Near Field Communication (NFC) is a technology that allows two-way communication between a phone and an NFC tag; this communication is established when a phone is brought within 10 cm of the NFC tag. With NFC, you can transfer information between devices quickly and easily with a single touch whether paying bills, exchanging business cards, downloading coupons, or sharing a research paper. The tech involved is deceptively simple: evolved from radio frequency identification (RFID) tech, an NFC chip operates as one part of a wireless link. Once it’s activated by another chip, small amounts of data between the two devices can be transferred when held a few centimeters from each other. No pairing code is necessary to link up and because it uses chips that run on very low amounts of power (or passively, using even less), it’s much more power-efficient than other wireless communication types. At its core, NFC works to identify us by our enabled cards and devices (and by extension, our bank accounts and other personal info.)