Beaming Service

Don’t know what Beaming service and S-Beam are? Not sure what NFC is and how it is related to Android Beam? Learn what is the use of Android Beam on our phone and how you can make your life easier. See how you can enable and disable it and how it will affect your phone’s battery. If you want to learn how then check out other useful articles on our page.

The beaming service is used to transfer files quickly between devices with NFC. There are a lot of uses for this feature on your phone which can make your life easier. We will be seeing everything you need to know about Android Beam in this article. Do not skip any part as you will not need to learn anything after completing this article.

NFC stands for “Near Field Communication” and most of the devices have this feature. You need to have an NFC in which your and an icon( ) should be on your phone. You can even share apps via the beaming service (NFC), they will be stored in your phone.

The concept behind NFC is that users can share files quickly without hassle, unlike all the alternatives. These files can be YouTube videos, photos, websites, business cards, and even do payments. Android developers heard the complaints of users about a fast sharing option missing, like AirDrop on iPhone.

Nowadays, NFC tags are available in the market. You can program anything on the chip, and when you read it with your phone. Your phone will perform that action without any input required. Like turning any smart appliance on with particular settings. You will be able to find NFC tags on Amazon or eBay, they are relatively cheap and easy to use.

To transfer files devices just need to come near each other so NFC chips identify each other. All the NFC chips are located on the back of the phone, generally below the camera. But your phone must have the NFC chip to have the Android beam feature, check the “Does my phone have Android Beam?” section for it. Since NFC comes preinstalled on your phone and is a physical chip. So if your phone does have it then you will not be able to use it, nor modify your phone. Most smartphones have the support for NFC but you should still check if your phone supports it or not.

What Is S-Beam?

We have already seen what Android beam is in the above section. And you must know that every phone has its custom UI (User Experience). Samsung did the same with the Android Beam, they created S-Beam (Samsung-Beam).

S-Beam can be used to transfer files and media with the help of Wifi direct. The procedures and other steps will be the same for S-Beam as they were for Android Beam. If you have a Samsung smartphone then you should see the later section dedicated to Samsung’s S-Beam. Learn how you can turn it on and off on your Samsung device.

Drawbacks Of Android Beam

Now there are not any significant disadvantages of using the Android Beam Service feature, but we will try to cover them all. But you should keep in mind that these drawbacks will depend on the user, it can be a plus point for another user. These are the potential drawbacks of the Android Beam:

• You need to be physically present near the receiver.
• Not all phones support Android Beam, which means your friend may not have it and you can’t share photos.
• With the high-speed internet, sharing photos this way seems tedious.
• The transfer takes longer than internet transfer.
• You need to keep both phones back to back till the file is transferred, making it not possible to transfer large files.
• If you need NFC on all the time, anyone can make your phone read their data/instructions.
• We do not get a chance to use NFC in our daily life as much as we would think. Most users don’t even know that they have NFC support on their phones.

How do I turn on the beaming service?

First, you should check if your phone supports the beaming service or not, you can do any of these things:

• Search online about NFC for your phone’s model.
• Look for the NFC icon on the back of the phone.
• Look for settings on your phone, follow below steps.

Follow these steps to enable Android beaming on your phone:

1. Turn on your phone and open “Settings.”
2. Now look for “Connections”, tap on it, and then look for “NFC & payment.”
3. Tap on it, there must be a switch to turn NFC on.
4. Once you enable NFC, you should get a message about NFC, tap “OK.”
5. If enabled, tap on “Android Beam”, there should be a switch at the top right corner of the screen.
6. Now turn it on, and this will enable Android Beam.

How do I turn off Android Beam?

Now the steps for turning off the Android beam are similar to enabling it, but we will still cover it. Follow the steps mentioned below to disable the Android Beaming:

1. Turn on your phone and open “Settings.”
2. Now look for “Connections”, tap on it, and then look for “NFC & payment.”
3. If enabled, tap on “Android Beam”, there should be a switch at the top right corner of the screen.
4. Now turn it off, and this will disable Android Beam.
5. You should see the Android Beam option as disabled.

Turn off S-Beam on Samsung

We have already seen the uses and disadvantages of S-Beam (Android  Beam). Now we will see how we can disable it on a Samsung smartphone, steps will be similar with few changes. Follow the steps mentioned below to turn it on or off:

1. Start your phone and open “Settings.”
2. Look for “Connections” and tap on it.
3. Scroll down and tap on “NFC and payment.”
4. Now tap on the toggle which says “NFC and payment”, after enabling you will get a confirmation popup.
5. Click  “OK” and now S-Beam should be activated, do the opposite to turn if off.
6. Tap on the switch which says “Android Beam”, it should be on the top right corner of the screen. After clicking it should be turned on or off.

OR

1. Swipe from the top of your screen to open the quick-access menu.
2. Look for the NFC icon , tap to turn on or off quickly.

What Is The Best Way To Get Rid Of Samsung Beaming Service?

Now it is not possible to get rid of the NFC feature, you can turn it off and never use it again. Most people will not care or even know that their phones have NFC chips on their phones. But for some reason you want it removed from your phone then there is only one option. You need to take it to a third-party service center and get the NFC chip removed.

You can not remove the software part since it is installed in the OS and we can not tamper with Android OS. You should go through the article to know about the uses and disadvantages of the NFC or Android Beam. And since NFC does not affect batteries or pose a real security threat. There is no good reason to go with the whole process of getting the chip removed. We have covered various topics related to NFC, go through them to have a better idea about it.

But you should keep some points in mind before removing the NFC chip:

• NFC allows you to share photos instantly.
• You can make payment at shops with Android Beam.
• You can connect to headphones with a simple tap.
• NFC allows you to transfer files between different devices like laptops, printers, etc.
• You can turn NFC off and it will be disabled until you turn it on again.
• There are NFC tags that you can use around your house.
• Search online to see the different uses of the NFC or Android Beam.

Go through the previous section to learn how you can disable the NFC or Android Beam on your phone. If you are a Samsung user then check the “Turn off S-Beam” section in the article.

Does my phone have Android Beam?

We can check if our phone has the support for Android Beans or not. We can simply search it online or look for it on the box. But another way would be to look for the NFC icon( ). There is another simpler way, you can just open the settings on your phone and search for “NFC”.

If you are not able to find it after all this, chances are your phone does not have NFC. Since an NFC chip is required in the phone to have the support for Android beam.

What is touch to the beam?

You must have noticed that some people use this feature to pay bills on the spot. They just need to touch the back of their phone with the payment machine. Or they can transfer files on another phone just by touching back to back with another phone.

This is the touch-to-beam feature, “touch” meaning taping the back of your phone with any beam-compatible device. As soon as you touch the device, action will happen and you will be asked if you want to do it.

Is Android Beam faster than Bluetooth?

The answer would be YES since Android beam uses WiFi direct which has high speeds. You should also know the comically slow speed of Bluetooth transfer. WiFi direct allows us to transfer files at a speed of 300 Mbps (on paper speed). You should try the Android beam on your phone and compare the speeds for yourself.

Should NFC be on or off?

If you don’t use NFC constantly which is the case for most people, then you should keep it off.

NFC (Near Field Communication) can be a security risk if kept on all the time. Also, NFC uses your battery even when you are not using it, not significant battery usage. For these reasons, we will suggest you keep it off and turn it on only when in use.

Aside from it, you can turn NFC on & off with the tap of a button. Simply open the quick access menu (swipe from the top of the screen). There you should find the NFC icon (), tap it to turn on or off.

How do I share photos between Android phones?

There are a number of ways you can share photos between Android phones. But the quickest and easiest way is with NFC (Touch to beam). You just need to turn on the NFC on both devices and touch their backs.

The speed of transfer will be greater than that of Bluetooth and you don’t need to change anything. Check the section above to see if your phone gave support for touch to beam or not.

Once you touch the backs, you will see multiple photos, from there select (long press) the one you want to share.

How do I transfer files between Android phones using Bluetooth?

If you do not have support for NFC (touch to beam) then you can use Bluetooth to transfer the files. The only difference is the speed, aside from it the file transfer is simple and easy like NFC. Follow the steps below to share files with Bluetooth:

1. Start your phone and open “Gallery” or “Photos.”
2. Now long press and select all the photos that you want to share.
3. Click on “Share” and then select the “Bluetooth” option.
4. Turn on Bluetooth on the other phone or laptop. Set it to “Visible to other devices” from the Bluetooth settings.
5. Your first device should have the name of the second, tap on the name and confirm.
6. On second phone or laptop, permit to transfer files.
7. Now you should see a progress bar in the notifications, wait for it to be completed.

Summary

In the article, we saw what Android Beam is and what is the use of Beaming Service for us. If you are still unclear then we would suggest using it once with your friend. Samsung and other phone makers include an in-app guild while you turn it on. Read the instructions here to learn how to use it and what it can do. Go through the article once more if you are confused or not getting it. Using NFC is simple, but it takes time to get a grip on it.