Suppose you have an iPhone case with a magnetic closure. Or you use a wireless charger. Can the magnetic strip of your bank card be erased, or can the chip be broken? Can the magnet destroy your smartphone? The answer to these questions!
Smartphones with magnetic closure are in. They often have a number of slots on the inside for cards and the like. Can such a case be harmful?
The magnetic stripe and chip
What does such a magnetic strip do? An ATM first reads the magnetic stripe and if that’s right, the machine goes over to the chip. If the magnetic strip is damaged… indeed, you can no longer withdraw money. Keeping the card away from magnets is therefore a good idea. But how strong does a magnet have to be to disrupt your card in that way?
A spokesperson for ING bank says:
”A magnetic field can have an effect on the magnetic strip. The magnetic strip can then be erased. It must be a fairly strong magnetic field, for example in shops where they disable the security in articles at the checkout by passing them over a strong magnet. If you keep your card close by there, there is a good chance that your magnetic strip has been erased.”
So no, that little magnet on your smartphone case is probably too weak to do any damage.
wireless charger
But is it safe to put your bank cards on the charger, because a magnetic field is also created with wireless chargers? Spokesperson Berend Jan Beugel of the Payments Association explains:
”The EMV chip can be disrupted by rapidly changing, strong magnetic fields. Putting a debit card in the microwave is not a good idea. In theory, a wireless charger can also be harmful if it is very strong. After all, all wireless chargers rely on rapidly changing magnetic fields to generate an electrical voltage. However, weak, fluctuating magnetic fields are also necessary to be able to use a contactless debit card. This temporarily generates electricity in the debit card to power the EMV payment chip. The NFC connection between the payment terminal and the EMV payment chip also works with weak, alternating magnetic fields. If a wireless charger is too strong, a contactless payment card will overheat and circuits in the EMV payment chip can burn out.”
So it mainly depends on which wireless charger you use, and for how long. An iPhone can get warm while charging. Chargers from A-brands (think Samsung, LG) have built-in protection against overheating. With a hastily manufactured charger of a tenner you know that you are running extra risk. But… the Payments Association thinks that most smartphone chargers are too weak to damage NFC debit cards. “At least we haven’t received any reports of that yet.”
Influence of magnets on the smartphone
Can the magnet of the cover break your iPhone or Android phone? New. But it does have an influence, for example on the compass. Apple Maps does not point to the correct north.
Conclusion
In short: bank cards can be damaged by magnetic fields, but the magnets in covers and wireless chargers are too weak in almost all cases. There are also no known cases at the Payments Association.
If you have the choice, we still recommend choosing cases without magnets, but mainly because the magnets in cases can potentially affect the functioning of the phone itself. There are plenty of cases with an alternative closure, such as a press stud, loop or Velcro. With wireless charging, it is often useful to remove the cover anyway.
Source: iCulture.nl
