Apple Ring · Hardware

The ring could pay by NFC

Apple has patented NFC in a smart ring for years. If the product ships, Apple Pay is an obvious fit.

1 min readUpdated Sep 22, 2026

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What to know

What to know

An Apple smart ring could let you pay with a tap of your finger. NFC, the radio used for tap-to-pay, has shown up in Apple's ring patents since at least 2015, NFCW reported.

The 2015 patent application described a ring that could make payments, share information with a handshake and unlock documents on a shared device with a tap.

A patent is not a product. Apple has not announced a ring or said it would support payments.

How we know this

How we know this

What changed, newest first.

Oct 1, 2015NFCWUses NFC for payments, handshake transfers, and secure-document access
Reported

Frequently asked

Frequently asked

Could an Apple ring do Apple Pay?
Apple's patents suggest it could support NFC for tap-to-pay, but this is not confirmed.