What gives nfc in a smartphone. How to find out if your phone has NFC. Download and install new headset apps

NFC technology - what is it, why did it appear in our lives, and do you really need a smartphone with this mysterious technology? We understand today on the page of our portal.

What is the thing and what is it eaten with?

So, let's go: NFC in the phone, what is it and how to use it? NFC is wireless way communication, literally translated from English as "near communication" - Near field communication. This technology "came out" in 2004. (at the time of this writing, this is neither more nor less - (!); 15 years ago! However, it is safe to say that popularity came to her only 2-3 years ago.

The main scope of this technology is payments, then in popularity - reading information embedded in tags, and less often - data exchange. So, it is precisely because of the lack of payment terminals that the NFC function that supports contactless payment did not gain popularity at first.

What about today? According to a study by Alfa-Bank, in 2018, every ninth non-cash payment transaction was carried out using NFC (which is 5 times more than, for example, in 2017). Experts predict that in 2019 every sixth payment will be made using the NFC module. đź‘Ť


Plus, phones with an NFC chip at the beginning of their history were no longer cheap, and Chinese manufacturers (whose smartphones are relatively inexpensive) generally ignored the emergence of such technology in the beginning. However, over time, the situation has changed radically, every year more and more people use the technology.

We have collected for you a small statistics of sales of phones with NFC in Russia (according to the Svyaznoy company).

Advantages :

  • almost instantaneous connection establishment (0.1 sec);
  • relatively inexpensive cost (here, by the way, someone can argue, because according to the data for 2018, the average cost of a smartphone with NFC was neither more nor less than 27,500 rubles);
  • compact size of the chip itself;
  • high level of security (unlike Bluetoth).
  • simple setup (we will give instructions below).

Flaws:

  • very low speed transfers;
  • small radius of action (up to 10 centimeters), although this can be considered a plus, because this ensures the security of payments. The operation will take place only if the phone is tightly attached to the POS-terminal.

Payment by phone: setting up NFC

The NFC module in a smartphone is most often used to pay for purchases. Perhaps this is the opportunity I use every day. You do not need to take your wallet with you, remember about the card, because the phone is always with you. Setting up NFC on your phone is very easy!

Please note that the card that you plan to link to your phone must be marked Paypass, which means "contactless payment". If there is no such mark on your card, you should contact the bank to reissue the card.

Now I show you step by step how to set up NFC (nfc) for payment on your phone and link a card.

  • If your phone is on Android system, You must first enable the NFC function on your phone. To do this, go to "Settings" - " Wireless networks". If you have an iPhone, you can skip this step, NFC is enabled by default there.
  • Iphone owners- you will need to go to the Wallet application (it is by default). If we talk about Androids, everything is the same there. For example, in Samsung immediately there is the SamsungPay application). Click on the plus in the upper right corner). By the way, I talked about it separately.
  • Let's start the process of adding a map. In the form that appears, add all the card data.
  • Next, click "Accept".

Contactless payment apps will definitely remind you to lock your phone with a PIN code to secure your finances.

That's all. Thinking about how to use nfc on your phone to pay in a store? Yes, nowhere is easier - you just put your phone to the payment terminal and confirm the operation with your fingerprint. True, for the first payment for the purchase by phone, I still took the card with me.

Fraud and other horror stories about NFC

Everything new is always scary and many still do not use contactless payments. consider this method unsafe. But let's think together - is it much safer to carry money in your pocket or a card? Of course not, just more familiar!

Even if sadness happens and the phone is stolen, it will not be possible to make a payment without you. After all, to make any payment via NFC, you need a fingerprint (Touch ID) or a face scan (Face ID). Yes! I also heard stories about a severed finger, but these are “tales” - nothing more :). I have not found a single confirmed case at the time of writing.

But if a card with a contactless payment function is stolen, the risk of losing money is higher, but it is limited to 1000 rubles. It is this limit of transactions that do not require a PIN code that is set in Russia. This is what scammers use in crowded places. The principle can be understood from the photo below. But again, the theft will be up to 1000 at a time.

NFC for data transfer

In addition to the possibility of payment, the NFC chip in the smartphone also allows you to transfer data. The opportunities for transmission are, of course, small. You can only transfer small files, links, in general, everything that you usually send via the Internet or, in extreme cases, Bluetooth. Moreover, as I wrote above, to transfer using NFC, you need to attach the phones very close to each other. In addition, you still need to install the application.

NFC differs from Bluetooth in several ways:

  1. Connecting via NFC is almost instantaneous. It is for this reason that technology is used to emulate bank card;
  2. Very, very small range. As we have already said, this is both a plus (provides more security), but also a minus - it may not always be convenient.
  3. The NFC sensor may be active even if the main device is turned off.

To be honest, I have never used NFC to transfer any files or information, although the NFC module is present in my smartphone, I just don’t understand why it is needed, if there is Mobile Internet, Wi-Fi, but this is my subjective opinion.

Reading information using NFC

Another of the areas of application of this technology, which, by the way, is gaining momentum, but so far seems to be a distant future - NFC tags. They can encrypt absolutely any information, and be considered by any device with an NFC module. This is something like a QR code that is scanned by a mobile camera and then information appears on your phone that was included in this code. (I wrote more about and even how to create them separately)

The NFC tag is a very tiny chip. It is due to its compact size that it can be placed anywhere, even implanted into the human body, and such cases already exist.

Today, there are about 50,000 people worldwide who implanted NFC tags. Someone can not think if he took the keys to the house or his garage. There are also those who encrypt the data of their work pass, passport or medical card into the label. Imagine: I drove up to the barrier, put my hand - it opened. No need to look for anything, your hand is always there). In Russia, for example, there is a man who implanted an NFC chip from a Troika card in his hand. Now he will definitely not lose her and will not forget her at home. Convenience or fantasy? Call it what you want, but this is today's reality. More information about in our other article.

Another way is to go through the "Settings" section. There should be at least some mention of NFC, for example, in the "Wireless Networks" section.

If you have not found anything like this, then so far this technology has bypassed you.

The NFS module for the phone is installed in the model of the middle and high price segment. For example, in recent generations Galaxy and iPhone (starting with) creators have been adding this feature for several years now. However, in most countries, the use of tags is rather poorly developed.

Where is the chip located in a mobile device?

The NFC module in the phone is placed under its back cover, near the battery. It is with this part that it is more logical to attach the phone to another device.

What gadgets are equipped with an NFC module?

Well, of course, first of all, these are smartphones, and now they are being put in more budget models and in models from Chinese manufacturers. You can find a list of smartphones with NFC support.

A very handy thing is a watch with NFC. Well, imagine, standing in the store, you do not even need to look for money, or a card, or a phone - after all, the watch is always on hand. I don't think it's more convenient! The probability of theft of such a device is small, and, by the way, even if the watch is removed from the hand, it will no longer be possible to pay with it.

Fitness bracelets with NFC technology are also gaining popularity. Such a gadget on Yandex.Market costs from 2500-15000 rubles.

An NFC ring is a less familiar thing for me and I didn’t have the opportunity to test such a gadget live. To be honest, it's embarrassing that it's very easy to lose him. If someone has experience using it, please share it with us in the comments.

In conclusion, I want to say once again to those who are interested in this technology: The NFC function in the phone, in the watch, in the bracelet, and anywhere - it's really very convenient, simple and safe! I hope that my material was useful to you.

What is NFC and how to use it on Android?

Since its inception, Near Field Communication (NFC) has found its wide application in wireless payments. Many companies use this technology in business cards, secure access keys, and even for special cards that are used in buffets and canteen companies when buying food.

Even the old traditional business cards have not escaped technological innovation. This way you can share your contact information quickly and interactively. With this tool, you can transfer phone numbers and other information from a friend to any other compatible device with a simple device approach.

In addition, there are still many applications for this technology, including interface devices to use another form of data transmission. Thus, you quickly connect devices and transfer large files at a faster speed. In the "Settings" menu of your device, select the "Advanced Settings" option.

Increasingly, NFC has begun to be used in the mobile industry. Many manufacturers of Android smartphones and tablets have begun to include NFC in their flagship devices. If you want to know how to use Near Field Communication or if your device supports this type of connection, then this article may be useful to you.

What is NFC?

The name of this technology tells how it works. We have two devices that support NFC, and they will only work if they are in close proximity to each other. The connection is carried out by means of radio waves.

Download and install new headset apps

With everything prepared, go through your files and select the item to be sent to your friend. Now lean back one phone against the other and wait for the signal to start transmitting. Confirm the operation and wait for the process to start. Thus, when another smartphone starts receiving data, you can already move the devices away and wait for the task to complete.

  • Then tap the search icon again.
  • Click "Download", "Accept" and download.
Use short distance communication to share information with other devices such as videos, photos, web page addresses, music files or contacts.

Once you have activated NFC, you can use it to transfer data. For successful data exchange between tablets and phones, please note the following:

Both the sending and receiving devices must have NFC enabled and Android Beam enabled.

None of the devices should be in sleep mode or have a locked screen.

When you bring two devices close enough to each other, a beep will sound to let you know that the devices have found each other.

Do not separate the devices until the data transfer is complete and you hear a successful beep.

Data transfer via NFC

Place the back panels of the devices against each other.

Wait until confirmation appears that both devices have found each other and the sender's screen shows "click to send data":


Click on the screen and the data transfer will start:


You will hear an audible confirmation, both at the beginning and at the end of the data transfer.

Application Sharing

With NFC, you cannot exchange APK files. Instead, the sending device sends the other device a link to the app on the Google Play Store, and the recipient opens a page on the Store offering to install it.

Web page sharing

Just like in the previous case, the web page is not transferred from one device to another, but only a link to it is exchanged, which the recipient tablet or phone opens in its web browser.

Exchange youtube video

Again, when sharing a YouTube video, there is no transfer of the file itself - just a second device will open the same video on the YouTube site.

Using NFC tags.

In addition to sharing information between tablets and phones, you can use your device to read (and write) data from NFC tags and smart cards equipped with an NFC chip.


NFC chips are small enough that they can be embedded anywhere - in Business Cards, bracelets, product labels, stickers, price tags and other items. They can contain information about a person, a URL, information about a product, and even commands that your phone or tablet will have to execute when you tap these tags.

To read data from NFC tags (or to write information to them), you will, of course, need a special application.

For example, using the Yandex.Metro program, you can find out how many trips are left on a one-time Moscow Metro card, and the NFC App Launcher program will allow you to program your phone or tablet to perform certain actions by placing the relevant information in an NFC tag.

Conclusion

Most of the modern Android phones and tablets are already equipped with NFC adapters, but so far this function has little demand and its use is still limited, mainly by the ability to quickly exchange content and contactless payment for services. However, in the future, NFC can penetrate into all areas of our lives, sometimes even completely unexpected ones.

Hello everyone, today we will consider what NFC is. This technology has appeared in smartphones for a long time, but many users undeservedly deprive it of attention. Why is it needed? What can she do and where is NFC used? All these questions will be answered in this article. First, let's figure out what this strange abbreviation NFC means. It stands for Near field communication, which translates as near field communication or near non-contact communication.

Distance at which it works NFS technology does not exceed 10 centimeters. AND maximum speed transmission is only 424 kbps. The central frequency of NFC is 13.56 MHz. The technology has been developed since 2004, and the first specification of the standard was approved in 2006. And at the same time, the first NFC-enabled device came out - Nokia 6131.

In a nutshell, the principle of NFC technology can be described as follows. Each device has an induction coil that generates an electromagnetic field. On another device there is another similar coil, in which, under the influence of the field of the first coil, electricity arises, which is subsequently converted into a signal. Devices in turn generate electromagnetic fields and exchange them. This mode of operation is called active. And there is also a passive mode, this is when only one device generates an electromagnetic field. This is how cards or RFID tags work.

Now let's look at why we need NFC in a smartphone. The first and perhaps the most common use is file transfer. There is one common myth here, many people think that the transfer is carried out directly via NFC. But in fact, the data is sent either via bluetooth or via Wi-Fi Direct.

NFC acts as a trusted identifier for devices. For example, Google's transfer technology android data Bin uses Bluetooth to transfer data, but for everything to work as it should, the devices first need to see each other via NFC. Samsung has its own implementation of sbin, it transfers data many times faster due to the fact that it already works over Wi-Fi.

The second application of NFC, which has become increasingly popular, is contactless payments. At the moment, a number of banks and e-wallets have learned to work with NFC in smartphones. As a result, now with the help of the NSF you can pay for travel in public transport, lunch in a cafe or purchases in a supermarket. This payment method is good because it is very close at hand. If the card can still be forgotten, then we do not part with the phone even in a dream.

In order for all this magic to work, we need to have three things.

  1. Obviously a smartphone with an NFC chip
  2. Special software for payment and data storage (payment system card details).
  3. A terminal in a store that accepts contactless payment.

You probably have a question: “How safe are NSF payments?”. Can any craftsman carry out a transaction remotely without your knowledge? Well, judge for yourself. In order to make a payment, the phone must be brought at a distance of about 5 centimeters to the terminal, while the smartphone must be unlocked. And the probability that these two conditions will be at least somehow rigged by a fraudster tends to zero. But even if the stars do not converge in your favor, then your wallet will be protected by a limit on the maximum payment amount. In most payment systems and wallets, it is set to 10-15 bucks by default. The threshold can be removed if desired.

In addition to payments, NFC allows you to quickly pair with peripheral devices. Can be connected to your smartphone in seconds bluetooth headphones, speaker or even TV. For example, Sony has TV models to which you can connect your phone via NFC. If you wish, the list of unusual things that can be connected via NFC can be continued for a very long time, and I will give just a few examples. The first thing that comes to mind is a door lock with an NFC chip that can be opened from a smartphone, which is very convenient. You can also use the NFC ring for this.

You simply program the necessary action algorithm and bind it to the label. We got into the car, put the phone to the tag and your smartphone did everything that was needed. You can come up with a whole bunch of similar scenarios for both work and home. Fortunately, these tags are not very expensive on Aliexpress. Most likely, this article does not describe all the ways to use NFC, and if you somehow use this technology in an unusual way, share your ideas in the comments.

It stands for Near field communication, which can be translated as "near field communication" or as "near contactless communication." As the name implies, this is a technology for wireless communication over short distances.

NFC technology can be used to solve a wide variety of tasks. For example, using NFC, you can pay for purchases, identify your identity, set up wireless connections and much more.

In this article, you will learn how to enable NFC on Android smartphone, as well as what Android Beam is, how to enable and use it.

In order to enable NFC on an Android smartphone, you need to open the settings and go to the section with additional settings for wireless networks. This section usually called "More" and is located immediately after the sections "Wi-Fi", "Bluetooth", and "Data transmission".

After opening the "More" section, you will see additional settings for wireless networks. If your Android smartphone supports NFC technology, then there will be a corresponding switch that allows you to disable and enable NFC.

How to enable Android Beam

Android Beam is a Google technology that allows you to transfer web pages, contacts, coordinates, directions, as well as photos and videos from one Android device to another using NFC technology.

The process of transferring data via Android Beam is very simple. All you have to do is unlock the two smartphones and place them back to back. After that, the devices will automatically detect each other and a prompt will appear on the screen to send data.

In order to enable Android Beam technology, you must first enable NFC, as described above. After enabling NFC, the “Android Beam” section will become available just below.

If you open the "Android Beam" section, then there will be a switch with which you can enable or disable this feature.

NFC in the phone is a wireless communication technology High Quality with a small radius of influence, which allows you to exchange information between two gadgets without contact. NFC is based on RFID, which is radio frequency recognition, which is a method of mechanical identification of an object.

What is "NFC"?

NFC is a contactless technology that can read and send information from devices over short distances. The abbreviation stands for "Near Fild Communication". It is based on the principle of radio signal exchange, identical to Bluetooth, but there is a significant difference. Bluetooth transmits data over long distances, several hundred meters, and NFC requires no more than 10 centimeters. This technology was developed as an extension for contactless cards, but it quickly gained popularity, and developers found it used in other devices.

Three ways have been developed to use this technology in cellular:

  • reading mode;
  • emulation when the device works as a payment card or pass;
  • P2P mode when information is exchanged between phones.

The chip is stored in a cell phone and used as a means of payment, you can book tickets, pay for parking a car or travel on the subway, and provide access control. Thanks to technological processes payments without contact, MasterCard PayPass and Visa PayWave cards with integrated antennas appeared, where the role of NFC is taken into account, applications for android smartphones have been developed.

What is NFC in a smartphone - in close contact, a pair of devices communicate by induction of a magnetic field, when closely contacting loop antennas form an educator. Under the influence of NFC, frequencies in the spectrum of 13.56 megahertz are allocated, and the information transfer rate can reach 400 kilobits per second. The device operates in two modes:

  1. Active. Both gadgets are provided with a power source and transmit information in turn.
  2. Passive. The power of the field of one of the devices is used.

Which phones have NFC?

NFC in the phone gives a chance to pay for purchases by touching the mobile phone to the terminal, this is a kind of bank card in a cell phone. Even 6 years ago, there were few devices that supported NFC, and now tablets, watches and other devices are equipped with chips. Which phones have this device:

  • Apple - all iPhone models;
  • Sony - Xperia S, L, Z series;
  • Samsung – Galaxy S series;
  • Motorola;
  • Nokia Lumia.

How do I know if my phone supports NFC?

How to check if NFC is available in the phone? There are several ways:

  1. Remove the back cover of the smartphone and inspect the battery, it should have the inscription "NFC".
  2. In the settings, find the "Wireless networks" tab, click on "More", if the technology is available, a line with the name of the technology will appear.
  3. Swipe your hand across the screen, open the notification curtain, where this option will be written.

If there is no NFC, what should I do?

NFC in the phone - what are these modules? There are such main types:

  • sim cards;
  • external devices;
  • microcircuits;
  • NFC modules;
  • stickers.

The NFC-module can be bought together with phones, but they are also sold separately. Stickers are attached to the cell body, they are of two types:

  1. Active. Provides Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity but consumes a lot of power and requires frequent recharging.
  2. Passive. They do not exchange information with the phone and do not write it to the device through the mobile communication channels.

How to install an NFC chip in a phone?

If it is not initially in the device, the NFC module for the phone can be purchased and installed. There are two options to choose from:

  1. NFC-sim card, they are now sold by many mobile operators.
  2. NFC antenna. If there is no near field, this is the best way out. Communication stores also have such devices, they are glued to the SIM card, under the cover of the mobile phone. But there is one minus: if the back cover is not removed or the hole for the SIM card is on the side, you will not be able to install such an antenna

How to enable NFC?

A device with NFC can be not only a wallet, travel and discount coupon, special tags also help to read data about goods in stores, about any objects in museums and galleries. How does it turn on?

  1. In the settings, select "Wireless networks", then - "More".
  2. The desired inscription will appear, check the box "Activate".

If your smartphone has an NFC chip, you need to activate Android Beam:

  1. In the settings, click the "Advanced" tab.

Click on the NFC switch, the android function will be activated automatically. If this does not happen, you need to click on the "Android Beam" tab and select "enable".

  1. In order for the data exchange to go smoothly, you need to make sure that both phones support NFC and Android Beam, first you need to activate them. The following is the action plan:
  2. Select a file to transfer.
  3. Hug each other rear covers phones.
  4. Keep devices up to sound signal, which will confirm that the exchange has ended.

Regardless of the type of file, NFC technology assumes such an algorithm for transmitting information:

  1. Keep devices only reverse side one to another.
  2. Wait until they find each other.
  3. Confirm the data transfer request.
  4. Wait for a message that the process has completed.