let me tap that

Ever roll into a BART station, phone in hand, and tap that sensor for a seamless entry? It's like magic, righttt? Well, the secret behind that smooth move isn't magic – it's a groundbreaking technologly called Host Card Emulation (HCE).

Think of HCE as a translator for your phone (or any device with an NFC chip). It lets your phone chat with other NFC-enabled devices – think turnstiles, payment terminals, even other phones. This way, your phone transforms into a secure digital wallet, eliminating the need to juggle a bulky stack of cards.

Let’s bring in the ‘Thinker’ for a little history lesson;

“The secure element (SE) has been used for a while in both general and contactless payments. SE would be hosted inside a device allowing the receiver and the device to communicate with each other, thus completing the transaction.”

What makes HCE even more beautiful; you may be wondering? HCE ditches the internal SE and stores your payment info securely in the cloud. So, your phone talks directly to the NFC terminal, mimicking your card without needing a dedicated chip inside.

The greatest benefit (arguably in my humble opinion) is HCE is it does not require any infrastructure change to support NFC. HCE can work with any POS terminal device that is NFC enabled, eliminating the need for expensive hardware.

Or the ability to use multiple NFC wallets on the same device:

HCE might not be a household name, but it's a powerful tech hero 🦸 working behind the scenes. The next time you tap your phone for a transaction, give a silent shout-out to HCE – the invisible force making our tech lives easier.