NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

McRancor — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 19:05:52 GMT

I found the root cause for this phenomenon. SDK 14.2, 15.2 are both behaving the same. with SDK 16.0+ the problem is not visible and all iPhones work fine.

I managed to get my code stable when porting nrfx nfc driver to sdk 14.2, and by replacing the t4t lib.

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

Joakim Jakobsen — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 12:05:46 GMT

Thank you for your input.

Will forward this information internally.

Br,
Joakim

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

McRancor — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 10:00:15 GMT

Antenna is the same, and I'm fairly sure the issue is caused by DK antenna. I see the FIELD_ON events running in cycles, but the read event is not present. An older iPhone generates typical Field On -> read -> Field off pattern.

I have also some different chips with custom made NFC antennas and they run fine. I decided to go with board design for my custom project, and will match the antenna there.

I tested just now with Iphone 11, running same OS version like the working Xr, the Iphone 11 behaves just like 13 - no read happening. That means it's not OS dependent but model.

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

massimoklk — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 09:35:32 GMT

i am working with the NRF52840 DK

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

McRancor — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:47:55 GMT

I have a following observation regarding NFC and iPhones:

PCA10040, with nrf52832, running some modified NFC sample.

Works great with Android AND iphone Xr running iOS 16.5.1

Does not work at all with iphone 13 running iOS 17.1.1

Using NFC Tools I'm also not able to get it working. Will try to test different antennas.

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

Joakim Jakobsen — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 13:45:25 GMT

Are you working with a custom board or an nRF52840-DK?

Br,
Joakim

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

Joakim Jakobsen — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 23:08:10 GMT

Hi.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm looking into this. Waiting for some assistance from our developers with more insight to NFC.

Br,
Joakim

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

massimoklk — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 09:17:39 GMT

I've encountered a problem where my iPhone fails to initiate the reading of an NDEF message it prepares, despite an external app successfully reading the NFC.

I've confirmed that the NDEF message is correctly formatted, leading me to suspect that the issue might be tied to the behavior of the iPhone. Here's the relevant portion of my code. The format mirrors that of this link: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/104593/what-is-the-maximum-url-length-that-can-be-transmitted-via-nfc-using-the-nrf52840

Within the provided code, I've implemented a machine state to control various aspects of the device. Could this non-functional characteristic be linked to timing considerations?

typedef enum
{
    NFC_STATE_WAIT       = 0, 
    NFC_STATE_CREATE_URI    , 
    NFC_STATE_DEPLOY_PYLD   ,

    NFC_STATE_NUM_STATES    ,
} NFC_STATE;

typedef struct
{
  //HANDLER del enigne
  HANDLER hNFC_SE;

#ifdef TESTBOARD
  HANDLER hLED1;
  HANDLER hLED2;
#endif

    //NDEF BUFFER
    uint8_t m_ndef_msg_buf[988];
} NFCDESC,*PNFCDESC;

#define NFCDESCSIZE sizeof(NFCDESC)
NFCDESC nfcdesc = {0};


char m_url[978] = "null";


uint8_t NFC_STATE_CREATE_URI_CB(HANDLER hSE,void *pParam,uint8_t uParam)
{
    SEGGER_RTT_printf(0, "NFC_STATE_CREATE_URI\n");

    uint32_t errCode;
    uint32_t len = sizeof(nfcdesc.m_ndef_msg_buf);

    /* Encode URI message into buffer */
    errCode = nfc_uri_msg_encode(NFC_URI_HTTPS,
                                m_url,
                                sizeof(m_url) ,
                                nfcdesc.m_ndef_msg_buf,
                                &len);


    SEGGER_RTT_printf(0, "Error: %s\n",NRFX_LOG_ERROR_STRING_GET(errCode));
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(errCode);

    /* Set created message as the NFC payload */
    errCode = nfc_t2t_payload_set(nfcdesc.m_ndef_msg_buf, len);
    SEGGER_RTT_printf(0, "Error: %s\n",NRFX_LOG_ERROR_STRING_GET(errCode));
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(errCode);

    return NFC_STATE_DEPLOY_PYLD;
}

uint8_t NFC_STATE_DEPLOY_PYLD_CB(HANDLER hSE,void *pParam,uint8_t uParam)
{
    SEGGER_RTT_printf(0, "NFC_STATE_DEPLOY_PYLD\n");
    uint32_t errCode;

    errCode = nfc_t2t_emulation_start();
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(errCode);

    return NFC_STATE_WAIT;
}

//*INTERRUPCIOS, CALLBACKS

static void nfc_callback(void * p_context, nfc_t2t_event_t event, const uint8_t * p_data, size_t data_length)
{
    (void)p_context;

    switch (event)
    {
        case NFC_T2T_EVENT_FIELD_ON:
            WRGPIO_OUT_value(nfcdesc.hLED2,false);
            break;

        case NFC_T2T_EVENT_FIELD_OFF:
            WRGPIO_OUT_value(nfcdesc.hLED2,true );
            break;

        default:
            break;
    }
}

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

Joakim Jakobsen — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:22:57 GMT

Hi.

Did some tests on an iPhone 13 and nRF5 SDK v.17.1.0 (and 17.0.2). I am not able to reproduce the issue you describe.

As of now I'm not sure what the root cause of this could be. But I highy recommend you to consider NCS and test the NFC features there.
If the issue persists there, I'll be happy to help you debug the issue further.

Br,
Joakim

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

Joakim Jakobsen — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 16:09:04 GMT

Thanks.

I would not recommend downgrading to an older version of the nRF5 SDK.

The nRF5 SDK is in maintenance mode (ref: this statement) and we highly recommend using NCS (nRF Connect SDK) for new designs.

_______________

I got an iPhone 13 and will perform some tests tomorrow. Will check how the NFC behaves in both nRF5 SDK and NCS and get back to you.

Br,
Joakim

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

massimoklk — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 14:21:52 GMT

Thank you very much for your effor. At the end, I have solved the problem by using an older version of the SDK. I am using the 15.3.0 version right now.

However, I will try what you have just said with the newest SDK version.

Cheers,

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

Joakim Jakobsen — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 13:28:35 GMT

Thanks.

I don't have an iPhone 13 or later to test this at the moment. But I will try to get my hands on one so that I can perform some tests myself.
However, I tried reproducing with an iPhone 12 Pro (iOS 16), and there are no problems with the NFC sample there.

I saw from various forums that there are several reports of NFC problems in iOS15 and later, but I don't know if that is fixed or if it's related to your problems.
Some users reported that the problems were fixed after a network setting reset. Other users reported that the problems were fixed after turning Airdrop off.

I will investigate further and get back to you with more information.

Br,
Joakim

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

massimoklk — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 13:27:47 GMT

Hello Joakim,

Thank you for your prompt response. I'm utilizing the nRF52840 example program 'record_URL' from SDK 17.0.2.

I've tested the application on iOS versions 16 and 17 across various iPhone models, including iPhone 13, 13 Pro, 14 Pro, and 15 Pro Max.

Interestingly, a year ago, I employed the same example to develop a similar application and did not encounter this type of problem. Additionally, there are instances where my iPhone recognizes the URL, but more often than not, it does not. However, the magnetic field is being detected, as I've programmed an LED to indicate whether the field is ON or OFF.

Any insights or suggestions on resolving this inconsistency would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

RE: NFC does not work with iphone 13 and above

Joakim Jakobsen — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:33:12 GMT

Hi.

[quote user=""]I am currently working on a program utilizing the nRF52840 with NFC capabilities.[/quote]

Which NFC capabilities are you referring to here?

It might be due to the strict security on NFC on iOS devices, but I'm not 100% sure.

You mention iPhone 13 and above. Have you tested using iPhone 12 and below? Is this only related to phone model, not iOS version?

Br,
Joakim