Can’t say what actually is going wrong. But I use a Yubikey for 2FA so I use NFC on a daily basis. Sometimes it just stops working with the Yubikey Authenticator app (NFC is still on). I then have to start the app myself. Normally when I hold the key at the back of the phone the app opens automatically. But then it stops doing that, and manual intervention is needed. I don’t think it’s app related, because it works fine on my Pixel 3. Another theory is that because the Pixel 3 has less RAM, it may kill processes faster. My FP4 has 8GB, so maybe keeping it in the background for a long time triggers a bug. Just guessing.
Yes I still have regular issues with trying to pay contactlessly it’s just Incredibly fussy about where your holding the phone I think it’s some kind of signal issue between the devices because it’s especially bad with handheld wireless payment terminals I suspect because both the phone and payment terminal are moving ever so slightly at all times I have to practically shove my phone on the terminal and hold both together to get it to work
Interesting, the payment terminals in The Netherlands have strong NFC fields. The moment it fails for me is when the software refuses to open the default app for the task, i.e. Google Pay for payments (only happened once) or opening my Yubikey Authenticator (happens after 24+ hours of uptime once in a while). The connection is quite strong, also with my Yubikey.
It’s not that it doesn’t detect the NFC device from a short distance but that if I don’t hold it against the device it won’t take the payment the phone will just vibrate constantly and the terminal will just say it that it didn’t take payment because the phone/card is moving too much
Yeah, it’s exactly the same for me. It seems like both the sensitivity to the input signal and the strength of the output signal should be considerably increased. Like, it usually goes through, but I definitely need to position the phone much more precisely than I did with my previous phone (Moto Z2 Play). And with some specific terminals it just straight up fails no matter how I try to position it, while my previous phone had absolutely no problem with those.
I’m getting much more reliable reception now I’ve started positioning the middle of the phone near the NFC sensor, rather than the top as with every previous NFC-capable phone I’ve ever used. I’d guess that’s where the relevant bit of hardware is… even so it’s rather hit-and-miss
Nope, no case. I use a belt pouch instead, bought for my previous phone: it’s a snug fit but fits fine as long as you don’t try to plug in headphones, which is a dead loss since it would require the USB plug to pass through the fake-leather pouch wall: the previous phone had an off-centre headphone socket which aligned with a hole in the pouch, bah!
And ooh official specs and diagram? I love this company though I note the back cover and battery are both out of stock. Better not damage either…
hah, NFC right in the centre indeed. How’s that for sheer deductive skill! (“terrible” the crowd calls, “a six-month-old baby could have worked that out”).
I tried to reproduce it, but now it works fine. In other words, I haven’t had any issues with NFC for some time. Please keep the reports coming, but I think it’s fair to at least lower the impact of this issue in the wiki.
It wasn’t in the changelog, but the NFC sensitivity seems to be better. It wasn’t bad for me, but it seems to be better. Could be just a placebo effect of thinking things have improved due to a recent update
Yes I can confirm also that I’ve seen huge improvements with NFC sensitivity over the last few weeks especially with wireless handheld terminal devices which is very welcome I hope that continued improvements are made as it’s still not the best phone I’ve had for NFC but it’s a significant improvement
I’ve been having NFC similar NFC issues, often having to disable and re-enable it before I could use it. a few days ago I updated to a testing version of Android 13-based CalyxOS and it looks like it’s working as it should. quite a relief that it seems to have been a software issue.
I changed from iPhone to FP4 about 6 months ago. NFC always worked with iOS for over 5 years, no matter what.
That is not the case with Fairphone 4. Like written in this thread, the “moved too fast” failure comes up regularly.
Interestingly, when holding for a prelonged time (even after the vibration indicating failed attempting) it often works, just delayed. This could be tolerable, but frustrating that it sometimes doesn’t work at all. So I switch NFC off/on again and try from Lockscreen. This seems to be better, but not 100% reliable.
Thus making me read this thread and now writing a longer answer. I assume there are many other users with the same issue, just not bothering searching or answering here (as it provides no direct/easy solution).
Especially when my FP4 is unlocked and I am in another App (e.g. Nordea banking), NFC won’t work straight away.
This might be a different issue (rather related to software), while the former might actually be a hardware/design issue.
I hold the phone in my right hand and unlock/approve NFC payment with my right thumb. This makes me cover big parts of the antenna with the rest of my hand, while for me the natural way of holding the phone towards the reader is with the top (where the camera is).
Signal issue maybe?
Now with my iPhones I was always amazed how flawless NFC would work, even when holding it on the other side of the NFC reader device.
So this annoys me almost the most with my FP4 at the moment.
I will alter positioning when using NFC from now on and who knows…
I installed Better Internet Tiles with Shizuku access a few days ago, to be able to control NFC easier, and whatever this app is doing seems to have fixed it. Unsure if it will continue working, but it should work fine until next reboot, then you have to restart Shizuku again.
