A user reports that their smartphone is no longer able to make contactless payments or perform wireless file transfers, even though these features worked previously. What is the most likely cause of this issue?
The device needs to be checked for physical obstructions over the chip responsible for touchless communications.
The device should be inspected for malware.
The feature for wireless data exchange and payments is disabled in the settings.
Both contactless payments and many peer-to-peer file-transfer features (such as Android Beam) rely on the phone's NFC radio. If NFC is toggled off in Settings, all NFC-based services stop working immediately. Re-enabling the NFC or "Tap & pay" switch typically restores both functions.
A thick or metallic phone case-or other physical obstruction-can sometimes block NFC signals, but the scenario does not mention a new case or physical damage. Malware or a missing OS update would be unlikely to disable only NFC functionality without other symptoms, making a disabled NFC setting the most probable root cause.
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