A while back, I wrote about wireless technologies beyond Wi-Fi, including NFC and RFID. Recently, I got a real-world reminder of just how creative these technologies can be.

I was recruiting for a position when I met someone who had an NFC chip embedded in her cosmetic nails. She could tap her nail against a phone and pull up her LinkedIn profile. No business cards, no searching, no typing. Just tap and connect.

I was impressed. And, naturally, I wanted to try it myself.

The Experiment

I wear a ring with a fairly large face, which seemed like the perfect place to conceal a tiny NFC tag. Imagine being able to tap your ring against someone's phone and instantly share your LinkedIn profile, contact information, or personal website.

My first purchase was a set of NFC LED fingernail accessories. I missed the significance of the word LED. These things don't store data or link to a URL. They simply light up when exposed to an NFC field. You can wave them over a credit card payment terminal and watch them twinkle. Honestly, they might be fun at a rave, but they weren't going to solve my problem.

Next, I ordered some actual NFC tags. These little guys were around 10 mm in diameter, and they worked great. The problem? NFC tags don't play nicely with metal. Put one under my ring, and the ring interferes with the antenna.

That led me down a rabbit hole researching on-metal NFC tags. These use special shielding or ferrite material to help the antenna function near metal surfaces. They exist, but the ones I found were too large to fit under my ring. I even tried folding one down to make it work, but the material ended up irritating my finger. Definitely not a viable long-term solution.

Help Me Solve This

I'm looking for an NFC tag that's roughly 10 mm in diameter, designed to work on or near metal, and thin and skin-safe enough to sit comfortably beneath a ring.

Does anyone know if something like this exists? Maybe there's a specialized tag I've overlooked, or another approach to embedding NFC in jewelry that I haven't considered.

I'd love to hear from anyone who's experimented with miniature NFC antennas, ferrite shielding, or custom jewelry integrations. I'm determined to get this working!

UPDATE:

I may have found a likely candidate from gototags.com. They're in the mail as we speak, so we'll see once they arrive!