NFC reader: what is it and how to use it on your phone?
NFC is becoming more and more intertwined in our daily lives. Thanks to this smart technology, you never have to worry again if you have forgotten or lost a bank card or public transport chip card. We use it to check in for public transport, make contactless payments and exchange data. what is NFC and how to use it on your phone
You can discover exactly what NFC is and how you benefit from the NFC reader in your phone in this article.
What is NFC?
The meaning of NFC is ‘Near Field Communication’, because this smart technology communicates wirelessly between two devices within a small distance of 10 centimeters. The purpose of exchanging information at this close distance is to make this process as secure as possible. For example, the information between an NFC tag and an NFC reader is less easy to intercept. Another advantage of an NFC reader is that it is easier to use than, for example, a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection. To make an NFC connection, it is not necessary to activate settings, this connection works even faster and consumes less energy.
What can you do with the NFC reader on your mobile phone?
But what exactly is NFC on your phone? Today, most newer smartphone models are equipped with an NFC chip. NFC on your phone allows it to exchange information with other phones or devices that have an NFC reader. Here are a few examples of how NFC works and what you can use NFC for with your phone.
Pay with NFC
Contactless payment has been a well-known concept for many years, with which you could pay for groceries or other purchases with a bank card, without placing your debit card in the payment terminal and often without entering a pin code. This made the whole process in line at the checkout much faster. Now, thanks to NFC technology, we also have the option to pay without a physical bank card at all. This way you can leave that thick wallet or extra cardholder at home and you won’t lose time looking for and storing it. Payment with NFC does not require contact between the device, such as your smartphone, and the payment terminal. Hold your phone about 10 cm away from the NFC reader to make contact for your payment. Once the NFC reader and NFC tag can make contact,
For some people, the NFC payment still raises many questions, especially in the field of security. Keeping a physical debit card close and protecting it is simply easier than understanding such a smart technology as NFC. But we can reassure you that an NFC payment is in fact very safe, especially compared to the magnetic strips of physical bank cards. The data on a magnetic card is static – they are all on the back of your bank card. Unlike the data of an NFC transaction which is encrypted and dynamic meaning it is constantly changing. Later in this article, we explain how you can make an NFC payment with your phone.
Check-in with NFC
To use public transport, you no longer need a physical public transport chip card, public transport season ticket, or paper public transport ticket. Checking in is now easy via contactless payment with your debit or credit card. And by this, we also mean these types of payment cards that are installed on your phone. You hold the payment card or your phone against the card reader on the platform or at the gates to check in and check out in the same way with the same card. This way you no longer have to stress whether you have enough time to stand in line to buy a train ticket or to top up the balance of your public transport chip card. Travelers using a season ticket will still need to use an OV chip card.
Exchange data with NFC
Other data besides that of your bank cards can also be exchanged by means of NFC. In Android phones, you could previously share photos, links and contacts via NFC technology thanks to Android Beam, among other things. This was done by holding the backs of two Android phones close together (within 10 cm), when the NFC function was activated on both Android phones. Then a pop-up appeared on the screen to share the information in your current tab or content from an app. However, this feature has been discontinued since the Android 10 software update in September of 2019, after which it was replaced with Nearby Share. Nearby Share on Android phones works the same as the AirDrop feature on iPhones. This lets you share links or files over a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection, depending on what you want to share.
Where NFC is still widely used for data exchange, the NFC tags are available separately. You can set these handy tags individually and use them to create a smart home. For example, you can grant access to a building or automatically adjust the settings of your phone.
Enable NFC on iPhone what is NFC and how to use it on your phone
Technically, you can’t enable NFC on your iPhone. From iPhone 6 to the latest model, an NFC chip is built into the hardware of your phone as standard. These phones are designed to be always available for NFC-enabled apps and to always be able to exchange information with NFC readers. The battery of the device containing an NFC chip or tag allows the chip to exchange information. So it is not possible to turn on NFC on your iPhone. The chip or tag is only activated when it comes close enough to another NFC reader or tag. This makes exchanging information via NFC very economical for your battery.
While you don’t choose to turn NFC on and you can’t turn it off completely, there are options for limiting the NFC feature on your iPhone. For example, you can limit apps in their access to NFC or you can adjust your phone’s security settings for NFC activities. There are also special covers for your phone that are specifically designed to block signals from NFC, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, among others.
Since NFC is an important integral function for iPhones, it is not recommended to limit the function. This may affect the functionality of certain apps and applications.
Turn on NFC on an Android what is NFC and how to use it on your phone
On Android devices, on the other hand, it is easy to turn on NFC. To do this, go to the settings of the device and then check under ‘connected devices’ whether NFC is also indicated here. If so, you can also immediately turn on NFC for this Android device. Now you can use your phone directly for contactless payments, checking in for public transport and reading other NFC tags. Enabling NFC for Samsung models works the same as for other Android phones such as Sony, Huawei and Nexus.
Prefer not to use NFC? So you can turn it off
Although you can’t turn off NFC on the iPhone, you can on Android devices. You can turn off NFC by following these steps:
- Go to the settings app from your phone’s menu or home screen.
- Find “Networks”, “Connectivity” or “Wireless Connections” in the menu of your settings.
- If necessary, first tap on “More” or immediately on “NFC and payment”.
- Turn the switch to “off”.
This step-by-step plan also applies to turning off NFC on Samsung.
