Which Phones Have NFC? A Compatibility Guide for Review Cards

Which phones have NFC? Every iPhone from the iPhone 7 onward can read an NFC tag, and every iPhone from the XS onward does it with no app and no setting to change. Most Android phones from Samsung, Google, OnePlus, Motorola, Xiaomi, Oppo and Sony also have NFC, though a few budget models leave it out. If a phone can tap to pay, it can tap a review card.

No, but nearly all current ones do. NFC is the same short-range radio that powers contactless payments, so the hardware has been standard in flagship and mid-range phones for years. The gaps are at the low-cost end of the Android market, where some models omit the chip to hit a price, and in very old phones. Apple has shipped NFC in every iPhone since the iPhone 6, which is why Apple's Apple Pay compatibility list covers every Touch ID iPhone except the iPhone 5s and every Face ID iPhone.

Having the chip is only half the story. What matters for a review card is whether the phone will read a tag that contains a web link and open it, and that depends on the model and the software version. The table below is the short version; the sections after it explain each row.

Every iPhone from the iPhone 7 onward can read NFC tags, and the iPhone XS and later do it automatically. Apple's Core NFC documentation states that iPhone XS and later support background tag reading: the phone scans for tags whenever it is in use, shows a pop-up notification each time it reads a new tag, and opens the link when the user taps the notification. For a review card, that means the customer holds the top of the phone against the card, sees a banner, taps it, and lands on your Google review form.

The iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X are the in-between generation. They have the hardware, but Apple's iPhone User Guide lists exactly those five models as needing the NFC Tag Reader control turned on in Control Center. The customer adds the control once, then opens it from Control Center and holds the phone to the card. You will still meet these phones, but less often each year.

The iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus and the first-generation iPhone SE have NFC for Apple Pay only. Their NFC chip is not exposed to apps or to the tag reader, so a review card does nothing on them. This is one of the reasons a review card with a printed QR code on it is worth having: those customers can still scan it with the Camera app.

Most of them. Google's Pixel phones include NFC, Samsung's Galaxy S, Note and Z series include it, and it is standard on flagship and mid-range phones from OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo, Sony and Motorola's Edge range. The industry list maintained by tag supplier Seritag runs to fourteen manufacturers, and its main caveat is that regional variants of the same model can differ, so the safest check is always the phone itself.

The exceptions sit at the budget end. Some Moto G models, Samsung's cheapest Galaxy A0x phones and Nokia's C series have shipped without NFC, usually to hit a lower price. The quickest way to know is Google's own rule from its Pixel help page: open Settings and look for NFC. If you do not see the NFC setting, the phone does not have NFC.

Unlike an iPhone, an Android phone can have NFC switched off. Google's Android developer documentation says Android devices are usually looking for NFC tags when the screen is unlocked, unless NFC is disabled in the device's Settings menu. Anyone who uses Google Wallet already has it on; anyone who does not may need the toggle.

Newer Android phones add one step before the link opens. Google's NFC developer documentation says that starting in Android 16, scanning a tag that stores an http or https link triggers a standard view intent, so the link opens in the browser just as a tapped link would. Beginning with Android 17, scanning such a tag surfaces an open link notification, and the user has to tap it before the page opens.

In practice this makes the newest Android phones behave like iPhones: tap the card, then tap the notification. Staff should expect it, because a customer who taps a card on a brand-new phone and sees nothing on screen has often just missed the notification at the top. If a card still does nothing after that, our guide to fixing an NFC review card that is not working walks through the phone, position, surface and chip checks in order.

Near the top on an iPhone and on the back of most Android phones. The iPhone's NFC antenna sits at the top edge near the cameras, which is why review cards work best when the customer touches the top edge of an iPhone to the card rather than the middle of the screen. Samsung does not publish a single position because it varies by model; its support page points users to the on-screen antenna diagram under Settings, Connections, NFC and contactless payments, and most Galaxy phones read from the upper or middle back.

It means two things: almost every customer can tap, and the few who cannot should be able to scan. Because the oldest iPhones and a handful of budget Android phones cannot read a tag, a review card that carries both an NFC chip and a printed QR code covers everyone who walks in, and the QR code is also the fallback when a customer has the camera open or NFC switched off.

A pre-programmed Google Review Card comes with the NFC chip already written with your Google review link and an optional printed QR code on the same card, for a one-off price with no subscription and tracked delivery. If you want to program your own tags, our guide to writing your review link to an NFC tag explains which chips and apps to use, and the stand, plaque or sticker comparison helps you choose where the chip should live.

Give staff a single line that works on every compatible phone: unlock your phone, hold the top of it on the card, tap the banner. Google's Business Profile Help confirms that customers must be signed in to a Google Account to leave a review, so a sign-in screen after the tap is normal. The rest of the rules do not change because the request comes from a tap: ask everyone, never offer anything in return, and let the customer choose their own rating. The NFC review products hub covers the cards, stands and plaques in more detail.