How-to

Basics

Tap to share photos, websites, and more

Did you know you can share things from one phone to another by simply tapping the two together? It's pretty amazing, actually. Windows Phone 8 supports a type of wireless communication called NFC (near field communication) that lets you transfer files and other things quickly and wirelessly, at close range.

As long as your phone supports NFC, and the device you're sharing with does too, you can transfer photos, contacts, websites, and a lot more. You can even tap to wirelessly pair two devices, such as your phone to set of speakers. To learn more about NFC pairing, see Pair my phone with a Bluetooth accessory.

Notes

  • When you hold two phones together to share, hold them back to back. Or, if your device has an NFC touch mark on it (such as a symbol, or the letters "nfc"), make sure the touch marks on each device are in close proximity to each other.
  • To share large files (such as photos or music) using NFC, you'll need Bluetooth on both devices. (Your Windows Phone 8 comes with it.) You'll also need to make sure that Bluetooth is turned on, both on your phone and on the receiving device.
  • You should only accept files or other info from sources that you trust.

Tap to share a photo, video, song, document, or website

  1. Open the photo, video, song, Office document, or website you want to share.

  2. Tap More More icon, and then tap Share or Share page.

  3. Tap Tap + Send, and then hold your phone up to a friend's NFC-capable device.

  4. On the receiving device, tap Accept to open the item, and then do one of the following:

    • For a photo or video, go to the Photos Hub, tap Albums, and tap Saved Pictures to see the shared photo or video.
    • For a song, go to the Music + Videos Hub, flick left or right to New, and then tap the song to play it.
    • For an Office document, tap More More icon, tap Save as, and then follow the instructions to save the document to your phone or to SkyDrive.
    • For a website, tap More More icon, and then tap Add to favorites or Pin to Start to save it for later.

Tap to share a contact

  1. In the App list, tap People People Tile, and then find and tap the contact you want to share.

  2. Tap More More icon, tap Share contact, and then tap Share Share icon.

  3. Tap Tap + Send, and then hold your phone up to a friend's NFC-capable device.

  4. On the receiving device, tap Accept to open the contact. Tap Save, and then follow the instructions to save the contact to one of your accounts (such as Google or your Microsoft account).

    Note

    You can't share contacts from social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter.

Tap to share apps and games

  1. In the App list, tap Store People Tile.

  2. Find and tap the app or game you want to share, and then tap Share (or More More icon > Share of you don't see that option).

  3. Tap Tap + Send, and then hold your phone up to a friend's NFC-capable device.

  4. On the receiving device, tap Accept to open the app or game in the Store.

    Tip

    There's a quicker way to share apps you've already installed: In the App list, tap and hold the app, and then tap Share > Tap + Send.

Tap to receive info from a business card or ad

NFC chips are small—so small that sometimes they're embedded in business cards, magazine advertisements, posters, restaurant menus, and so on. You can tap your phone to any one of these to get different types of info. For example, if a business card supports NFC, you can tap your phone to it to get the person's contact info or website.

  1. Tap your phone to an NFC-capable item.

  2. When the message box appears, tap Accept to receive and open the contact or website.

To turn NFC sharing and pairing off

NFC sharing is turned on by default in Windows Phone 8, but you can turn it off in Settings. Turning it off will also turn off the ability to pair devices using NFC.

  1. In the App list, tap Settings Settings Tile.

  2. Tap Tap + send, and then turn NFC sharing off.

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