Hotel cards, passports, pet microchips, contactless payment, car keys, security tags. Everyone knows about them, but surprisingly many have not yet heard of the term NFC.

Despite us also holding it in the palm of our hands, as a smartphone feature, we can't blame you. No-one knows and uses all of the features that our little hand-held wizards can do, but NFC, along with WiFi and Bluetooth is a technology to take note of.

Of the three technologies quoted above, NFC (also more generically called RFID) has been around for the longest. In this half a century, it has been integrated into everything from security tags, to hotel keys, passports, to contactless bank cards, car keys, and much much more. Many car parts have NFC tags, and large supermarkets use them for tracking their shipments. We know. We helped integrate them!

RFID has been a very slow technology to gain strength. First conceived a century ago, it did not become a became a reality in the 1950's, and only started to find proper uses  around 50 years ago. Over this time, reliability and quality has steadily gone up, while the cost to produce (a major stumbling factor for reliable products) has gradually made it more accessible., and it is now more more affordable than ever. Smartphone manufacturers Sony and Samsung recognise this trend at the turn of Millenium. Since this time, more and more Android & Windows Smartphone models have had NFC integrated, with Apple joining the movement slightly later.

In late 2018, was a huge turning point, as Apple fully-enabled NFC in their smartphones. meaning that virtually all smartphones manufactured had NFC readers built in.

 

In fact, over 95% of smartphones manufactured today already have it, & that figure continues to steadily grow.

Our wide range of smart bands and tags (such as medical alert bracelets, dementia buttons etc), have been designed to be easy to use, with the technology we already hold in our hands, and nothing more. No specialist app. Just your phone. This means an NFC enabled phone can bring up emergency information in a matter of seconds.

 

If you find someone with a medical alert smart band, or a lost key or lost pet with a tag, simply put your phone against it (*) & the phone will bring up the owner's message containing details, relevant medical information, & can even send an email to the a carer, or a found message to the owner. We've tried to think of everything!

If you wish, see more about our range at https://www.ICEsmartbands.com

 

To use it, simply go to your settings, & check it is turned on. For Android phones & iPhones X upwards, no special app is required. For iPhone 7 & 8, NFC can be activate by installing a choice of readers. We recommend https://apps.apple.com/cz/app/nfc-reader/id1286968328

(*) The NFC reader on your phone may vary in location from model to model, but are usually found either on the top of the phone, or on the back near the middle.

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