NFC Plugin

Read NFC tags natively in your Android WebView app and pass tag data to your web app.

Near-Field Communication (NFC) enables two devices or a device and an NFC tag to communicate wirelessly when in close proximity. NFC is widely used on Android devices for reading and writing small amounts of data, making it an effective tool for sharing information via NFC-enabled cards or tags.

The WebViewGold NFC API lets your web app read and write NFC tags directly via a JavaScript bridge — from sharing contact information to embedding text snippets.

Writing
To write a value to an NFC tag, send a command from your web app by loading the following URL: writenfc://?value=data
Example:
<a href="writenfc://?value=WebViewGold.com"> Write to an NFC tag </a>
This puts your app into Write Mode and stores the value until a tag is scanned: as soon as the user holds an NFC tag to the device, the value is written to it.

Writing a VCARD (contact card)
Use the same API as for writing plain text and format the text like this:

VCARD
FN:John Doe
Title:Developer
TEL;TYPE=CELL:0452641211

Separate the properties with an underscore (_), encode spaces as %20, and prefix the text with VCARD_. Example:

writenfc://?value=VCARD_FN:John%20Doe_Title:Developer_TEL;TYPE=CELL:0452641211

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard#Properties for a list of supported properties.

Reading
To read an NFC tag, load readnfc://. This puts your app into Read Mode. When the user scans a tag, the app returns the stored information to your web app by calling the JavaScript function readNFCResult(data), where data is the value stored on the tag. Define this JavaScript function in your web app to handle the value:

<script>
window.location.href = "readnfc://";

function readNFCResult(data) {
    alert("NFC tag content: " + data);
}
</script>

How to Test the API

1. Open the Config file of your app’s codebase.
2. Enter your purchase code.
3. Set the app’s URL to the NFC API Test Page: https://webviewgoldtest.github.io/NFCtesting.html
4. Run the app on a physical device with NFC support.
5. Press one of the Read or Write options to enable the corresponding mode. If writing, enter a value.
6. Bring the NFC tag to the device to complete the read or write operation. The test page and app will display the results.

Need more? If you require extended NFC functionality beyond this API (e.g., special tag types or custom data formats), we offer custom NFC plugin integrations on an individual basis. Please send us your requirements via an email to [email protected] for a free consultation and a non-binding quote.