Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of

communication protocols A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics and synchron ...

that enables

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be used to bootstrap more-capable wireless connections. Like other "

proximity card A proximity card or prox card also known as a key card or keycard is a contactless smart card which can be read without inserting it into a reader device, as required by earlier magnetic stripe cards such as credit cards and contact type sma ...

" technologies, NFC is based on

inductive coupling In electrical engineering, two conductors are said to be inductively coupled or magnetically coupled when they are configured in a way such that change in current through one wire induces a voltage across the ends of the other wire through el ...

between two so-called

antennas In radio engineering, an antenna or aerial is the interface between radio waves propagating through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies a ...

present on NFC-enabled devices—for example a smartphone and a printer—communicating in one or both directions, using a frequency of 13.56 MHz in the globally available unlicensed

radio frequency Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the upp ...

ISM band The ISM radio bands are portions of the radio spectrum reserved internationally for industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) purposes, excluding applications in telecommunications. Examples of applications for the use of radio frequency (RF) ener ...

using the

ISO/IEC 18000-3 ISO/IEC 18000-3 is an international standard for passive RFID item level identification and describes the parameters for air interface communications at 13.56 MHz. The target markets for MODE 2 are in tagging systems for manufacturing, logistics, r ...

air interface standard at data rates ranging from 106 to 424 kbit/s. The standards were provided by the NFC Forum. The forum was responsible for promoting the technology and setting standards and certifies device compliance. Secure communications are available by applying encryption algorithms as is done for credit cards and if they fit the criteria for being considered a

personal area network A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network for interconnecting electronic devices within an individual person's workspace. A PAN provides data transmission among devices such as computers, smartphones, tablets and personal digital assi ...

. NFC standards cover communications protocols and data exchange formats and are based on existing

radio-frequency identification Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

(RFID) standards including

ISO/IEC 14443 ISO/IEC 14443 ''Identification cards -- Contactless integrated circuit cards -- Proximity cards'' is an international standard that defines proximity cards used for identification, and the transmission protocols for communicating with it. Standa ...

and

FeliCa FeliCa is a contactless Radio-frequency identification, RFID smart cards, smart card system from Sony in Japan, primarily used in electronic money cards. The name stands for ''Felicity Card''. First utilized in the Octopus card system in Hong Kong, ...

. The standards include ISO/IEC 18092 and those defined by the NFC Forum. In addition to the NFC Forum, the

GSMA The GSM Association (commonly referred to as 'the GSMA' or ''Global System for Mobile Communications'', originally ''Groupe Spécial Mobile'') is an industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide. More ...

group defined a platform for the deployment of GSMA NFC Standards within mobile handsets. GSMA's efforts include Trusted Services Manager,

Single Wire Protocol The Single Wire Protocol (SWP) is a specification for a single-wire connection between the SIM card and a near field communication (NFC) chip in a cell phone. It was under final review by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). ...

, testing/certification and secure element. NFC-enabled portable devices can be provided with

application software Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...

, for example to read electronic tags or make payments when connected to an NFC-compliant system. These are standardized to NFC protocols, replacing proprietary technologies used by earlier systems. A patent licensing program for NFC is under deployment by France Brevets, a patent fund created in 2011. This program was under development by Via Licensing Corporation, an independent subsidiary of

Dolby Laboratories Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in Noise reduction#In audio, audio noise reduction, Audio data compression, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and ...

, and was terminated in May 2012. A platform-independent

free and open source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

NFC library, , is available under the

GNU Lesser General Public License The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a free-software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their own ...

. Present and anticipated applications include contactless transactions, data exchange and simplified setup of more complex communications such as

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

. In addition, when one of the connected devices has Internet connectivity, the other can exchange data with online services.

History

NFC is rooted in

technology (known as RFID) which allows compatible hardware to both supply power to and communicate with an otherwise unpowered and passive electronic tag using radio waves. This is used for identification, authentication and tracking. Similar ideas in advertising and industrial applications were not generally successful commercially, outpaced by technologies such as

QR codes A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about the ...

barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...

s and

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

RFID tags. * May 17, 1983: The first patent to be associated with the abbreviation "

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

" was granted to Charles Walton. * 1997: Early form patented and first used in ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' character toys for

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

. The patent was originally held by Andrew White and Marc Borrett at Innovision Research and Technology (Patent WO9723060). The device allowed data communication between two units in close proximity. * March 25, 2002:

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

and

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

agreed to establish a technology specification and created a technical outline.

Philips Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) is a Dutch semiconductor designer and manufacturer with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company employs approximately 31,000 people in more than 30 countries. NXP reported revenue of $11.06 billion in 2 ...

applied for the six fundamental patents of NFC, invented by the Austrian and French engineers Franz Amtmann and Philippe Maugars who received the

European Inventor Award The European Inventor Award(formerly European Inventor of the Year Award, renamed in 2010), are presented annually by the European Patent Office, sometimes supported by the respective Presidency of the Council of the European Union and by the Eur ...

in 2015. * December 8, 2003: NFC was approved as an

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

IEC The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; in French: ''Commission électrotechnique internationale'') is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and r ...

standard and later as an ECMA standard. * 2004: Nokia, Philips and Sony established the NFC Forum * 2004: Nokia launched NFC shell add-on for Nokia 5140 and later

Nokia 3220 The Nokia 3220 is a GSM, Series 40 mobile phone from Nokia. The Nokia 3220 was introduced on 31 May 2004 as a "fun" device with LED lights and Xpress-on covers. It was the first entry-level phone that offered full access to the Internet, with a ...

models, to be shipped in 2005. * 2005: Mobile phone experimentations in transports, with payment in May in

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...

(Nokia) and as well validation aboard in October in Nice with Orange and payment in shops in October in

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Samsung) with first reception of "Fly Tag" informations * 2006: Initial specifications for NFC Tags * 2006: Specification for "SmartPoster" records * 2007: Innovision’s NFC tags used in the first consumer trial in the UK, in the

Nokia 6131 The Nokia 6131/Nokia 6133 is a Nokia clamshell phone introduced by Nokia in February 2006. The Nokia 6131 NFC variant was Nokia's first telephone with NFC, but not the world's first. The Panasonic P506iC with integrated FeliCa NFC was launched ...

handset. * 2008:

AirTag AirTag is a tracking device developed by Apple. AirTag is designed to act as a key finder, which helps people find personal objects (e.g. keys, bags, apparel, small electronic devices, vehicles). To locate lost items, AirTags use Apple's crowds ...

launched what it called the first NFC SDK. * 2009: In January, NFC Forum released Peer-to-Peer standards to transfer contacts, URLs, initiate Bluetooth, etc. * 2009: NFC first used in transports by China Unicom and Yucheng Transportation Card in the tramways and bus of

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

on 19 January 2009, then implemented for the first time in a metro network, by China Unicom in Beijing on 31 December 2010. *2010: Innovision released a suite of designs and patents for low cost, mass-market mobile phones and other devices. * 2010:

Nokia C7 The Nokia C7-00 is a smartphone from the Nokia Cseries. It was introduced on 14 September 2010 and released in Q4 2010. The C7-00 features a , 640 x 360 pixel capacitive touchscreen and features 720p video recording, and was also the world's fir ...

: First NFC-capable smartphone released. NFC feature was enabled by software update in early 2011. * 2010: Samsung Nexus S: First

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

NFC phone shown * May 21, 2010:

Nice, France Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

launches, with "Cityzi", the "Nice City of contactless mobile" project, the first in Europe to provide inhabitants with NFC bank cards and mobile phones (like Samsung Player One S5230), and a "bouquet of services" covering transportation (tramways and bus), tourism and student's services * 2011: Google I/O "How to NFC" demonstrates NFC to initiate a game and to share a contact, URL, app or video. * 2011: NFC support becomes part of the

Symbian Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typic ...

mobile operating system with the release of Symbian Anna version. * 2011: Research In Motion devices are the first ones certified by MasterCard Worldwide for their PayPass service * 2012: UK restaurant chain EAT. and Everything Everywhere ( Orange Mobile Network Operator), partner on the UK's first nationwide NFC-enabled smartposter campaign. A dedicated mobile phone app is triggered when the NFC-enabled mobile phone comes into contact with the smartposter. * 2012: Sony introduced NFC "Smart Tags" to change modes and profiles on a Sony smartphone at close range, included with the Sony Xperia P Smartphone released the same year. * 2013: Samsung and VISA announce their partnership to develop mobile payments. * 2013: IBM scientists, in an effort to curb fraud and security breaches, develop an NFC-based mobile authentication security technology. This technology works on similar principles to

dual-factor authentication Multi-factor authentication (MFA; encompassing two-factor authentication, or 2FA, along with similar terms) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting ...

security. * October 2014: Dinube becomes the first non-card payment network to introduce NFC contactless payments natively on a mobile device, i.e. no need for an external case attached or NFC 'sticker' nor for a card. Based on Host card emulation with its own ''application identifier'' (AID), contactless payment was available on

Android KitKat Android KitKat is the codename for the eleventh Android mobile operating system, representing release version 4.4. Unveiled on September 3, 2013, KitKat focused primarily on optimizing the operating system for improved performance on entry-level ...

upwards and commercial release commenced in June 2015. * 2014: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile released Softcard (formerly ISIS mobile wallet). It runs on NFC-enabled Android phones and iPhone 4 and

iPhone 5 The iPhone 5 is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the 6th generation iPhone, succeeding both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and preceding both the iPhone 5S and 5C. It was formally unveiled as part of a press e ...

when an external NFC case is attached. The technology was purchased by Google and the service ended on March 31, 2015. * November 2015: Swatch and Visa Inc. announced a partnership to enable NFC financial transactions using the "Swatch Bellamy" wristwatch. The system is currently online in Asia, through a partnership with

China UnionPay UnionPay (), also known as China UnionPay () or by its abbreviation, CUP or UPI internationally, is a Chinese state-owned financial services corporation headquartered in Shanghai, China. It provides bank card services and a major card scheme ...

and Bank of Communications. The partnership will bring the technology to the US, Brazil, and Switzerland. * November 2015: Google’s Android Pay function was launched, a direct rival to Apple Pay, and its roll-out across the US commenced. Ultrawide Band (UWB) another radio technology has been hailed as a future possible alternatives to NFC technology due to further distances of data transmission, as well as Bluetooth and wireless technology.

Design

NFC is a set of short-range wireless technologies, typically requiring a separation of 10 cm or less. NFC operates at 13.56 MHz on

air interface and at rates ranging from 106 kbit/s to 424 kbit/s. NFC always involves an initiator and a target; the initiator actively generates an RF field that can power a passive target. This enables NFC targets to take very simple form factors such as unpowered tags, stickers, key fobs, or cards. NFC peer-to-peer communication is possible, provided both devices are powered. NFC tags contain data and are typically read-only, but may be writable. They can be custom-encoded by their manufacturers or use NFC Forum specifications. The tags can securely store personal data such as debit and credit card information, loyalty program data, PINs and networking contacts, among other information. The NFC Forum defines four types of tags that provide different communication speeds and capabilities in terms of configurability, memory, security, data retention and write endurance. As with

technology, NFC uses

between two nearby loop antennas effectively forming an air-core transformer. Because the distances involved are tiny compared to the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation (radio waves) of that frequency (about 22 metres), the interaction is described as near field. An alternating

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

is the main coupling factor and almost no power is radiated in the form of

radio wave Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz (GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (short ...

s (which are electromagnetic waves, also involving an oscillating

electric field An electric field (sometimes E-field) is the physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles and exerts force on all other charged particles in the field, either attracting or repelling them. It also refers to the physical field fo ...

); that minimises interference between such devices and any radio communications at the same frequency or with other NFC devices much beyond its intended range. NFC operates within the globally available and unlicensed

of 13.56 MHz. Most of the RF energy is concentrated in the ±7 kHz bandwidth allocated for that band, but the emission's spectral width can be as wide as 1.8 MHz in order to support high data rates. Working distance with compact standard antennas and realistic power levels could be up to about 20 cm (but practically speaking, working distances never exceed 10 cm). Note that because the pickup antenna may be quenched in an eddy current by nearby metallic surfaces, the tags may require a minimum separation from such surfaces. The ISO/IEC 18092 standard supports data rates of 106, 212 or 424 kbit/s. The communication takes place between an active "initiator" device and a target device which may either be: ; Passive: The initiator device provides a carrier field and the target device, acting as a transponder, communicates by modulating the incident field. In this mode, the target device may draw its operating power from the initiator-provided magnetic field. ; Active: Both initiator and target device communicate by alternately generating their own fields. A device stops transmitting in order to receive data from the other. This mode requires that both devices include power supplies. NFC employs two different codings to transfer data. If an active device transfers data at 106 kbit/s, a modified Miller coding with 100%

modulation In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...

is used. In all other cases

Manchester coding In telecommunication and data storage, Manchester code (also known as phase encoding, or PE) is a line code in which the encoding of each data bit is either low then high, or high then low, for equal time. It is a self-clocking signal with no DC ...

is used with a modulation ratio of 10%. Every active NFC device can work in one or more of three modes: ; NFC card emulation: Enables NFC-enabled devices such as smartphones to act like smart cards, allowing users to perform transactions such as payment or ticketing. See Host card emulation ; NFC reader/writer: Enables NFC-enabled devices to read information stored on inexpensive NFC tags embedded in labels or smart posters. ; NFC peer-to-peer:Enables two NFC-enabled devices to communicate with each other to exchange information in an ad hoc fashion. NFC tags are passive data stores which can be read, and under some circumstances written to, by an NFC device. They typically contain data ( between 96 and 8,192 bytes) and are read-only in normal use, but may be rewritable. Applications include secure personal data storage (e.g. debit or credit card information, loyalty program data,

personal identification number A personal identification number (PIN), or sometimes redundantly a PIN number or PIN code, is a numeric (sometimes alpha-numeric) passcode used in the process of authenticating a user accessing a system. The PIN has been the key to facilitat ...

s (PINs), contacts). NFC tags can be custom-encoded by their manufacturers or use the industry specifications.

Security

Although the range of NFC is limited to a few centimeters, standard plain NFC is not protected against eavesdropping and can be vulnerable to data modifications. Applications may use higher-layer cryptographic protocols to establish a secure channel. The RF signal for the wireless data transfer can be picked up with antennas. The distance from which an attacker is able to eavesdrop the RF signal depends on multiple parameters, but is typically less than 10 meters. Also, eavesdropping is highly affected by the communication mode. A passive device that doesn't generate its own RF field is much harder to eavesdrop on than an active device. An attacker can typically eavesdrop within 10 m of an active device and 1 m for passive devices. Because NFC devices usually include

protocols,

relay attack A relay attack (also known as the two-thief attack) in computer security is a type of hacking technique related to man-in-the-middle and replay attacks. In a classic man-in-the-middle attack, an attacker intercepts and manipulates communications ...

s are feasible.Timo Kasper et al. 2007 For this attack the adversary forwards the request of the reader to the victim and relays its answer to the reader in real time, pretending to be the owner of the victim's smart card. This is similar to a man-in-the-middle attack. One code example demonstrates a relay attack using two stock commercial NFC devices. This attack can be implemented using only two NFC-enabled mobile phones.

Standards

NFC standards cover communications protocols and data exchange formats, and are based on existing RFID standards including

and

. The standards include ISO/IEC 18092 and those defined by the NFC Forum.

ISO/IEC

NFC is standardized in ECMA-340 and ISO/IEC 18092. These standards specify the modulation schemes, coding, transfer speeds and frame format of the RF interface of NFC devices, as well as initialization schemes and conditions required for data collision-control during initialization for both passive and active NFC modes. They also define the transport protocol, including protocol activation and data-exchange methods. The air interface for NFC is standardized in: * ISO/IEC 18092 / ECMA-340—''Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol-1'' (NFCIP-1) * ISO/IEC 21481 / ECMA-352—''Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol-2'' (NFCIP-2) NFC incorporates a variety of existing standards including

Type A and Type B, and

. NFC-enabled phones work at a basic level with existing readers. In "card emulation mode" an NFC device should transmit, at a minimum, a unique ID number to a reader. In addition, NFC Forum defined a common data format called ''NFC Data Exchange Format'' (NDEF) that can store and transport items ranging from any MIME-typed object to ultra-short RTD-documents, such as URLs. The NFC Forum added the ''Simple NDEF Exchange Protocol'' (SNEP) to the spec that allows sending and receiving messages between two NFC devices.

GSMA

The GSM Association (GSMA) is a trade association representing nearly 800 mobile telephony operators and more than 200 product and service companies across 219 countries. Many of its members have led NFC trials and are preparing services for commercial launch. GSM is involved with several initiatives: * Standards: GSMA is developing certification and testing standards to ensure global interoperability of NFC services. * ''Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative'': Seeks to define a common global approach to using NFC technology to link mobile devices with payment and contactless systems. * On November 17, 2010, after two years of discussions, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile launched a joint venture to develop a platform through which

point of sale The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...

payments could be made using NFC in cell phones. Initially known as Isis Mobile Wallet and later as Softcard, the venture was designed to usher in broad deployment of NFC technology, allowing their customers' NFC-enabled cell phones to function similarly to credit cards throughout the US. Following an agreement with—and IP purchase by—Google, the Softcard payment system was shuttered in March, 2015, with an endorsement for its earlier rival,

Google Wallet Google Wallet (or simply Wallet) is a digital wallet platform developed by Google. It is available for the Android, Wear OS, and Fitbit OS operating systems, and was announced on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. It began rollin ...

StoLPaN

StoLPaN (Store Logistics and Payment with NFC) is a pan-European consortium supported by the European Commission's

Information Society Technologies The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europea ...

program. StoLPaN will examine the potential for NFC local wireless mobile communication.

NFC Forum

NFC Forum is a non-profit industry association formed on March 18, 2004, by

NXP Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) is a Dutch semiconductor designer and manufacturer with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company employs approximately 31,000 people in more than 30 countries. NXP reported revenue of $11.06 billion in 2 ...

and Nokia to advance the use of NFC wireless interaction in consumer electronics, mobile devices and PCs. Standards include the four distinct tag types that provide different communication speeds and capabilities covering flexibility, memory, security, data retention and write endurance. NFC Forum promotes implementation and standardization of NFC technology to ensure interoperability between devices and services. As of January 2020, the NFC Forum had over 120 member companies. NFC Forum promotes NFC and certifies device compliance and whether it fits in a

Other standardization bodies

GSMA defined a platform for the deployment of GSMA NFC Standards within mobile handsets. GSMA's efforts include,

, testing and certification and secure element. The GSMA standards surrounding the deployment of NFC protocols (governed by NFC Forum) on mobile handsets are neither exclusive nor universally accepted. For example, Google's deployment of Host Card Emulation on

provides for software control of a universal radio. In this HCE Deployment the NFC protocol is leveraged without the GSMA standards. Other standardization bodies involved in NFC include: *

ETSI The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of information and communications. ETSI supports the development and testing of global technical standard ...

/ SCP (Smart Card Platform) to specify the interface between the SIM card and the NFC chipset. *

EMV EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for " Europay, Mastercard, and Visa", the three companies that created th ...

Co for the impacts on the EMV payment applications

Applications

NFC allows one- and two-way communication between endpoints, suitable for many applications. NFC devices can act as electronic

identity document An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any documentation, document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID c ...

s and keycards. They are used in contactless payment systems and allow mobile payment replacing or supplementing systems such as credit cards and electronic ticket smart cards. These are sometimes called ''NFC/CTLS'' or ''CTLS NFC'', with ''contactless'' abbreviated as ''CTLS''. NFC can be used to share small files such as contacts and for bootstrapping fast connections to share larger media such as photos, videos, and other files.

Commerce

NFC devices can be used in contactless payment systems, similar to those used in credit cards and electronic ticket smart cards and allow mobile payment to replace/supplement these systems. In

4.4, Google introduced platform support for secure NFC-based transactions through Host Card Emulation (HCE), for payments, loyalty programs, card access, transit passes and other custom services. HCE allows any Android 4.4 app to emulate an NFC smart card, letting users initiate transactions with their device. Apps can use a new Reader Mode to act as readers for HCE cards and other NFC-based transactions. On September 9, 2014, Apple announced support for NFC-powered transactions as part of Apple Pay. With the introduction of iOS 11, Apple devices allow third-party developers to read data from NFC tags. As of 2022, there are five major NFC apps available in the UK: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Barclays Contactless Mobile and Fitbit Pay. The UK Finance's UK Payment Markets Summary 2021 looked at Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay and found 17.3 million UK adults had registered for mobile payment (up 75% from the year before) and of those, 84% had made a mobile payment.

Bootstrapping other connections

NFC offers a low-speed connection with simple setup that can be used to bootstrap more capable wireless connections. For example, Android Beam software uses NFC to enable pairing and establish a Bluetooth connection when doing a file transfer and then disabling Bluetooth on both devices upon completion. Nokia, Samsung, BlackBerry and Sony have used NFC technology to pair Bluetooth headsets, media players and speakers with one tap. The same principle can be applied to the configuration of Wi-Fi networks. Samsung Galaxy devices have a feature named

S-Beam Android Beam is a discontinued feature of the Android mobile operating system that allowed data to be transferred via near field communication (NFC). It allowed the rapid short-range exchange of web bookmarks, contact info, directions, YouTube vi ...

—an extension of Android Beam that uses NFC (to share MAC Address and

IP addresses An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...

) and then uses Wi-Fi Direct to share files and documents. The advantage of using Wi-Fi Direct over Bluetooth is, that it permits much faster data transfers, running up to 300 Mbit/s.

Social networking

NFC can be used for

social networking A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

, for sharing contacts, text messages and forums, links to photos, videos or files and entering multiplayer

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

Identity and access tokens

NFC-enabled devices can act as electronic

s found in Passports and ID cards, and keycards for the use in

Fare card A stored-value card (SVC) is a payment card with a monetary value stored on the card itself, not in an external account maintained by a financial institution. This means no network access is required by the payment collection terminals as funds ...

s, Transit passes, Login Cards, Car key and Access badges . NFC's short range and encryption support make it more suitable than less private RFID systems.

Smartphone automation and NFC tags

NFC-equipped smartphones can be paired with

NFC Tag TecTiles are a near field communication (NFC) application, developed by Samsung, for use with mobile smartphone devices. Each TecTile is a low-cost self-adhesive sticker with an embedded NFC Tag. They are programmed before use, which can be don ...

s or stickers that can be programmed by NFC apps. These programs can allow a change of phone settings, texting, app launching, or command execution. Such apps do not rely on a company or manufacturer, but can be utilized immediately with an NFC-equipped smartphone and an NFC tag. The NFC Forum published the

Signature Record Type Definition In near field communications the NFC Forum Signature Record Type Definition (RTD) is a security protocol used to protect the integrity and authenticity of NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) Messages. The Signature RTD is an open interoperable specific ...

(RTD) 2.0 in 2015 to add integrity and authenticity for NFC Tags. This specification allows an NFC device to verify tag data and identify the tag author.

Gaming

NFC has been used in video games starting with '' Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure''. These are customizable figurines which contain personal data with each figure, so no two figures are exactly alike. Nintendo's Wii U GamePad was the first console system to include NFC technology out of the box. It was later included in the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

range (being built into the New Nintendo 3DS/XL and in a separately sold reader which uses Infrared to communicate to older 3DS family consoles). The

amiibo (, ; officially stylized as amiibo; plural: ''Amiibo'') is a toys-to-life platform by Nintendo, which was launched in November 2014. It consists of a wireless communications and storage protocol for connecting figurines to the Wii U, Ninten ...

range of accessories utilize NFC technology to unlock features.

Sports

Adidas Telstar 18 is a soccer ball that contains an NFC chip within. The chip enables users to interact with the ball using a smartphone.

Bluetooth comparison

NFC and Bluetooth are both relatively short-range communication technologies available on

mobile phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

. NFC operates at slower speeds than Bluetooth and has a much shorter range, but consumes far less power and doesn't require pairing. NFC sets up more quickly than standard Bluetooth, but has a lower transfer rate than

Bluetooth low energy Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE, colloquially BLE, formerly marketed as Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) aimed at novel applications in ...

. With NFC, instead of performing manual configurations to identify devices, the connection between two NFC devices is automatically established in less than .1 second. The maximum data transfer rate of NFC (424 kbit/s) is slower than that of Bluetooth V2.1 (2.1 Mbit/s). NFC's maximum working distance of less than 20 cm reduces the likelihood of unwanted interception, making it particularly suitable for crowded areas that complicate correlating a signal with its transmitting physical device (and by extension, its user). NFC is compatible with existing passive RFID (13.56 MHz ISO/IEC 18000-3) infrastructures. It requires comparatively low power, similar to the Bluetooth V4.0 low-energy protocol. However, when NFC works with an unpowered device (e.g. on a phone that may be turned off, a contactless smart credit card, a smart poster), the NFC power consumption is greater than that of Bluetooth V4.0 Low Energy, since illuminating the passive tag needs extra power.

Devices

In 2011, handset vendors released more than 40 NFC-enabled handsets with the

mobile operating system. BlackBerry devices support NFC using BlackBerry Tag on devices running BlackBerry OS 7.0 and greater. MasterCard added further NFC support for PayPass for the Android and BlackBerry platforms, enabling PayPass users to make payments using their Android or BlackBerry smartphones. A partnership between Samsung and Visa added a '

payWave Visa Inc. (; stylized as ''VISA'') is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded cred ...

' application on the Galaxy S4 smartphone. In 2012, Microsoft added native NFC functionality in their

mobile OS A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablet computer, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal computing, personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical laptops are "mobi ...

with Windows Phone 8, as well as the Windows 8 operating system. Microsoft provides the "Wallet hub" in Windows Phone 8 for NFC payment, and can integrate multiple NFC payment services within a single application. In 2014, iPhone 6 was released from Apple to support NFC. and since September 2019 in iOS 13 Apple now allows NFC tags to be read out as well as labeled using an NFC app.

Deployments

, hundreds of NFC trials had been conducted. Some firms moved to full-scale service deployments, spanning one or more countries. Multi-country deployments include Orange's rollout of NFC technology to banks, retailers, transport, and service providers in multiple European countries, and Airtel Africa and

Oberthur Technologies Oberthur Technologies was a French digital security company, providing secure technology solutions for Smart Transactions, Mobile Financial Services, Machine-to-Machine, Digital Identity and Transport & Access Control. As of 2008, Oberthur's reve ...

deploying to 15 countries throughout Africa. * China Telecom (China's 3rd largest mobile operator) made its NFC rollout in November 2013. The company signed up multiple banks to make their payment apps available on its SIM Cards. China telecom stated that the wallet would support coupons, membership cards, fuel cards and boarding passes. The company planned to achieve targets of rolling out 40 NFC phone models and 30 Mn NFC SIMs by 2014. * Softcard (formerly Isis Mobile Wallet), a joint venture from Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile, focuses on in-store payments making use of NFC technology. After doing pilots in some regions, they launched across the US. * Vodafone launched the NFC-based Vodafone SmartPass mobile payment service in Spain in partnership with Visa. It enables consumers with an NFC-enabled SIM card in a mobile device to make contactless payments via their SmartPass credit balance at any POS. * OTI, an Israeli company that designs and develops contactless microprocessor-based smart card technology, contracted to supply NFC-readers to one of its channel partners in the US. The partner was required to buy $10MM worth of OTI NFC readers over 3 years. * Rogers Communications launched virtual wallet Suretap to enable users to make payments with their phone in Canada in April 2014. Suretap users can load up gift cards and prepaid MasterCards from national retailers. *

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

's first workforce smart card uses NFC. * As of December 13, 2013 Tim Hortons TimmyME BlackBerry 10 Application allowed users to link their prepaid Tim Card to the app, allowing payment by tapping the NFC-enabled device to a standard contactless terminal. *

allows consumers to store credit card and store loyalty card information in a virtual wallet and then use an NFC-enabled device at terminals that also accept MasterCard PayPass transactions. * Germany, Austria, Finland, New Zealand, Italy, Iran, Turkey and Greece trialed NFC ticketing systems for public transport. The Lithuanian capital of Vilnius fully replaced paper tickets for public transportation with ISO/IEC 14443 Type A cards on July 1, 2013. * NFC sticker-based payments in Australia's Bankmecu and card issuer Cuscal completed an NFC payment sticker trial, enabling consumers to make contactless payments at Visa payWave terminals using a smart sticker stuck to their phone. * India was implementing NFC-based transactions in box offices for ticketing purposes. * A partnership of Google and Equity Bank in Kenya introduced NFC payment systems for public transport in the Capital city Nairobi under the branding

BebaPay BebaPay was a form of electronic ticketing platform in Nairobi, Kenya, that was developed by Google in partnership with Equity Bank. The product was launched in April 2013, after one year of piloting. Overview Bebapay platform worked using ...

. * January 2019 saw the start of trial using NFC-enabled

mobile phones to pay public transport fares in Victoria, Australia.

Notes

References

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External links

* A summary video of near-field communication {{authority control Articles containing video clips Bandplans Ecma standards ISO standards Mobile telecommunications Wireless