Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission.Learn more.
Why aren’t we using NFC to its fullest potential?
July 25, 2025
Recently, Appleannounced Apple Car Keys— an NFC solution that allows you to unlock your car with your phone instead of a key. However, those two examples seem to be the biggest, coolest things we’ve ever seen NFC being used for. Is there more coming or are there more examples hiding in consumer tech? Let’s explore the fun stuff we could use NFC for.
Learn more about NFC here:
What can NFC do now?
It’s quite the list, but it goes a bit deeper than that. For instance, you’re able to find NFC keychains, rings, animal collars,NFC implanted into your body, and even things like flexible tags or buttons to sew onto (or into) clothing. They are all just creative uses and placements of basic NFC tags, but it’s fun to see that stuff make its way into various products.
Still, the list isn’t as long as it seems. Basically, outside of tap-to-pay, the rest of it is just the same old NFC tag functionality baked into a different product for a different purpose. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does essentially bring the list down to two things. you may tap-to-pay or you can tap an NFC tag to get information or perform a quick action. That’s about it.
What’s coming through the pipelines for NFC?
Wireless charging over NFC
Perhaps one of the biggest developments is charging wirelessly over NFC. TheNFC Forum announced the capabilities back in May of 2020. We don’t know when or if it’ll ever make it to smartphones. However, it’ll likely go to things like smartwatches, IoT tech, and other gadgets with smaller batteries.
It isn’t very fast right now (roughly 1W) which makes it a poor solution for phones with increasingly large batteries. Still, not needing to include standard wireless charging tech opens up space inside of gadgets to include other stuff, like larger batteries or other new tech.
NFC router pairing
When writing this piece, I honestly thought this was a thing already. The world’s first one-touch NFC router launched in November 2019 by HUAWEI. NFC is a pretty decent use case with Wi-Fi routers. Many include a WPS button to connect with a single touch, but NFC is faster and easier, especially for guests.
Linksys has similar technology with a SimpleTap card, but that requires you to keep track of an extra accessory so it’s not really the same thing. Widespread adoption of this technology by Wi-Fi routers would make pairing them significantly easier and erase an obnoxious, if minor, pain point in home networking.
Vehicle support is another example where things are already in motion. BMW is adding the technology to vehicles as we speak. So are others such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Volkswagen, and Cadillac. Apple has Apple Car Key to take advantage of NFC tech and we imagine Android will in the future as well. Tesla owners can already use NFC in their vehicles with the official app.
NFC is an obvious choice here. Digital key management systems can be complicated and current Bluetooth solutions are frequently inconsistent. NFC lets you simply tap your car door with your phone and you can get right in. TheNFC Forum speculatesthat an NFC-powered digital key system may also help companies likeTuro, which runs an Airbnb-style car borrowing service.
We’d actually like to see this in Android phones, except Google saw very little use when Smart Lock existed. It was subsequently removed so we don’t think people would actually use it for smartphones.
The eID movement
Some countries allow for electronic identification cards (eID cards) to be stored on devices. In fact,Germany already has a systemin place.Samsung began supporting the technologywith the Samsung Galaxy S20 series of devices. Android 11 also supports driver’s licenses with its IdentityCredential API, withmore support coming. Eventually, we’ll be able to show ID cards to stores and the police with ease. The groundwork is already happening.
What else could we use NFC for?
So, we return to the headline. Betteridge’s law of headlines would seem to indicate that the answer could be no. However, it feels like NFC is actually chugging along at a pretty decent clip. Tap-to-pay is evolving into tap-to-identify, while bigger and more powerful machines are getting the technology every year. With the addition of wireless charging (mostly for smaller devices), it shows the technology’s ability to evolve and adapt.
At this point, it’s just a matter of time before companies find more uses for the technology. Of course, with therise of UWBin devices like the iPhone 11 and 12 along with the Note 20 Ultra, NFC may even see some competition in the future.
What do you think it could be used for in the future? Share your cool NFC ideas in the comments.
Thank you for being part of our community. Read ourComment Policybefore posting.
