NFC not working with some phones like iPhone 11

RE: NFC not working with some phones like iPhone 11

Jefferson — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 16:43:49 GMT

I replaced these files with ones from SDK 17. I was using SDK 15.3.

nrfx_nfct.c

nrfx_nfct.h

nfc_t4t_lib_keil.lib

nfc_t4t_lib.h

RE: NFC not working with some phones like iPhone 11

Tim Adu — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 09:34:34 GMT

Hi,

I'm facing the same issue.
Do you remember exactly what changes you made to make it work?
Thanks

RE: NFC not working with some phones like iPhone 11

Jefferson — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 16:13:19 GMT

It is working, thanks.

RE: NFC not working with some phones like iPhone 11

Einar Thorsrud — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 17:36:19 GMT

Hi,

I assume this should be enough yes. There are also other NFC related files in the SDK (which you may or may not use in your custom firmware), but the files you list handle what is relevant here. Did you make it work?

RE: NFC not working with some phones like iPhone 11

Jefferson — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 21:56:50 GMT

Thank you. I updated to the SDK 17 NFC and it is working. I do not want to migrate my entire app to SDK 17. I just replaced the following with files from SDK 17. Is this sufficient just to update NFC functionality?

nrfx_nfct.c

nrfx_nfct.h

nfc_t4t_lib_keil.lib

nfc_t4t_lib.h

RE: NFC not working with some phones like iPhone 11

Einar Thorsrud — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 09:19:18 GMT

Hi,

I see the same on my side when testing the writable_ndef_msg example. The NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_ON event is never received, perhaps because it seems the field goes on and off quite fast. I see this behavior using iPhone 11, but not using another Android phone for comparison.

For reference, this is a log where I use the writable_ndef_msg example from SDK 15.3 with the only modification that I also log NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_ON and NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_OFF when detected in nfc_callback() in main.c:

<debug> ndef_file_m: FDS event 0 with result 0.
<info> ndef_file_m: NDEF file record not found, default NDEF file created.
<debug> ndef_file_m: FDS event 1 with result 0.
<info> ndef_file_m: FDS write success.
<debug> nfc_platform: Utils init
<info> app: Writable NDEF message example started.
<debug> nfc_platform: Field detected
<debug> nfc_platform: Field lost
<info> app: NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_OFF
<debug> nfc_platform: Field detected
<debug> nfc_platform: Field lost
<info> app: NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_OFF
<debug> nfc_platform: Field detected
<debug> nfc_platform: Field lost
<info> app: NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_OFF
<debug> nfc_platform: Field detected
<debug> nfc_platform: Field lost
<info> app: NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_OFF
<debug> nfc_platform: Field detected
<debug> nfc_platform: Field lost
<info> app: NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_OFF
<debug> nfc_platform: Field detected
<debug> nfc_platform: Field lost
<info> app: NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_OFF
<debug> nfc_platform: Field detected
<debug> nfc_platform: Field lost
<info> app: NFC_T4T_EVENT_FIELD_OFF
...

I need to look into this a bit and get back to you.

Update: This is likely related to how the iPhone 11 detects the tag, where it uses very short NFC pulses. This seems to be less of a problem with the NFC driver in SDK 16 and 17, so I suggest you consider migrating if possible.