What is NFC technology and how does it work?
Almost all smartphones and smart watches today are equipped with NFC technology . Whether you know it or not, your phone’s NFC scanner is probably active right now; But don’t worry, because the NFC chip in your phone isn’t an active scanner that won’t do anything until you hold it within a few inches of another NFC tag or device. If you’ve used Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay before , they won’t be with you until you need them, as many of your phone’s features run in the background without you realizing it .
You have probably used the NFC feature on your phone, or you went to a nice cafe on a sunny day and they told you that you can follow your menu and orders using NFC. However, NFC can be much more practical than that and affect our daily lives. In our article below, we will tell you what NFC is, everything about NFC, stay in Miket magazine.
What is NFC and what are its uses?
NFC, which stands for Near Field Communication, is a modern technology that allows devices such as smartphones and smartwatches to exchange small pieces of information with other NFC devices over relatively short distances. NFC technology is very similar to the radio frequency identification (RFID) commonly used on security cards and small keys that you probably use when entering your office or gym. Actually NFC is a newer generation that offers more advanced features and better security than RFID but these two technologies still share many features and if you don’t know the difference, you might know these two technologies interchangeably.
Perhaps most importantly, NFC does not require you to go through the complex steps you had to deal with before when working with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. All you have to do is place your smartphone within 10 to 20 cm of another NFC device; It’s instantly recognized and ready to work right now, what could be simpler than that?
As with most emerging technologies, NFC had many early uses that were never implemented. For example, Google came up with the idea of Android Beam to exchange data between smartphones, but Google quickly realized that most people don’t want to keep their phones close together to transfer photos and videos over the relatively slow NFC connection. . This technology was replaced by Fast Share, which was later renamed Near Share, using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, with a better range and higher transfer rate, and faster competitors soon replaced NFC.
By using NFC, you can exchange files or signals by creating a radio connection between two devices that support this technology, and with this, a connection with various features is created between devices that are within a short distance to each other. used in smartphones and even payment services.
A useful feature in modern mobile phones
After the initial excitement about the availability of NFC in smartphones faded, companies began to focus on more practical applications that would make better use of the technology. For example, payment cards and security tags have been using RFID for years, and NFC has since been introduced as a viable alternative to modern smartphones since it was built on it.
The most popular application of NFC is for the mobile payments we mentioned. While most of Europe and Canada are already using contactless payment cards, the idea has not been widely embraced in the United States and has yet to become mainstream. So when Apple introduced Apple Pay in 2014, it was truly a revolutionary technology that seemed to change everything. To be honest, it’s not bad to know that Google’s mobile payment solution actually predates Apple Pay by two years, but as the iPhone maker, Apple has put more effort into marketing Apple Pay and regulating banks and credit card companies, and the result is, Mobile’s payments began to increase significantly.
Even in countries where contactless cards are already common, Apple Pay and Google Pay offered something physical cards couldn’t: much better security and privacy. Yet anyone who used a physical credit card was easily at risk, and anyone could find it if their card was lost or misplaced, and in some cases misused. To use the mobile payment card, you must lock your smartphone before using it. This usually means entering a password or using the fingerprint scanner or facial recognition features, all of which are highly secure.
Using a smart watch for electronic payment
Today, almost every mobile phone that supports Apple, Google and even Samsung wallets can make instant mobile payments without the need for physical contact, and you can even do this with your smart watch. In fact, since the launch of the first Apple Watch in 2015, Apple has offered NFC mobile payment on its smart wristbands, where you can use NFC without the need for a mobile phone.
Generally, you just need to place your phone or smartwatch near the payment terminal and then confirm the transaction by following the on-screen instructions. Smartphones require you to verify your identity with a password or biometric feature; Generally, smartwatches do not need this extra step because they can detect that the watch is on your wrist and no additional confirmation is required.
Pay with Apple, Google and Samsung wallets
While Google and Samsung Wallet have built-in options on compatible Android smartphones and Wear OS smartwatches, they’re not the only ways to make NFC payments. Banking applications can directly access NFC hardware to provide mobile payment services. Unfortunately, this means that some financial institutions are trying to force you to open their own apps when you want to pay, instead of accepting the more widely used Google Wallet. Of course, Iranian programs do not use this feature, but in the past, metro tickets, etc., without the need for physical contact through the application application. There was a news that the payments could be made.
Using the power of the iPhone, Apple has limited the possibilities of making payments using the NFC chip so that you can only use it with Apple Pay and only available to iOS and Apple operating system users.
Apple and Google Wallet apps aren’t just for credit and debit cards and come with a wide variety of features; they also store loyalty cards, tickets and even referral cards. While most of these still work with visible barcodes, some, such as routing cards, can also be enabled to pay at NFC terminals and can simply scan your smartphone or smartwatch, making getting on the bus fast, easy, and hassle-free. Not available in Iran for Iranian users.
NFC Applications
As we said, you can expect various uses from NFC, which we have prepared a list for you here, of course, considering that this technology is not yet widespread in Iran, you may encounter difficulties in using the mentioned items.
- Electronic payments
- Print photos at high speed
- Transfer the image from mobile phone to TV
- Connecting to another device that supports this technology
- Wirelessly charge smart devices
- Audio transmission to speakers with NFC
- Buying public transport tickets
In this article, we took a look at NFC and its history and tried to explain some common uses of this technology. If you enjoyed reading this article, it’s not a bad idea to check out our other articles. Stay up to date with the latest news and information in the world of technology with Miket magazine.
