Your Snapper really is one smart little device. It's actually a mini computer in your pocket, which uses NFC (near field communication) technology to draw power from the Snapper reader when you buy something or tag on to a bus.
On this page:
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A super smart device
When you tag on the bus and touch your Snapper to the Snapper reader, your Snapper becomes part of a series of events, including:
- your Snapper powers up
- the Snapper reader checks it's a valid card
- makes sure your Snapper hasn't been registered as lost or stolen
- checks what kind of Snapper it is (i.e. child or adult)
- checks if there are any outstanding penalties issued to your Snapper
- checks if you have sufficient funds loaded on your Snapper to pay the minimum fare
- tells your Snapper where you got on the bus
- deducts the minimum fare from your Snapper
- and finally, the Snapper reader powers down your Snapper.
And it does all of this in less than half a second.
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Inside your Snapper
Inside every Snapper is a tiny computer, and a very fine copper wire which wraps round the whole device and works as an aerial (you can see them in the diagram here showing the inside of a Snapper).
If this aerial is damaged or broken, then your Snapper will stop working. This is why it's best not to drill holes in your Snapper, bend it out of shape, cut it, saw it in half, let the dog chew it, chew it yourself, put it in the tumble dryer.... You get the picture.
If you really want to hang your Snapper, check out Snapper for your keyring and the Snapper accessories for some handy solutions - all of which are available from the Snapper store.
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Room for more
Another cool thing about your Snapper is it has memory space inside it, which can be used for other handy things besides paying for your bus fare. Your office building access, school ID, or season ticket can all be loaded onto a Snapper. Here at Snapper HQ our staff ID card is also a Snapper and our contactless building access card and many schools now have Snapper built in to their School ID cards.We even have a SDK for developers who are interested in developing applications for contactless platforms. Get in touch if you'd like to get hold of a SDK or if you'd like to talk to us about setting up your school or business with Snapper.
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Snapper through your wallet
Did you know that you can usually use your Snapper without even taking it out of your wallet? Just hold your wallet against the Snapper reader and because it uses Radio Frequency technology, the reader will detect your Snapper through the cover of your wallet.
Just to make sure this works, here's a few tips.
- If you have other RF cards close together in your wallet it may cause interference and you'll hear the "More than one card detected" message as you tag on the bus.
- You can try positioning your Snapper card on one side of your wallet and your other RF cards (eg. a building access card) as far to the other side of your wallet as possible. Often this is enough to ensure that there is no radio frequency interference between the cards.
- Make sure that your Snapper is positioned as close as possible to the outside wall of your wallet so that it's closest to the reader when you tag on.
- When tagging on or using Snapper in a retailer, place your wallet flat and still on the reader so that it is touching.
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Super secure
Snapper is a new generation contactless smartcard and according to our technical team...
- we use finance industry standard authentication mechanisms based on 3DES to protect transactions and ensure cards do not accept unauthorized data
- every Snapper is protected from replaying of previous messages and man-in-the-middle attacks
- the keys held on the card are not externally accessible and are set at time of manufacture.
And who are we to argue with them - they're the technical team and they know what they're talking about!