NFC, QR codes and Barcodes
The table below gives a basic comparison between these approaches. NFC can work in tandem with either QR or Bar codes, particularly with QR codes where owners of older phones without NFC can still access the same content.
| NFC | QR Codes | Barcodes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security | |||
| Price | |||
| Readability | |||
| Flexibility | |||
| Design |
NFC
Security
The short range nature of NFC, typically you need to be within a centimetre of the tag, makes it very hard to eavesdrop on a communication between a phone and a tag.
Our tags are from leading NFC inventor and innovator NXP and have additional security such as a unique identification number that is hard coded during production and cannot be changed.
Price
The price of NFC chips and their programming is coming down but remains relativeley expensive in comparison to QR and Bar codes especially.
At this time we would not advise companies to universally adopt NFC unless there is a solid business case for doing so.
Readability
As long as the phone is within the read range of the tag it will work.
This includes on and through glass, plastic, wood, ceramics and other materials and on metal.
Readability is not impacted by factors such as light or visibility.
Flexibility
Can deliver highly varied content, see here. Click 'back' on your browser to return to this page.
Three different types of chip, normal, on-metal and internal allow use on a variety of implementations.
Readability is not impacted by factors such as light or visibility.
Design
No design limitations
