Definition
NFC, or Near Field Communication, is a short-range radio standard that lets two devices exchange a small amount of data when held within a few centimetres of each other. In a business card, an NFC chip stores one web address and hands it to any phone that touches it. The chip needs no battery.
التعريف
الاتصال قريب المدى (NFC) معيار لاسلكي قصير المدى يتيح لجهازين تبادل قدر صغير من البيانات عند تقريب أحدهما من الآخر لبضعة سنتيمترات. في بطاقة العمل، تخزّن شريحة NFC عنوان صفحة واحداً وتسلّمه لأي هاتف يلامسها. ولا تحتاج الشريحة إلى بطارية.
Where the power comes from
The chip inside an NFC business card is passive. It contains no battery and does nothing at all until a phone comes close enough, at which point the phone's own radio field induces just enough current in the chip's antenna to power it for the fraction of a second it takes to answer.
This is why an NFC card works after five years in a wallet, and why it cannot be drained, switched off, or left uncharged before a meeting.
What it can and cannot carry
A business-card NFC chip stores a URL and nothing else. It holds no name, no phone number and no personal data, because the details live on the web page the URL points at. That indirection is what allows the card to stay correct when the details change.
It also carries no payment credential and cannot read anything off the phone that taps it. The exchange is one-directional: the phone asks, the chip answers with a link, and the phone decides whether to open it.
The range is the security model
NFC works over roughly two to four centimetres. That is not a limitation to be engineered around, it is the security property: a tag cannot be read from across a room, from a passing car, or by someone standing behind you in a queue. Physical proximity is the consent.
Which phones read it
Every iPhone from the iPhone XR and XS onward reads NFC tags in the background, with the screen simply on and unlocked and no app open. Older iPhone 7, 8 and X models can read tags through the NFC Tag Reader in Control Centre, which works but requires the owner to open it first.
Most Android phones sold in the past decade include NFC and read tags automatically once NFC is enabled in settings. Many budget handsets have no NFC hardware at all, which is why a well-made NFC business card also carries a printed QR code.
Common questions
Is NFC safe?
Yes, for this use. A business-card tag is read-only in normal use, stores only a web address, carries no payment credential, and can only be read from a couple of centimetres away.
Does NFC need Bluetooth or Wi-Fi?
No. NFC is its own radio standard and works with both switched off. Opening the web page the tag points at does need a connection.
Can an NFC card be reprogrammed?
Cardify NFC cards can be re-pointed at a different profile after manufacture, so a card can be reassigned rather than discarded when someone changes role or leaves.
Related terms
- Contactless business card, بطاقة العمل اللاتلامسية
- Digital business card, بطاقة العمل الرقمية
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