The Fairphone 5 has a NFC (Near-Field Communication) chip under the surface of its battery wich is placed below the Back Cover.

The Fairphone 4 has a NFC (Near-Field Communication) chip on the inside of the Back Cover.

The Fairphone 3(+) has an NFC chip in the Core module, and it's location is the lower left part of the phone, below the icon printed on the Back Cover.

What's NFC and how to use it

NFC is a wireless technology that enables short-range communication between compatible devices. This technology offers several services, which enables different apps to use the NFC chip to perform various tasks:

• You can use it to pair Bluetooth devices that support it in an instant. Tap the back of the Fairphone on the device you want to pair. Usually there's an NFC logo where the ship is on a device, so you can line them up.
• Thanks to the support of Google Wallet (formerly Google Pay), you can turn your Fairphone into a payment device. You pay with your phone! Hold it with its back near the reader of the card machine.
• NFC technology can also communicate with RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification), in combination with applications that can interpret the RFID data. However, without an app to read out the specific data, the NFC can already help identify if an RFID chip is working or not: when a working RFID chip is identified by the NFC by holding it close to the back of the phone, it is confirmed by a sound.  

How to turn the NFC on & off

Through settings

Once you install an app that uses the NFC chip (i.e. a banking app) you must enable the NFC on your Fairphone.

To do so, go to Settings → Connected Devices → Connection Preferences → NFC and tap on the toggle on the side to set it to On .

Via the shortcut

There is also a faster way to access the NFC settings:

1. Swipe down twice, with one finger, from the top of the screen. You will open the pull-down Quick settings menu.
2. Tap on the NFC icon . The Quick settings menu might have several pages; swipe right to see more icons.

You can also edit the Quick settings menu to add or remove icons. For more explanations, you can read more about the Quick Settings menu.

Issues with the connection

If you're experiencing issues connecting to NFC, there are many things you can do to fix the connection yourself. You can find our guide on troubleshooting your NFC here.

If after reading the article you need more help, contact our Customer Support.