Extending Windows Phone 8 with NFC SMS Support

NFC tags that send SMS messages are frequently used in many scenarios. For example, tags at public transport stations in Helsinki allow buying a ticket or getting schedule information with a simple tap of an NFC tag. The phone sends a message to the service, which then replies directly to the user.

Until now, when tapping those tags with Windows Phone 8 devices, users only got a message that the phone was not able to handle the request.

Enabling the SMS Tag Use Case

Starting today, the free NFCsms app enables this use case. When tapping the NFC tag, the phone will automatically suggest installing NFCsms from the store.

Once NFCsms is installed, the phone will show the correct prompt when tapping an SMS tag – it prompts the user if he’d like to send a message. If the user accepts, he will instantly be forwarded to the default WP message composer app to review & send the message.

You can write SMS NFC tags with Nfc Interactor. SMS links can also be used from web pages – they need to be formatted according to the RFC 5724 standard.

More information about NFCsms…
Download NFCsms…

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By Andreas Jakl

Andreas Jakl is working as Mobility Evangelist at Tieto, to bring the business partner’s vision for mobile app strategies to life. In addition, he is organizing the Mobile Developer After-Work event series together with the mobility.builders community, where expert developers share their knowledge with plenty of time for networking. As Microsoft MVP for Windows Platform Development (Most Valuable Professional), he is also running developer trainings and workshops.