NFC stands for Near Field Communications. Its technology is very similar to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but unlike Wi-Fi and Bluetooth it has a very short wireless transmission range, that typically ranges somewhere from 1cm to 4 cm in distance. NFC is also a low speed communication with speed varying from 106 to 414 kbps depending on your configurations. Technology itself has been around for a while and its early versions have been used in electronic identity documents and keycards. Technology started growing fast again when a lot of mobile handset manufacturers started implementing it into their phones.
While it seems like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are way better options in wireless communications, NFC has few major advantages over them. One of the main advantages of the Near Field Communications is that it has a low friction setup, which means there is no discovery, pairing, or entering secret passwords between the devices. Because NFC is a very short range communication, two devices are ready to communicate with each other immediately after they are brought together within the range.
Second major advantage of the NFC is that it supports passive targets. These are the devices that can send and receive NFC data, but do not require batteries in them. Passive targets come in the form of NFC tag, sticker or any other shape, and they usually contain tiny microcontroller within, that picks up power from electromagnetic field from the other device.
NFC tags are often used to store and share basic data like data like text, contact information, website addresses. With programmable tags you can buy, you can tap your phone to a sticker (on your desk, wall, car, or wherever) to automatically change the settings, such as volume or Wi-Fi network, open an app, pair Bluetooth devices, and more. In addition, Google includes NFC functionality in their Android mobile operating system and provides a NFC payment service, Google Wallet, which would require a NFC enabled cash register