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

Short answer: yes, and yes. Here is the slightly longer answer, because you are about to hand these 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 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 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. On a handful of much older iPhones the tap is not supported, which is exactly why a good card carries a QR code as well. Camera out, scan, same review page.

Android works too

Modern Android phones read NFC 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 QR code catches everything else.

The card is the easy part

Be honest with yourself: the 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.