You’re standing in a grocery store aisle or maybe just trying to log into your banking app on a Tuesday morning. Suddenly, the screen dims and that annoying little prompt pops up: move device closer to continue. It feels like a glitch. You move the phone an inch forward. Nothing. You shove it right up against the terminal or your face, and it still fails. It’s frustrating because "closer" is such a vague instruction for a piece of hardware that’s supposed to be smart.
Most people assume their phone is broken. It’s usually not.
💡 You might also like: Walmart Dr Dre Beats Explained: How to Snag the Best Deals Without Getting Scammed
This error is the "check engine light" of modern proximity sensors and short-range communication. Whether you are dealing with Apple’s Face ID, an NFC payment terminal, or a quirky smart home setup process, this specific hurdle is almost always about a breakdown in signal physics. We are talking about waves—light or radio—that simply aren't hitting their mark.
The Invisible Tech Behind Move Device Closer to Continue
To understand why this happens, we have to look at the hardware. Most of the time, when you see a prompt to move device closer to continue, you’re interacting with one of two things: Near Field Communication (NFC) or Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors.
NFC is what powers Apple Pay and Google Wallet. It’s designed to be incredibly short-range for security reasons. We’re talking about a maximum of four centimeters. If your phone case is too thick or contains a metal plate for a magnetic car mount, that signal is dead on arrival. The "move device closer" message is the software's way of saying it can detect a field but can't shake hands with the data packets.
Then there is the optical side.
If you are setting up a new device—like a pair of smart lightbulbs or a security camera—the app might use your phone's camera to scan a tiny QR code. If the focus doesn't lock, the software defaults to telling you to get closer. But here is the kicker: getting closer often makes the image blurrier because you’ve passed the lens's minimum focus distance. It’s a bit of a software paradox.
Why Your Face ID is Acting Up
Face ID is perhaps the most common culprit for this error. Apple uses a "TrueDepth" camera system. It’s not just taking a picture; it’s projecting 30,000 invisible infrared dots onto your face.
If you’re lying in bed and the phone is at a weird angle, or if you’ve got a smudge of thumb grease right over the notch at the top of your screen, the infrared light scatters. The sensor sees a "blob" instead of a "map." It asks you to move device closer to continue because it’s trying to increase the density of those dots to get a better read.
Honestly? Sometimes the fix is just wiping the top of your phone on your shirt. Seriously.
The Wallet Problem: When Payments Stall
Let’s talk about the checkout line. You’re at a terminal, you double-click the side button, and... nothing. The terminal beeps, your phone vibrates, and the screen says to move closer.
Most people don't realize that the NFC antenna isn't in the middle of the phone. On iPhones, it’s usually at the very top edge, near the camera assembly. On many Android devices, like the Samsung Galaxy series, it’s closer to the center of the back panel. If you’re tapping the middle of your iPhone against a card reader, you’re missing the "sweet spot" by several inches.
You’ve gotta aim the top edge of the phone directly at the contactless symbol on the reader.
Cases matter more than we want to admit. Heavy-duty "armor" cases are great for drops but terrible for signal. If your case has "RFID blocking" features, it is literally designed to prevent the very thing you are trying to do. It’s like trying to talk to someone through a soundproof window.
Solving the "Move Device Closer" Loop in Smart Home Setup
Setting up a new gadget is usually when this error becomes a nightmare. You’re trying to pair a Matter-enabled device or a HomeKit accessory. The app tells you to move device closer to continue, but you are literally touching the two devices together.
What gives?
- Radio Interference: If you’re standing right next to a running microwave or a high-powered router, the 2.4GHz interference can drown out the low-energy Bluetooth (BLE) signal used for pairing.
- Battery Levels: Many devices go into a low-power mode when the battery is under 20%. This weakens the antenna's reach.
- Firmware Mismatch: Sometimes the device you’re trying to connect to is "awake" but not "listening."
I've seen cases where people spend forty minutes moving their phone around a smart plug. The reality? The plug just needed a hard reset to clear its previous pairing cache. The software just doesn't have a specific error message for "I’m confused," so it defaults to "move closer."
📖 Related: Asteroid Near Earth Collision Prediction: Why We Aren't All Dead Yet
Practical Steps to Bypass the Error
Stop waving your phone around like a magic wand. It doesn't help.
Instead, try these specific adjustments. First, check your "top-down" alignment. If you're doing a data transfer from an old iPhone to a new one, they shouldn't just be near each other; they should be side-by-side on a flat surface.
Clean the sensors. This sounds too simple to be true, but a layer of pocket lint or a fingerprint over the front-facing sensor array will trigger the move device closer to continue message every single time during Face ID or AR-based setups. Use a microfiber cloth. Avoid using your spit; the enzymes can actually mess with the oleophobic coating over time.
Angle matters more than distance. If you're using NFC, don't hold the phone flat against the reader. Hold it at a 45-degree angle. This allows the electromagnetic field to "couple" more effectively.
If you are stuck in a loop while setting up an Apple Watch or a similar wearable, try toggling your Bluetooth off and back on. Sometimes the "handshake" between devices gets stuck in a half-open state. Toggling the radio forces the devices to start the distance-check from scratch.
Lastly, look at your screen brightness. Some setups involve the camera "reading" a pattern on another screen. If your brightness is too low, the contrast isn't high enough for the sensor to distinguish the pattern from the background. Crank it up to 100% just for the setup phase.
When It’s Actually a Hardware Issue
Look, sometimes it really is the hardware. If you’ve dropped your phone recently, the "flex cable" connecting the NFC antenna or the ToF sensor might have wiggled loose.
How can you tell? If you can’t use Apple Pay anywhere—not at the grocery store, not at the pharmacy, nowhere—then your NFC chip is likely toast. But if it works at one place and not another, the problem is the terminal or your technique.
If Face ID consistently tells you to move device closer to continue even after a factory reset and a thorough cleaning, the infrared projector might be failing. This often happens after water exposure. Even "water-resistant" phones can develop micro-cracks in the adhesive that let steam in.
Moving Forward Without the Frustration
Technology is supposed to be invisible, but these prompts remind us that it's all just physics. To stop seeing the "move closer" prompt, start by being intentional with how you hold your gear. Focus on the top edge of your device, keep your sensors clean, and don't be afraid to strip off a bulky case if it's standing in the way of a connection.
If you're currently stuck on a setup screen, hard-reboot both devices. It clears the temporary cache and usually lets the proximity check pass on the next try. Keep your software updated, as manufacturers constantly tweak the "sensitivity" of these sensors through patches to avoid these very complaints.