Is it possible to connect phones by rubbing them?

Question

Is it possible to make two phones interact by rubbing them against eachother?

Let's assume the technique is used to connect the devices via an app.
Give me all your alternatives if this isn't possible, I'm talking about connecting the phones via Bluetooth or something like that. Thanks.

Answer 1

The closest thing to what you're looking for is called Near Field Communication (or NFC).

Currently fully supported by many Android phones without major limitations. Apple devices are more limited in NFC usage (currently restricted to Apple Pay only).

For more information, read Near field communication (Wikipedia).

Answer 2

The best way to do this would be through NFC, but on iOS this is not possible.

On Android NFC is open, but on iOS NFC is closed to Apple Pay only.

If you were talking about Bluetooth, you would first need to pair the devices in settings, as Bluetooth requires pairing.

Answer 3

There is (was) an app called Bump that does exactly what you describe. As I understand it, it uses the accelerometer to detect the spike in motion of the two phones bumping together, then GPS to figure out which phones are in the same proximity, then BLE or a TCP connection to the server to communicate between devices.