NFC Ring lets you open doors and swap data with one tap

NFC is very clever, but what if you don’t want to fetch your phone out of your pocket every few minutes? You could try the NFC Ring.

As the name suggests, it’s a smart piece of jewellery that contains a pair of NFC radio tags. This makes it compatible with everything from smartphones to door locks. One tag is on the upper surface, with the other on the lower. You can choose what to share by where you assign your data. Keep what you’re happy sharing with the public in the upper tag, while more private info should stay in the lower tag.

For example, you could have your business card stored as a VCard in the upper tag. Then you just touch someone else’s phone to transfer your deets. Store a URL and the website will open as soon as you tap the device. Or program it with a shortcut to your favourite app and watch it open with a single tap.

You can use the lower tag as part of a two-factor authentication system to keep your data safe. Though this raises the question: If you don’t want anyone to see this data, why have it on the ring at all?

Read more: What is NFC?

But it does have some pretty cool uses. You can unlock your phone just by picking it up, for example. Or install an NFC door lock, and you can let yourself in with the tap of a hand.

It’s raised £22,000 of a £57,000 funding goal and has 20 days to go. If successful, it will cost £23 and ship in December.