How To Use Nfc Tags

Your Android telephone's NFC hardware is for more than but transferring content and using mobile payments. You tin can buy cheap, programmable NFC tags and take your phone automatically perform actions when yous touch on them.

For example, you lot could place NFC tags on your bedside table, near your front end door, in your car, and on your desk-bound at piece of work. Tapping your phone confronting them or placing it down on them could automatically select device settings that makes sense at that place.

What You lot'll Demand

RELATED: What is NFC (Near Field Communication), and What Can I Apply Information technology For?

Y'all'll demand just two things for this. Offset, you'll need an Android telephone with NFC hardware in information technology — and about Android phones will now offering that. Lower-finish Android phones may not include NFC hardware to keep costs low. You tin can perform a web search for your model of phone and "NFC" or just open its Settings screen. You'll detect the NFC option under more Wireless & networks options. Obviously, the NFC hardware must be enabled for everything else here to work.

Second, you'll need programmable NFC tags. Search for NFC tags on a site like Amazon.com and you lot'll find them available for a adequately low price. Some manufacturers make their own, branded ones — simply y'all don't need tags made by your Android phone's manufacturer.

These tags don't have batteries in them, but they do take a fleck of memory. When you place your phone'south NFC reader about them, the NFC reader provides power to the tag, and tin can read the data from the tag. The tags are programmable, and then you can write any information y'all want into the tag from your phone.

Programming the Tags

RELATED: How to Use Android Axle to Wirelessly Transfer Content Between Devices

You lot'll now need an app that can program the tags. Android doesn't include ane, merely you tin can search for "nfc tags" on Google Play to find a lot of apps that can handle this for you — including costless ones. For example, the NFC Tools app will let you write data to a tag and read the data already on tags.

Install such an app, open up it, and choose the data you'd like to write to a tag. You may be able to lock a tag so information technology can't be reprogrammed, which may be good if yous're leaving that tag in a public area. However, that ways you lot volition never be able to modify the information on the tag in the future, so don't use this option unless you take a good reason to.

Later on, you tin can tap the tag confronting the NFC reader on the back of your phone, and it'll copy that data to the tag's retentiveness. Place the tag in a convenient location for the action you chose.

Using the Tags

Next, you'll need an app that will respond to the tags. For case, if you used NFC Tools to write information to your tags, y'all can install the NFC Tasks app. When your phone reads an NFC tag you've written instructions to, the NFC Tools app volition read the instructions from that NFC tag and perform them.

You can then only place the tags somewhere user-friendly. Place them on a tabular array, so place your telephone on them when y'all want to perform the action. Fasten them to a wall nigh a door if you want to tap your phone against a tag when you go out or enter an surface area. It'south up to yous what y'all want to apply these tags for. The uses are practically endless.

For example, if you regularly need to set an hour-long timer when you do your laundry, you can plan an NFC tag to start an hour-long timer and identify it next to your laundry auto. Fix your phone down on that tag or tap it and it'll start the laundry rimer. If y'all regularly pair your phone with a Bluetooth keyboard, you lot could braze an NFC tag to the back of the keyboard and tap your phone against it to automatically get through the Bluetooth pairing process.

Or, you tin ready a tag with your Wi-Fi details, and guests can but tap their phones against the NFC tag to connect to your Wi-Fi network without locating it and entering a passcode. They would need an appropriate app installed on their phone to do this, however.

Apple's iPhone vi does take NFC hardware, but apps can't apply it — it's currently just for Apple Pay. Future software updates might allow you to do more with information technology, simply you can't right now. Windows Phone does have some support for this besides, and so iPhone users are the only ones left out right now.

Image Credit: Beau Giles on Flickr