Upcoming NFC Release 15 quadruples contactless range, making tap-to-pay faster and easier

Why it matters: If you get anxiety about trying to line your device up with a terminal to make a contactless payment, here’s some good news: the NFC Forum has announced that version 15 of the standard is quadrupling the distance of contactless connections, from the current 0.5 cm (0.19 inches) to 2 cm (0.78 inches).

Anyone who knows the struggle of trying to line up a device, especially a smartwatch, with a payment terminal will be relieved to know that the range, also known as the operating volume, required for the standard to work is increasing. This means that not only will connections start sooner, but they will also require less precise alignment – so you should spend less time awkwardly waving your phone in the air when attempting to pay for something.

Some devices and NFC readers already work from distances greater than 0.5 cm. But the new standard makes that distance the industry baseline, including for small-form consumer devices.

NFC Release 15 means less chance of breaking your wrist

Preeti Ohri Khemani, NFC Forum Chair, said the increasing use of compact devices that are expected to handle more complex, sensitive interactions mean there’s a demand for higher reliability and a broader operating range to succeed.

Multi-purpose tap, in which a single tap performs multiple functions such as scanning a loyalty card, paying, and allowing access, is also being optimized in the new release.

The latest standard also improves support for the NFC Digital Product Passport standard. The European Commission initiative is designed so a single embedded tag can hold key lifecycle data of physical products, letting any NFC phone retrieve tamper-resistant sustainability info even offline.

Khemani said NFC Release 15 can be downloaded by NFC Forum Associate, Principal, and Sponsor-level members starting today. That covers the likes of Apple, Google, Sony, and Huawei, who will be able to start including the standard in their products. Compliance certification will be made available to the public sometime this fall.

While NFC Release 15 will appear in future devices, the Forum never said if current NFC-equipped models can be updated to support that standard and its increased working range once it rolls out.

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