CoreNFC

Read and write NFC tags on iPhone using the CoreNFC framework. Covers NDEF reader sessions, tag reader sessions, NDEF message construction, entitlements, and background tag reading.

Contents

• Setup
• NDEF Reader Session
• Tag Reader Session
• Writing NDEF Messages
• NDEF Payload Types
• Background Tag Reading
• Common Mistakes
• Review Checklist
• References

Setup

Project Configuration

1. Add the Near Field Communication Tag Reading capability in Xcode
2. Add NFCReaderUsageDescription to Info.plist with a user-facing reason string
3. Add the com.apple.developer.nfc.readersession.formats entitlement with the current TAG value; do not add legacy NDEF
4. For ISO 7816 tags, add supported application identifiers to com.apple.developer.nfc.readersession.iso7816.select-identifiers in Info.plist
5. For FeliCa tags, add supported system codes to com.apple.developer.nfc.readersession.felica.systemcodes; do not use wildcard system codes

Device Requirements

NFC reading requires iPhone 7 or later. Always check for reader session availability before creating NFC UI or sessions. Use the concrete reader session type you are about to create.

import CoreNFC

guard NFCNDEFReaderSession.readingAvailable else {
    // Device does not support NFC or feature is restricted
    showUnsupportedMessage()
    return
}

Key Types

Type	Role
NFCNDEFReaderSession	Scans for NDEF-formatted tags
NFCTagReaderSession	Scans for ISO7816, ISO15693, FeliCa, MIFARE tags
NFCNDEFMessage	Collection of NDEF payload records
NFCNDEFPayload	Single record within an NDEF message
NFCNDEFTag	Protocol for interacting with an NDEF-capable tag

NDEF Reader Session