How to activate NFC on Samsung

Lately you hear a lot about a contactless technology, NFC (short for Near Field Communication) used in a wide variety of occasions: from file transfer, through authentication but above all for payments in stores. The beauty is that all this is possible using a simple smartphone or tablet with support for this technology: just like your Samsung device.

The question seems really interesting to you, to the point that you decided to do a research to find out how to activate NFC on Samsung and you ended up here, on my site. That’s the way it is, am I right? Then know that you are in the right place! In fact, in this tutorial, I thought I’d collect for you the answers to your questions related to the use of NFC from Samsung devices.

I assure you that activating NFC on your smartphone (or tablet) will be really a breeze. If you wish, therefore, by continuing to read these lines you will quickly discover not only how to activate the NFC and what it is used for, but also what are its most useful and practical uses. Enjoy your reading and have fun!

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to activate NFC on Samsung
• How to use NFC on Samsung
  • Payments
  • Data transfer
  • NFC tag

Preliminary information

And so you would like to use NFC technology with your Samsung device. But what exactly is it, and above all, what is it for? Starting with the basic concepts about this technology can help you better understand its purpose and use.

NFC technology stands for Near Field Communication, a modern method for exchanging data between devices located within a short distance of each other.

It is, therefore, a short-range wireless communication, today widely used thanks to its presence in Smart devices, smartphones and tablets in the first place. Examples of use are the now widespread contactless payments (which I will talk about in the dedicated chapter of this guide) or data transfer between two devices (as I will explain in another chapter ).

Another very common use is that of NFC tags , that is physical devices that pretend to be “electronic labels” and which, by integrating a programmable NFC chip, can transmit information and data to Smart devices equipped with NFC support: it is thanks to NFC tags that you can interact with physical objects or structures as happens, for example, in some museums or shops. In this guide, of course, I will also talk to you about the interaction of your Samsung device with NFC tags. But let’s go in order.

How to activate NFC on Samsung

First, you need to learn how to activate NFC on Samsung, an operation that is really simple to do on all devices that include an NFC chip inside them.

The good news is that your Samsung smartphone is unlikely to be without NFC, unless it is a very old model, produced before 2012. Furthermore, the procedure to follow is practically the same on all supported devices, despite some small differences. that could occur in the menu items to be selected, depending on the version of Android used.

In light of what has just been said, you can follow the procedure described below whether you want to know how to activate NFC on Samsung A20s or other smartphone models from the Korean manufacturer or if you want to know how to activate NFC on Samsung tablets: the steps to take are roughly same.

The procedure starts from the Settings menu, accessible via the main app screen of your device. The icon to look for is that of a gear: after tapping on it, select the Connections item, then make sure to move the switch next to the NFC and payment option to ON .

To completely unblock data and information transfers, continue by tapping the NFC and payments item, then move your finger to the switch next to the word Android Beam, so as to activate the transfer of content even from apps.

How to use NFC on Samsung

You have enabled the NFC connection on your Samsung in no time at all and you can’t wait to take action using it on all occasions when it can be most useful. Great, then I would say that if everything went well, I can move on to talk to you about how to use it to pay, transfer data and with NFC tags.

Payments

If you intend to use the NFC technology of your Samsung device to make payments, you must first unlock this function. In particular, always from the activation menu seen in the previous chapter, then after tapping on the NFC and payments item, press on the Tap & Pay menu. Finally, press the switch corresponding to the item Touch and pay with open apps.

If you have installed apps for managing contactless payments, on this screen you can express your preference on which to use. For example, for NFC payments the Google Pay and Samsung Pay systems are valid, whose apps are easily installed following the usual installation procedure for Android systems.

Having said that, I can tell you that usually the Google Pay choice is already present if you have made purchases (or added payment methods) on Google Play. In any case, after selecting one of the apps on the list for NFC payments, the next move is to associate a credit or debit card (or a PayPal account ) with the application.

In the case of Google Pay, start the app with a tap on its icon (the one with the colored letter G and the word Pay in the background), then press the Start button, then on the one with the word Add a card and continue entering the data required: Card number, MM / YY (expiration date and year), CVV and Billing address. Then confirm everything by tapping on the Save button.

If you want to associate the card with the Samsung Pay app, remember first that not all Samsung devices are compatible with this service. You can find the list of compatible devices here.

In addition to the hardware requirement, it is important to verify that your bank and card network have partnered with Samsung to enable NFC payments. You can quickly find out if your bank is enabled by connecting to the official Samsung Pay page, by typing your bank name in the search bar under the heading Find out if your bank is enabled \ *.

Having made the necessary preliminary checks, go back to your device and open the app, by tapping on the blue icon with the word Samsung Pay inside. Continue by logging in by entering your username and password. If you haven’t done so yet, you can create a Samsung account by following this guide.

Once logged into your account from the Samsung Pay app, tap on add card, then frame the card with the camera, enter its details and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the registration. Remember to keep an identity document on hand to confirm the authenticity of your data, as an internet connection may be required depending on your credit institution.

You have thus added your card to the NFC payment management app, all you have to do is proceed with your first payments using this new method! Always consider whether the retailer’s POS is equipped with a contactless system. You can ask or understand it by the presence of the wireless signal symbol placed above the POS terminal.

At this point, if you are paying using Google Pay, all you have to do is unlock your device and bring it close to the POS screen and, if the addition of the payment method was successful, you will see the message Transaction completed. The ✓ symbol is shown on your device screen to confirm payment has been made.

If, on the other hand, you are using the Samsung Pay app, after bringing the device close to the POS, choose the card with which to make the payment on the screen and authorize it with the security system you have set (PIN, fingerprint recognition, etc.).

So, it wasn’t that hard, was it? If you want to learn more about the use of these payment systems and their respective configurations, I can recommend two of my articles in this regard: how to pay with Google Pay and how Samsung Pay works.

Data transfer

Do you want to share files with those around you without necessarily sending them via messaging app or cloud services? Are you thinking about NFC technology then? Great idea: using NFC, you can transfer data simply by touching the devices involved in the passage, without tedious pairing or recognition procedures as is the case for transfer via Bluetooth, for example.

The NFC transfer solution is also useful for sending files to devices such as compatible printers and digital cameras: for example, to transfer photos from the camera to a smartphone or tablet, or to send photos already present in your mobile device to the printer.

Moving on to practice, in the case of transferring photos: after activating the NFC connection as I explained before, make sure that the receiver has done the same, then go to the Gallery from the main menu of your Samsung device and browse the photos in it content until you find the one to send.

After opening the photo with a tap, press the Sharing function icon at the bottom and tap the Android Beam button. To start the transfer, all you have to do is put the surface of your device in contact with that of the data recipient and confirm the requests that appear on the screens of both devices.

Once the data transfer is complete if you want you can disable NFC connections until further use.

NFC tag

Let me now tell you about how you can use NFC technology with specific interactive electronic tags. The latter, called NFC tags, are equipped with a pre-programmed (or programmable) NFC chip to be used in different occasions and contexts.

In this sense, you could program an NFC tag to activate silent mode in your device and attach this adhesive tag near the bedside table; in this way, before going to bed, just touch the NFC tag to your Samsung device to set it to silent mode.

At relatively simple functions like this, NFC tags can be programmed for even more complex tasks. Their programming can be done through specific apps or computers. Are you wondering where to find these labels? Nothing could be simpler, because they are commonly sold by online retailers, including Amazon, in different shapes and colors.

 

Some NFC tags are adhesive, others can be connected to keyrings and also differ in the space available: 100 bytes or over 800 bytes.

The latter difference depends on the type of functions and data to be stored in them: the former adapt to simpler operations, the latter to more complex ones (such as creating personal vCards ).

Of course, as far as their use is concerned, you must first make sure you activate NFC on your Samsung device as I explained to you before.

Once this is done, to use the tags you just have to approach your smartphone or tablet. I assure you that they work and can also be very comfortable in everyday life. Seeing is believing!

For more information on NFC technology and how it works, I invite you to read the tutorial I dedicated to the latter.