I have an iPhone 13 Pro how do I turn On the NFC tag reader?

I need to turn onto NFC reader on my phone so so that my phone will read the chip on my passport for a visa. How do I enable the NFC reader? I have an iPhone 13 Pro.

MacBook Air, macOS 15.3

Posted on Mar 23, 2025 7:12 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 23, 2025 7:39 AM

janson369 wrote:

1. Hello there! You may try these following steps below:

On your iPhone, open the Shortcuts app.
2. Tap on the Automation tab at the bottom of your screen.
3. Tap on Create Personal Automation.
4. Scroll down and select NFC.
5. Tap on Scan.
6. Put your iPhone near the NFC tag.
7. Enter a name for your tag.
8. Tap on Add Action.

Also for the Visa app, may I know which application are you using? There’s usually a permission and access grant by the user to allow the NFC to be utilised. If it doesn’t work, try bringing up the passport that can connect with NFCs to trigger the NFC on Iphone. Hope it helps!

Wherever you copied this from, is not correct for an iPhone 13. Since iPhone 12, there hasn't been a switch for NFC at all. NFC is on by default and Apple uses NFC primarily for contactless payment service, such as ApplePay.

7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 23, 2025 7:39 AM in response to janson369

janson369 wrote:

1. Hello there! You may try these following steps below:

On your iPhone, open the Shortcuts app.
2. Tap on the Automation tab at the bottom of your screen.
3. Tap on Create Personal Automation.
4. Scroll down and select NFC.
5. Tap on Scan.
6. Put your iPhone near the NFC tag.
7. Enter a name for your tag.
8. Tap on Add Action.

Also for the Visa app, may I know which application are you using? There’s usually a permission and access grant by the user to allow the NFC to be utilised. If it doesn’t work, try bringing up the passport that can connect with NFCs to trigger the NFC on Iphone. Hope it helps!

Wherever you copied this from, is not correct for an iPhone 13. Since iPhone 12, there hasn't been a switch for NFC at all. NFC is on by default and Apple uses NFC primarily for contactless payment service, such as ApplePay.

Mar 23, 2025 7:45 AM in response to evswaim

evswaim wrote:

I need to turn onto NFC reader on my phone so so that my phone will read the chip on my passport for a visa. How do I enable the NFC reader? I have an iPhone 13 Pro.

As I mentioned above, the NFC is already turned on your iPhone. There is no switch for it. You will likely need an app to do what you want. NFC on iPhone is primarily used for contactless payment like ApplePay and doesn't really read the NFC chips in things like credit cards or even your passport. And the chip in your passport is not really for you to read, but is for the TSA or entry point at Customes to read. Why do you need to read the chip?

Mar 23, 2025 7:18 AM in response to evswaim

Hello there! You may try these following steps below:


  1. On your iPhone, open the Shortcuts app.
  2. Tap on the Automation tab at the bottom of your screen.
  3. Tap on Create Personal Automation.
  4. Scroll down and select NFC.
  5. Tap on Scan.
  6. Put your iPhone near the NFC tag.
  7. Enter a name for your tag.
  8. Tap on Add Action.


Also for the Visa app, may I know which application are you using? There’s usually a permission and access grant by the user to allow the NFC to be utilised. If it doesn’t work, try bringing up the passport that can connect with NFCs to trigger the NFC on Iphone. Hope it helps!

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I have an iPhone 13 Pro how do I turn On the NFC tag reader?

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