Do NFC review cards actually work, and do they work with iPhone?

Short answer: yes, the tap works, and yes, modern iPhones read it. Here is the slightly longer answer, because you are about to hand Google review NFC cards to real customers and you deserve to know exactly what happens when they tap.

How the tap actually works

There is a small NFC chip inside the card, the same technology as contactless payment. When a phone comes close, the chip passes it one thing: the link to your Google review page. No app to download, no battery in the card, nothing for you to maintain. The customer taps, their phone opens your review form, and they can write whatever they honestly think. That last part matters, more on it below.

Yes, they work with iPhone

Every iPhone released since 2018 reads NFC tags straight out of the box. The customer holds the Google review NFC card near the top edge of the phone, a notification pops up, they tap it and your review page opens. Nothing to install and nothing to set up. Older iPhones than that, the X and earlier, will not tap. Those are nine year old phones now, so it is a small and shrinking share of what comes through your door, and if someone is carrying one you can still ask them for the review the way you always did.

Android works too

Modern Android phones read a Google NFC card the same way, usually against the middle of the back of the phone. If a phone is being stubborn, it is nearly always one of three things: NFC is switched off in settings, the phone is in a very thick case, or the customer is tapping the wrong spot. Show your staff the right spot once and they can rescue any tap in seconds.

The card is the easy part

Be honest with yourself: an NFC Google review card does not create happy customers, it just removes the faff between a happy customer and a posted review. Ask every customer, not just the delighted ones, because picking favourites is called review gating and it breaks Google's rules. Never pay for reviews either. We never do any of it. The businesses that do well with these cards treat asking as part of the job, like wiping tables. Hand the card over at the till, every time, and let the taps add up.