In just four years of its existence, Mi Band from Xiaomi has become a household name, which many use to refer to any fitness bracelets at all. Affected by the high popularity of the Chinese manufacturer's trackers, in fact, they were in no way inferior to the more expensive Fitbit solutions and most smartwatches on Wear OS. As a result, it got to the point that Mi Band were able to compete on equal terms with Apple Watch, which today, although they are the market leader in wearable devices, are far behind the brainchild Xiaomi in their price. Well, the release of the Mi Band 4 with NFC made the fitness bracelets of the Chinese brand unattainable for everyone else.
MI Band 4 officially arrived in Russia with contactless payment support
Last weekend Xiaomi Mi Band 4 with NFC for contactless payments went on sale on the Russian market. You can buy Xiaomi Mi Band 4 with NFC both in the official online store Xiaomi and in large retail chains. Despite the fact that Xiaomi has long been equipping its fitness bracelets with a near-field module, they have never gone outside the local market. Rather, they went out, but it was impossible to use them for their intended purpose. However, now the Chinese have decided to make an exception for our market and have brought the long-awaited version with NFC on sale.
How Xiaomi Mi Band 4 with NFC works
The U-shaped button is a distinctive feature of the Mi Band 4 with NFC
I will not detain you and waste time describing the characteristics of Mi Band 4, which, firstly, are most likely not interesting to you, and, secondly, you may have already seen them repeatedly somewhere else. Therefore, I propose to focus only on the most important aspects of the novelty – contactless payments and some of the most important differences from the original version of the bracelet. Moreover, there really is something to talk about here.
- Xiaomi Mi Band 4 with NFC costs 3999 rubles, that is, 2.5 times more expensive than today you can buy Mi Band without NFC support;
- It is not difficult to distinguish Mi Band 4 with NFC – just look at the button under the screen: for the version with NFC it is U-shaped, and for the version without NFC it is round;
- Xiaomi Mi Band 4 with NFC does not support any of the payment services known to us like Google Pay or Mi Pay;
- All transactions Xiaomi Mi Band 4 with NFC carries out through the built-in tool for transferring payment data;
- You can bind a card to Mi Band 4 with NFC only from MasterCard, while Visa, American Express, AliPay and Mir are not accepted;
- The binding is made in the Mi Fit application, where a special section has appeared for entering payment data;
- Unlike Apple Watch, Xiaomi Mi Band 4 with NFC does not allow paying without a smartphone, while the smartphone itself may not support NFC.
How to set up Mi Band 4 with NFC
Mi Band 4 with NFC only supports MasterCard
For some unknown reason Xiaomi does not say which banks Mi Band 4 with NFC supports, limiting itself only to the payment system – MasterCard. What exactly this is connected with is difficult to say. Perhaps right now the company is at the final stage of negotiations with a large number of banks, which are about to support contactless payment using a fitness bracelet. However, we can already say that not all banks are supported yet. Some users who bought the new product are already complaining that Mi Band 4 with NFC gives error 54006, indicating a refusal to register a card.
- To bind a card to Mi Band 4 with NFC, launch the Mi Fit application (download);
- Go to 'Settings' and open the 'Bank Card' section;
- Enter the payment details of your bank card and confirm the registration with the SMS code;
- Before paying, wake up the bracelet, find the bank card icon in the menu, click on it and bring it to the terminal.
How to pay for Mi Band 4 with NFC
After activating the payment function, the bracelet will be able to complete the transaction within one minute. Just bring it to the terminal and wait for the confirmation signal. However, to recharge you will have to 'recharge' again. Despite the seeming primitiveness of the payment method used by Xiaomi Mi Band 4 with NFC, it is no less secure than transactions made via Apple Pay and Google Pay. Firstly, the payment data is carefully encrypted, replacing it with a unique token, and, secondly, you can put a pin code on the payment, which will have to be entered every time before bringing the bracelet to the terminal.