Compatibility, or which NFC tag should you choose?

When choosing NFC tags for a specific application, it is worth paying attention to compatibility with devices that read their content. The NFC standard is defined by the ISO 14333 standard. It is worth remembering that selected NFC tags do not work with some phones / tablets, despite compliance with the ISO 14333 standard and the use of the NDEF format.

Compatibility problem

Initially, phone/tablet manufacturers used NFC modules from NXP. NXP Semiconductors, a manufacturer of both active systems (NFC modules) and passive systems (NFC tags), guaranteed full compatibility of the offered devices. Over time, NFC modules from other manufacturers (Broadcom, Securead, and Infineon Technologies) appeared on the market. New modules began to be installed in devices from manufacturers such as Samsung, BlackBerry, Google, HTC, LG. Unfortunately, the use of an active module from a company other than NXP does not guarantee the ability to work with all NFC tags from NXP.

Is it easy to get lost in this? They reached the same conclusion at the NFC Forum and decided to put things in order...

The NFC Forum consortium, striving to standardize NFC technology, has introduced:

NDEF

(NFC Data Exchange Format), as a standard for data exchange between NFC tags and active modules

NFC Forum Type Tag

, as a specification and division of NFC tags

Tags compatible with all NFC phones and tablets

The following NFC chips are 100% compatible with all phones/tablets equipped with an NFC module:

MIFARE

: :

MIFARE Ultralight

MIFARE Ultralight C

Mifare DESFire 4k

NTAG2XX

: :

NTAG203

, NTAG210,

NTAG213

, NTAG215,

NTAG216

Topaz

: Topaz 512

What about the other NFC tags?

NFC chips such as:

MIFARE S50 Classic 1k

MIFARE S70 4k

MIFARE Plus S

ICODE

are not compatible with all mobile devices. In particular, it is worth remembering that it cannot work with the following devices:

BlackBerry

Google Nexus 4,5,7,10 (after 2012)

Samsung (S4, S5, Galaxy Ace 3, Express 2, Mega, Note 3, S2 Plus, Grand, Galaxy Fame)

HTC One M8

LG G2, Optimus L7 II

Huawei Ascend G600, Ascend Y 200

LG Escape, Intuition, Mach, Nexus 4, Optimus F7, Optimus F9, Optimus Vu 2, Spectrum, Spectrum 2, Viper

Motorola Electrify M, Photon Q 4G, Motorola RAZR i

ATIV Odyssey, Galaxy Axiom, Galaxy Express, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S Relay 4G, Stratosphere II, Galaxy Victory 4G

Pantech Discover

Kyocera Torque

OnePlus One

and all newer models from the manufacturers listed above

NFC TAG MIFARE S50 1k

TAG NFC MIFARE S50 is very popular due to its attractive price (compared to NTAG213) and the amount of memory it offers (5 x more than NTAG213). We suggest considering its use in the implementation of NFC projects. This chip is not compatible with all NFC phones, but this fact is not crucial for every project...