NFC Developer Comparison

While many parts of NFC have been standardized by the NFC Forum, the level of platform and developer API support varies.

This document helps you decide which technologies you can use to achieve a maximum cross-platform NFC use case, as well as if it’s possible to implement your idea on a specific target platform.

The document has been compiled by email hidden; JavaScript is required and Michael Roland. It is based on our own testing and is no official platform support list. As such, we tried our best to make it as accurate as possible; if you have any corrections or additions, please get in contact with us!

Click the “View full-size workbook” link in the lower right corner to open the document in full screen mode.

If the Excel 2013 Web App doesn’t work with your browser, you can also download the PDF version of the NFC Developer Comparison.

Included Platforms

  • Windows 8 / Windows Phone 8
  • Qt on Symbian
  • Qt on Nokia N9 (MeeGo Harmattan)
  • Symbian Native
  • Android
  • Blackberry 7.1

Compared Items

  • Peer-to-peer
    SNEP and LLCP
  • Tags
    Type 1 – 4 NDEF access
    Type 1 – 4 direct commands
    Mifare NDEF
    Mifare with security
    ISO 14443
    ISO 15693
    NXP ICODE NDEF
    TI Tag-it HF-I NDEF
    Locking tags
    NDEF Formatting
  • NDEF Parsing API
    Smart Poster
    URI
    Text
    LaunchApp
    Android Application Record
    External (general)
    MIME (general)
  • Default handling of NFC record types on different OS platforms
    Launching apps
    Installing + launching apps
    URI
    Smart Poster
    Text
    SMS
    Telephone
    vCard (business cards)
    vCal (calender entries)
    geo: URI scheme