NFC Chips

Originally Posted 6/2/23; updated 3/5/24

What are NFC Chips?

I actually created a video on this if you rather watch something, just click below!

But for those who would rather read, NFC stands for Near Field Communication. You might've used this technology without knowing if you've ever used Apple Pay or Android pay, or paid with a card that taps. It's the technology behind making all of those systems work. Here in the US, I don't really remember Apple Pay or similar ways to pay becoming really that available until at least 2014, and even now in 2023 I don't see that many people use tap to pay with their phones, and with cards it's sort of hit or miss. The first time I became aware of NFC was with a Nexus 7 tablet I owned, which came out in 2012. According to this article though (Update the site I originally linked to didn't seem available anymore), NFC was available in phones going all the way back to 2006.

Another way you might've interacted with NFC and not known it is with Nintendo's Amiibos, which work by using NFC.

NFC Chips are these small chips you can order off of amazon and program so that when a phone taps them, something happens.

Some Common Ways to use NFC Chips

Looking around online, the most common ways I see suggested to use NFC Chips are for providing WiFi passwords for guests, setting timers on your phone (such as for laundry), or as a way to direct someone to your website or give them your contact info.

In order to program an NFC chip, on Android at least, you need an app. I personally use NFC Tasks and NFC Tools. You start by opening the app, choosing what you'd like to program the NFC chip to do, select "Write", and then tap the chip and you're good to go! Or, at least, in theory.

Some Issues with NFC

In my experience, NFC has been ridiculously finicky and is extremely hit or miss if it actually works or not. Usually with the phone I program the chips on I have absolutely no problem. But when I have other people try tapping the chip, it's a mixed bag of if it'll work for them or not. iPhones in particular can be really bad with it. This website here talks about which iPhones have NFC, and provides a chart for which ones can do what with NFC. According to those charts, all newer iPhones should be able to do what Android can do with NFC. However, in practice, most of the times I've had friends with iPhones tap a chip for WiFi, it simply doesn't work. Hell, even for some of my Android friends it just simply doesn't. And then of course after people try that, I have to sort of defeatedly just provide the password normally anyways. Honestly, a QR code becomes a better idea.

But, that said, setting timers only needs to work on your personal phone, so could still be a useful thing if you put one next to your washing machine and just tap it when you put a load in. Or if in the kitchen there's a common amount of time you need a timer for, you can set one up there and just tap your phone and you're good to go. One way I used to use NFC is when you tapped it, it provided the Bluetooth signal for my car radio. So when friends got in and wanted to play music, they could just tap the chip and it would pair with the car radio.

Wrap Up

It's a bit of a mixed bag with NFC chips, as in my day to day life I don't find myself using them that much. But it's a cool piece of technology I wanted to share in case it gave anyone else some ideas!