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 Andreas Jakl 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

  • Android
  • Windows 8 / Windows Phone 8
  • Qt on Symbian
  • Qt on Nokia N9 (MeeGo Harmattan)
  • Symbian Native
  • Blackberry 7.1
  • Blackberry 10

Compared Items

  • Peer-to-peer
    SNEP, NPP (Google NDEF Push Protocol) and LLCP
  • Tags
    Type 1 – 4 NDEF access
    Type 1 – 4 direct commands
    MIFARE Classic NDEF
    MIFARE Classic direct commands (incl. security)
    MIFARE Classic UID (no data, only serial number)
    ISO 14443-4
    ISO 14443-3
    FeliCa (JIS X 6319-4)
    ISO 15693
    ISO 15693 NDEF
    KOVIO NFC Barcode
    Locking tags
    NDEF Formatting
  • Software card emulation
    Emulation of NDEF tags
    Emulation of ISO 14443-4 Type A targetsEmulation of ISO 14443-4 Type B targets
    Emulation of ISO 14443-3 Type A targets
    Emulation of ISO 14443-3 Type B targets
    Emulation of FeliCa (JIS X 6319-4) targets
  • NDEF Parsing API
    Smart Poster
    URI
    Text
    Microsoft 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
    Handover (for Bluetooth)