Next NFC Release Will Quadruple Range of Contactless Connections

[jaytv111]

A while back I was trying to get my Credit Card out to pay for my dinner, and I wasn't even ready to tap the device. It just tapped itself anyway. I ended up using the wrong card. Is there a way to prevent this increase in range from being too troublesome? What, you sit back in your booth, pull out the wallet on your phone trying to pick the right card, and it goes through from several feet away? That's a good thing?

If by ‘several feet’, you mean ‘2 cm’, then yes that’s a good thing.

Which is less than 1 inch, in case you don’t know the SI system.

(1 inch =2.54 centimeters)

And if you didn’t notice already, Apple Pay requires you double click to confirm you want to use a card. If you charged the wrong card accidentally, and you used Apple Pay, it’s because you selected the wrong card and allowed it to go through, or you didn’t change the card from default before double clicking.

Actually you might have initiated with the double click then tapped which would then pay with the default card, but what you should do is put the phone on the reader without double clicking, if you want to change the card then that’s when you change it because it will detect the reader but let you pause on the Apple Pay screen, so you just need to select the card you want before double clicking at all. You select the card you want, then double click.

 

[It’s always something]

A while back I was trying to get my Credit Card out to pay for my dinner, and I wasn't even ready to tap the device. It just tapped itself anyway. I ended up using the wrong card. Is there a way to prevent this increase in range from being too troublesome? What, you sit back in your booth, pull out the wallet on your phone trying to pick the right card, and it goes through from several feet away? That's a good thing?

The range is being increased to 2cm: that’s just a hair more than 3/4 inch.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

If by ‘several feet’, you mean ‘2 cm’, then yes that’s a good thing.

Which is less than 1 inch, in case you don’t know the SI system.

(1 inch =2.54 centimeters)

And if you didn’t notice already, Apple Pay requires you double click to confirm you want to use a card. If you charged the wrong card accidentally, and you used Apple Pay, it’s because you selected the wrong card and allowed it to go through, or you didn’t change the card from default before double clicking.

Actually you might have initiated with the double click then tapped which would then pay with the default card, but what you should do is put the phone on the reader without double clicking, if you want to change the card then that’s when you change it because it will detect the reader but let you pause on the Apple Pay screen, so you just need to select the card you want before double clicking at all. You select the card you want, then double click.

The range is being increased to 2cm: that’s just a hair more than 3/4 inch.

I actually have a Samsung watch and what happened was I guess I got too close to the thing but I wasn't touching the pad. It was able to read it from quite a distance, which surprised me. I guess Samsung doesn't have the double click that Apple does. I haven't had that happen to me before.

 

[Trausner]

When is ipad getting NFC so it can be used as a payment terminal?

 

[russell_314]

So now essentially if someone reads a card today (as all older cards with the older tech have been replaced with EMV), they can get a single transaction in (ie what happens when you put your card on a reader today),

Wait, so does this mean when I tap my card at a store it’s like Apple Pay where it’s randomized? From my understanding using Apple Pay a store can’t track your purchases because it’s a different set of credentials each time. Maybe I’m wrong on this though.

How would I know if my cards have the updated standards? Is everyone just adopting this new standard?

 

[jaytv111]

Wait, so does this mean when I tap my card at a store it’s like Apple Pay where it’s randomized? From my understanding using Apple Pay a store can’t track your purchases because it’s a different set of credentials each time. Maybe I’m wrong on this though.

How would I know if my cards have the updated standards? Is everyone just adopting this new standard?

They're not actually randomized. They transmit a virtual account number, which is the way to identify which account to charge, but they also add in a token that can't be guessed, so it's tokenized, not randomized.

Stores actually can track your purchases on Apple Pay. But the store can't charge your card again without a valid token. This is all EMV technology, so it's Apple Pay, current cards on chip, and current cards using tap, as well as Google and Samsung Pay.

All cards at this point have adopted EMV chip technology, and if they have contactless, they have had to adopt EMV for contactless as well. The earlier contactless tech basically predated EMV and chip, at least in the United States. All old cards with old tech should have been replaced by now because every card has an expiration date. Also 10 years ago was the huge push to get EMV and chip technology onto every card in the US, then later there was a push to get everyone on contactless, except Apple Card in the physical card does not have contactless, they're one of the few left without it.

 

[amartinez1660]

If you’re in a crowded area, 1.5 cm isn’t going to matter. People will have been brushing against you… and pickpockets have a skill as old as time.

The reality is, it’s impossible. An urban myth. Only an actual POS terminal can read the data needed to actually shim enough data. And a POS terminal is trackable, and handed out only by Acquirers.

Fair point, pickpockets are an actual and unsolved real problem (beyond being mitigated via awareness and security)…
And they could just take someone’s wallet potentially without the victim realizing it for some hours, and hitting the jackpot if it had many tappable cards.