Managing the lifecycle of a card software application received from a remote trusted service manager (TSM) for a secure element of a contactless smart card comprises receiving, from the remote TSM, a card application and an instruction for performing a function on the card application. The card application comprises account information of one card instrument and an application identifier (AID). The instruction is rendered in the secure element to perform the function on the card application. The card application is registered in a control application of the secure element using the AID. The control application comprises a list of AIDs of previously received and registered card software applications and a card application status tag for each of the listed AIDs. The card application status tag of the registered card application is updated in the control application based on the function performed.