[REVIEW] Xiaomi Mi Band 6 NFC finally brings contactless payments + a guide on how to pay with all cards

The Mi Band 6 bracelet has already undergone several changes since its launch at the beginning of this year. The display has grown, new features have been added, but at least here in Slovakia and the Czech Republic we didn’t get the long-awaited feature for long – contactless mobile payments.

That’s changing now, with the arrival of the new affordable fitness band Xiaomi Mi Band 6 NFC. We’ll walk you through its benefits and any compromises in today’s review.

Where did we buy it?

Our Slovak partner MiStores.sk provided the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 NFC fitness band for testing. With our coupon, it comes to €48, and delivery to a Slovak address takes just 1–2 business days.

You can find coupons for Xiaomi Mi Band 6 NFC here

If you want to save even more, you can also order the Mi Band 6 NFC from European warehouses from our international partners. You can find all coupons in our article on XiaomiPlanet.sk.

Xiaomi Mi Band 6 NFC: Design and build

Right away, it’s clear that there haven’t been many changes in terms of manufacturing quality. The finish and dimensions are practically identical to the original band Mi Band 6 and the “NFC” label you’ll find only on the box.

It includes the black plastic capsule mounted in a black silicone strap, a magnetic USB cable for charging, and a brief user manual.

The bracelet’s body features a large AMOLED display on the front. On the side, there’s a microphone for voice commands, and on the back, there’s traditionally a group of sensors along with the magnetic charging pins.

The bracelet is really well made; its dimensions are only 47,4 x 18,6 x 12,7 millimeters. The only design difference compared to the original version without NFC is the golden strip on the bottom of the silicone strap. The NFC version has it, while the original version without NFC does not.

The technical specifications are almost identical

The vast majority of the technical specifications of the new bracelet match the original Mi Band 6 bracelet. We also brought you its review on our website, and you’ll find it in the following link. This chapter is therefore a sort of recap of what the new Mi Band 6 NFC offers in its body.

The package includes a touch 1,56” AMOLED display with truly thin bezels, a resolution of 486 x 152 pixels and brightness of 450 nits. It also offers improved water resistance, even with 5 ATM certification. You’ll appreciate Bluetooth 5.0 and integration with the well-known Mi Fit or Xiaomi Wear mobile app.

The main reason to buy a new band is, of course, the built-in NFC chip. It enables contactless payments through selected services, which we’ll cover in more detail in the relevant section below.

The bracelet also houses a 125 mAh battery. It provides a total battery life per single charge of, under standard use, about 14 days. Charging the battery is then possible via the magnetic USB charger included in the package.

Fitness features and Amazon Alexa

The bracelet will also impress with its fitness equipment. In addition to standard options for counting steps, calories burned, and distance covered, there’s also a sensor for heart rate monitoring and a sensor for SpO2 monitoring of the amount of oxygen in the blood.

You can choose from 30 different sports activities, and besides traditional ones like walking, running, and swimming, it also includes basketball, stretching, or zumba. 6 of them even supports automatic tracking throughout the day. You can view your results in an environment that supports the Czech language, diacritics, and emoticons.

Along with workouts, you can use features for music playback control or check the weather forecast. There’s also a PAI health index, which was included in the previous bands as well.

The manufacturer also prepared support for sleep monitoring, menstrual cycle tracking, stress level measurement, and even practical breathing exercises. In this case, Amazon Alexa is part of the watch’s software, but the feature isn’t available in Slovak / Czech localization. However, it’s possible it will be enabled later, similar to other regions.

Mobile payments via NFC are the most anticipated new feature

Paying with the watch requires a few settings. First, you need to link the Mi Fit app with your Xiaomi account. Without this account (for example, logging in via Facebook), you won’t be able to add individual payment cards.

On this screen, you can see your connected card and also the button to activate a payment. After you press it, the watch will offer a 24-second window to complete the payment. That means you can even make two quick transactions in a row. The timer is shown and counted directly on the watch, and you just need to hold your display up to the payment terminal. You can also watch the entire successful payment process in the included video.

After that, Xiaomi will ask for your consent to process your data as well as the card details you want to connect in the app. Once you enter this information, activating the card in the Mi Fit app takes about two minutes. The app then approves the supported card, and you can start paying easily using the band.

If we take a look at the payment itself, it happens in several steps. The screen with your connected cards is located to the right of the main watch face. To make a payment, you need to swipe your finger on the corresponding screen, where your cards will appear.

If you haven’t heard of this service yet, know that it’s a project that started in the UK back in 60. In essence, Curve is a payment card that can integrate your various other payment cards.

Supported payment cards

Payments are not new either—several generations of bands have supported them in China via AliPay, and for several months payments have also been working in selected European countries such as Belarus and Ukraine, thanks to cooperation with Mastercard.

According to available information, the agreement with Mastercard is precisely also a key element for payments in other European countries, including Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Xiaomi Slovakia even stated that it plans to sign contracts with Slovak banks for payments with the bands by the end of 2021.

We tried uploading Slovak payment cards like Mastercard and VISA directly into the app, as well as meal cards from Ticket Restaurant and Up Déjeneur. However, we haven’t been able to complete the setup through the Mi Fit app in either case, and the app kept showing error messages. We did find an alternative solution, which we’ll introduce in the next chapter.

Curve card – How to do it?

Thanks to our readers and also information from abroad, we found out that an alternative to the option of directly uploading a supported card to the Mi Fit app could be the international Curve service.

Thanks to setting up your Curve account or card, we managed to activate contactless payments on the Mi Band 2016 NFC as well. As a first step, you need an account with Curve. You create it easily in a few steps through the Curve mobile app (available in the Play Store for Android and the App Store for iOS). Account creation takes only a few minutes, and then the service will prompt you to add your first card.

So in your wallet, whether physical or mobile, instead of several different payment cards from different banks (including international ones), you only need the one from Curve. The service offers its clients various benefits—from better exchange rates when paying abroad to different “cashback” promotions with your purchases.

Thanks to creating a Curve account or card, we managed to activate contactless payments on the Mi Band 6 NFC as well. As a first step, you need a Curve account. You can create one easily in just a few steps through the Curve mobile app (available in Google Play for Android and the App Store for iOS). Creating an account only takes a few minutes, and then the service will prompt you to add your first card.

Curve’s account supports the overwhelming majority of Mastercard cards, but also VISA (we in the editorial team tested cards from Tatra Banka, VÚB bank, and 365.bank). However, Curve does not support Maestro cards or meal cards (such as Ticket Restaurant or UP).

If your account is active and your card is added to it, the app will from the very beginning offer you an electronic version of your basic Curve card. You can add it—for example—to Google Pay or Apple Pay, or, as in our case, also to the Mi Fit app instead of the standard on-the-direct cards, which are not supported yet.

You can find the Curve card details in your Curve app. Curve will send you the physical card to the address you specify within two weeks, and it will also request identity verification via a document (e.g., an ID card). The next steps—namely uploading the card details into the Mi Fit app, as well as making the payment itself—are identical to adding the card directly, meaning the process we described in the chapter about mobile payments.

Example of a real payment:

Officially available in Slovakia as well

At the time of writing this review, Xiaomi Slovakia has already released an official statement about payments using the fitness tracker Xiaomi Mi Band 6 NFC. According to the information provided, from Monday, 22 November 2021 you can use payments with Mastercard cards from mBank. Customers of this bank should therefore know how to add their Mastercard payment card to the Mi Fit app directly.

Other Mastercard card holders—customers of other banks—or VISA card holders don’t have this option yet, and will have to use a solution from a third party, such as the Curve service mentioned above.

Price and availability of the new fitness tracker

The fitness tracker Xiaomi Mi Band 6 NFC is already being sold in Slovakia. The official retail price is set at €51.90. However, if you want to save a bit more, you can use a discount coupon from our partner MiStores.sk.

You can find coupons for Xiaomi Mi Band 6 NFC here

Final rating: Xiaomi Mi Band 6 NFC

Looking at the price-to-performance ratio, it’s a really great fitness tracker with a quality AMOLED display, broad support for fitness features, and the added bonus of contactless payments.

One downside might be that payments don’t support previous versions of the bands. And not even the original Mi Band 6. So if you want to pay contactless, you’ll need to buy this new band with NFC support.