NFC Tag business card Shutterstock

NFC technology is pretty common these days and features in most high-end smartphones. As well as phone to phone communication, small little NFC tags can also be used to store and transfer information. You will probably  have noticed small NFC tags next to advertisements near bus stops, stickers in shops, or may have even come across the clever idea of using NFC enabled business cards.

These tags can store wide ranges of information, from short lines of text, such as a web address or contact details, to links to apps in the Google Play Store. It’s a quick and efficient way to quickly push information to your phone and these little tags can replace bar and QI codes, and could even be used instead of Bluetooth in some cases. So here’s how it works.

How it works




NFC tag induction circuit



These circuits are fine tuned to a certain frequency, which increases the device’s sensitivity to charging frequencies. This allows for a maximum transfer of energy across the air. Once the tag is powered up, it can sync up and send data over the 13.56MHz NFC transmission frequency at either 106, 212 or 424 Kbps, just like your regular NFC communication between phones or other larger devices.

Different Tag Types

NFC tags communicate using the ISO 14443 type A and B wireless standards, which is the international standard for contact-less smartcards, used on many public transportation systems. This is why NFC devices can be used with existing contact-less technologies, such as card payment points.



NFC payment terminals are increasingly common, as consumers begin to make use of Android, Apple and Samsung Pay.


Cheap and effective



Given the roll-out of mobile payment methods than can use NFC, more and more smartphones are shipping NFC communication enabled. Don’t be surprised if you see more and more of these little tags popping up all over the place..

Buy NFC Tags

nfc tagsIf you want to pick up some cheap tags for a project or just to mess around with, there are usually some pretty good deals available over at

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