Top 5 Contactless Payment Rings [Features, Specs, & Pricing Comparison]

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There are only a few contactless payment rings available on the market. This blog introduces four popular smart rings — K Ring, McLear Ring, LAKS, and Token Ring — which are all available for purchase and one upcoming ring called Xenxo S-Ring.

One common thing between these contactless payment rings is the technology that makes its key functionality possible — near-field communication or NFC. It’s the safest and most cost-effective method to transmit data from one place to another because it requires very close proximity for transactions to take place.

With NFC-enabled contactless payment rings, you don’t need to present your credit or debit card, give PIN codes, or touch anything. Just hover your ring over at the point of sale terminals, and you’re done.

But which is the best smart ring for contactless payments?

5 Contactless Payment Rings

Let’s take a quick look at the four contactless payment rings and an upcoming one on this list:

1. McLEAR Ring

McLear Ring is one of the first NFC smart rings to offer contactless payments at points of sale. At press time, McLear Ring can only connect to credit card and bank accounts in select U.K. providers. One thing that sets McLear Ring apart is its RingPay app that allows users to keep track of their daily expenditures. RingPay is available for Android and iOS devices.

Australia’s Bankwest has a McLear-branded payment ring called Bankwest Halo. It works pretty much the same as any McLear Rings, except Bankwest Halo is offered exclusively to the bank’s customers.

McLEAR Unisex Ceramic Programmable Smart Ring Eclipse

2.Token Ring

Token Ring is an NFC smart ring that does more things other than contactless payments. This ring can also be used as an access badge to buildings and soon to homes, cars, and public transits. Token Ring can also be used for passwordless logins and two-factor authentication (2FA).

RELATED: Token Ring Review

3. K Ring

K Ring is one of the leading NFC contactless payment rings. It’s available for MasterCard prepaid accounts in the U.K., and 28 EEA countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden). K Ring is fully functional at over 40 million retail locations worldwide where MasterCard is accepted.

K Ring’s floor limit is now set at £45 in the U.K. with higher value payments available in Europe with the PIN. In Belgium, K Ring supports KBC Maestro and Bacontact debit cards, while in the Netherlands, K Ring supports ABN AMRO bank accounts.

4.LAKS Ring2Pay

LAKS Ring2Pay is a passive NFC ring that’s specially designed for contactless payments only. It supports KBC Bank, ABN AMRO, Rabobank, Nordea Bank, and iCard digital wallet.

5. Xenxo S-Ring

Xensxo S-Ring is a versatile smart ring packed with several functionalities other than contactless payments. It can be used as a smart key, music controller, phone speaker and microphone, panic button, and vibration alarms, among others. Xenxo ring is yet to be released commercially.

Contactless Payment Rings Side-by-Side Comparison

Here are the primary features of the five contactless payment rings covered in this article – McLEAR, Token Ring, K Ring, LAKS Ring2Pay, and Xenxo S-Ring.

More Contactless Payment Rings

If you are looking for the perfect contactless payment ring for your needs, check also PAGO, the first payment ring made in Germany, and CNICK’s Tesla Ring, which combines a car key and contactless payment on the same device!