as a mobile banking app.
The invention is attributed to Apple’s Senior Director of Apple Pay Engineering Timothy Hurley (formerly of Citibank) and Apple Pay engineer Ahmer Khan. The patent application was originally filed last year and as with many of Apple’s patent applications there are no guarantees as to when or if anything contained in the application may actually come to fruition.