NFC Ticketing Guide
Your West Ham United Ticket
Like many clubs the Irons have moved to NFC technology for ticketing. This note provides a little background on this technology and offers a few insights about how it works with Apple or Android smartphones.
What is NFC?
Near Field Communication (NFC) is a set of short-range wireless technologies – typically requiring a distance of 4cm or less to initiate a connection. NFC allows you to share small payloads of data between an NFC tag and an enabled device. NFC is used to support a wide variety of functionality, including: portable speakers, payment systems, pairing your smartphone with your car and, of course, getting and using your match day tickets to watch the mighty Hammers!
NFC on iPhone
Every iPhone since iPhone 6 (2014) has a build-in NFC chip. For iPhone 6 NFC functionality was limited to just payments via Apple Pay. Functionality was expanded from iPhone 7 enabling reading of other NFC tags using 3rd party Apps. Starting with iOS13 and the release of iPhone XS and XR the devices were also able to encode blank NFC Apps such as NFC for iPhone or NFC TagWriter by NXP. From XS thru iPhone 13 the devices are also able to read NFC tags in the background – you no longer have to install 3rd party Apps and manually read NFC tags – just tap your iPhone to an NFC tag and it will automatically identify it and the technology is enabled or disabled by the Apps that require it. On iPhones you store your NFC pass (ticket) in your Apple Wallet.
NFC on Android
There are several ways to check if NFC is available on your Android phone. Fastest and easiest method is to open Settings and then search for “nfc” in the field at the top. If the device returns a search result like NFC or Near Field Communication, then NFC is available. You can also manually look for NFC in your Android’s Settings. First, access Connected Devices (or More Connections). On the next screen, tap Connection Preferences and in the list of settings you should see Near Field Communication. Tap that to activiate NFC. Tap again to disable. On Android you store your pass (ticket) in your Google Wallet.
Your West Ham United NFC Pass
You download your West Ham United NFC pass by logging into Ticketing in your West Ham Account. Selecting your Ticket and enabling the download NFC pass button. Future passes will be downloaded to your phone automatically. For Apple Phones follow the on screen instructions and store your digital Ticket in your Apple Wallet - making sure to leave Updates on so that you get future passes. For Android phones you will need to have (or install) the Google Pay App and set this as your default payment method when prompted and ensuring that NFC is turned on. You will either be asked to do this when opening Google Pay or you can do it via Settings. Your NFC pass should now be loaded to your phone.
On match days, once you arrive at the Stadium a notification will pop-up with your NFC pass on. Sometimes your saved Banks Cards may appear first so you may need to scroll down to get your pass. Like contactless payments your pass will time-out if it is opened for a lengthy period. With this in mind it’s probably best to open your pass when you are almost at the front of the queue to enter the stadium. Then, like cashless payment, just tap your phone on the reader and enter the stadium. It’s helpful to remove any Plastic Bank Cards from your phone case as they may impact the pass reader.
NFC The Basics Guide
https://www.nomtek.com/blog/what-are-nfc-tags
Club Guide to West Ham NFC Passes
https://www.whufc.com/digital-ticketing-matchdays
QR CODE
If you have a phone that does not have NFC functionality (or is not working), you have the option of using the QR Code that is part of your ticket in your wallet. At the bottom of your match ticket in your wallet, you should click on “Show code” and this will open a new screen with a QR Code. You can then use this QR Code by placing your phone into the card reader at the turnstile.