@capgo/capacitor-nfc

Read and write NFC tags from your Capacitor app on iOS and Android. A modern Capacitor port of the battle-tested phonegap-nfc plugin.

🤖 Building with an AI coding agent? Install Capgo skills so Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, or Gemini CLI know how to install and use @capgo/capacitor-nfc in your Capacitor app: npx skills add Cap-go/capgo-skills. Then ask your agent: "Add @capgo/capacitor-nfc to my Capacitor app and wire it up." Agent setup guides · Hosted MCP

Key features

• Scan tags: startScanning() and stopScanning(), with tagDiscovered and nfcEvent listeners.
• Write NDEF: write() sends NDEF records to the last discovered tag. On iOS, keep the session open with invalidateAfterFirstRead: false.
• Tag management: erase(), plus makeReadOnly() on Android.
• Adapter status: isSupported(), getStatus(), showSettings() and the nfcStateChange event.
• iOS session options: NDEF or tag sessions, polling options and a custom alert message.
• Android P2P: share() and unshare() for peer-to-peer messages, before Android 10 only.
• Platforms: iOS and Android. iOS uses Core NFC, Android uses NfcAdapter. Not available on web.

Native NFC tag detection, reading, and writing for Capacitor apps on iOS and Android.

Modern Capacitor port of the battle-tested phonegap-nfc plugin, aligned with Capgo conventions and tooling.

Supported Tag Types

• Standard NFC Forum Tags (Type 1-4)
• MIFARE Ultralight - Full support for reading NDEF data from MIFARE Ultralight tags, including EV1 and NTAG variants. The plugin automatically detects MIFARE Ultralight cards and extracts NDEF messages in addition to standard NFC tags.

Documentation

The most complete documentation will live on the Capgo docs portal. Until then, explore the TypeScript definitions (src/definitions.ts) and run the included example app for a tour of the API.

Compatibility

Note: The major version of this plugin follows the major version of Capacitor. Use the version that matches your Capacitor installation (e.g., plugin v8 for Capacitor 8). Only the latest major version is actively maintained.

Install

You can use our AI-Assisted Setup to install the plugin. Add the Capgo skills to your AI tool using the following command:

npx skills add https://github.com/cap-go/capacitor-skills --skill capacitor-plugins

Then use the following prompt:

Use the `capacitor-plugins` skill from `cap-go/capacitor-skills` to install the `@capgo/capacitor-nfc` plugin in my project.

If you prefer Manual Setup, install the plugin by running the following commands and follow the platform-specific instructions below:

npm install @capgo/capacitor-nfc
npx cap sync

Remember to add the required platform configuration:

• Android: ensure your AndroidManifest.xml declares the android.permission.NFC permission.
• iOS: add NFCReaderUsageDescription to your app Info.plist to explain why NFC access is needed.
• iOS (iosSessionType: 'tag'): to use the tag session type you must also add the Near Field Communication Tag Reader Session Formats entitlement (com.apple.developer.nfc.readersession.formats) to your app's entitlements file and include the TAG format (and optionally NDEF). Without this entitlement the session will fail to start.

Usage

Checking NFC hardware support

Before attempting to use NFC features, you can check if the device has NFC hardware:

import { CapacitorNfc } from '@capgo/capacitor-nfc';

const { supported } = await CapacitorNfc.isSupported();
if (!supported) {
  console.warn('This device does not have NFC hardware');
  // Hide NFC features in your UI
} else {
  // Check if NFC is currently enabled
  const { status } = await CapacitorNfc.getStatus();
  if (status === 'NFC_DISABLED') {
    console.warn('NFC is disabled. Prompt user to enable it.');
    // Optionally show settings button
  }
}

Reading NDEF tags (default behavior)

import { CapacitorNfc } from '@capgo/capacitor-nfc';

await CapacitorNfc.startScanning({
  invalidateAfterFirstRead: false, // keep the session open so we can write later
  alertMessage: 'Hold a tag near the top of your device.',
});

const listener = await CapacitorNfc.addListener('nfcEvent', (event) => {
  console.info('Tag type:', event.type);
  console.info('First record:', event.tag?.ndefMessage?.[0]);
});

// Later, write a simple text record back to the tag
const encoder = new TextEncoder();
const langBytes = Array.from(encoder.encode('en'));
const textBytes = Array.from(encoder.encode('Hello Capgo'));
const payload = [langBytes.length & 0x3f, ...langBytes, ...textBytes];

await CapacitorNfc.write({
  allowFormat: true,
  records: [
    {
      tnf: 0x01,
      type: [0x54], // 'T'
      id: [],
      payload,
    },
  ],
});

await listener.remove();
await CapacitorNfc.stopScanning();

Reading raw tags (iOS) - Get UID from unformatted tags

import { CapacitorNfc } from '@capgo/capacitor-nfc';

// Use 'tag' session type to read raw (non-NDEF) tags
await CapacitorNfc.startScanning({
  iosSessionType: 'tag', // Enable raw tag reading on iOS
  alertMessage: 'Hold your card near the device',
});

const listener = await CapacitorNfc.addListener('nfcEvent', (event) => {
  console.info('Tag detected:', event.type); // 'tag' or 'ndef'
  
  // Read the UID (identifier) - works for both NDEF and raw tags
  if (event.tag?.id) {
    const uid = event.tag.id.map(byte => byte.toString(16).padStart(2, '0').toUpperCase()).join(':');
    console.info('Tag UID:', uid); // e.g., "04:A1:B2:C3:D4:E5:F6"
  }
  
  // If the tag has NDEF data, it will also be available
  if (event.tag?.ndefMessage) {
    console.info('NDEF records:', event.tag.ndefMessage);
  }
});

await listener.remove();
await CapacitorNfc.stopScanning();

Handling iOS session endings

Listen for nfcSessionEnd to distinguish a user cancellation from a session timeout or another Core NFC error. The event is available for both ndef and tag iOS sessions. A normal first-read completion does not emit this event.

const sessionEndListener = await CapacitorNfc.addListener('nfcSessionEnd', ({ reason }) => {
  if (reason === 'userCancelled') {
    return;
  }

  console.warn(reason === 'sessionTimeout' ? 'No tag detected. Try again.' : 'The NFC session failed.');
});

// Later, when the listener is no longer needed
await sessionEndListener.remove();

API

• startScanning(...)
• stopScanning()
• write(...)
• erase()
• makeReadOnly()
• transceive(...)
• share(...)
• unshare()
• getStatus()
• showSettings()
• getPluginVersion()
• isSupported()
• addListener('nfcEvent', ...)
• addListener('tagDiscovered' | 'ndefDiscovered' | 'ndefMimeDiscovered' | 'ndefFormatableDiscovered', ...)
• addListener('nfcStateChange', ...)
• addListener('nfcSessionEnd', ...)
• Interfaces
• Type Aliases

Public API surface for the Capacitor NFC plugin.

The interface intentionally mirrors the behaviour of the reference PhoneGap implementation to ease migration while embracing idiomatic Capacitor APIs.

startScanning(...)

startScanning(options?: StartScanningOptions | undefined) => Promise<void>

Starts listening for NFC tags.

stopScanning()

stopScanning() => Promise<void>

Stops the ongoing NFC scanning session.

write(...)

write(options: WriteTagOptions) => Promise<void>

Writes the provided NDEF records to the last discovered tag.

erase()

erase() => Promise<void>

Attempts to erase the last discovered tag by writing an empty NDEF message.

makeReadOnly()

makeReadOnly() => Promise<void>

Attempts to make the last discovered tag read-only.

transceive(...)

transceive(options: TransceiveOptions) => Promise<TransceiveResult>

Sends a raw command to the last discovered tag while it remains in the field.

On Android, uses NfcV or NfcA on the same tag as {@link CapacitorNfcPlugin.write}. On iOS, requires an active tag reader session (iosSessionType: 'tag') with invalidateAfterFirstRead: false, and uses ISO 15693 or MIFARE commands on the connected tag.

Returns: Promise<TransceiveResult>

share(...)

share(options: ShareTagOptions) => Promise<void>

Shares an NDEF message with another device via peer-to-peer (Android only).

unshare()

unshare() => Promise<void>

Stops sharing previously provided NDEF message (Android only).

getStatus()

getStatus() => Promise<{ status: NfcStatus; }>

Returns the current NFC adapter status.

Returns: Promise<{ status: NfcStatus; }>

showSettings()

showSettings() => Promise<void>

Opens the system settings page where the user can enable NFC.

getPluginVersion()

getPluginVersion() => Promise<{ version: string; }>

Returns the version string baked into the native plugin.

Returns: Promise<{ version: string; }>

isSupported()

isSupported() => Promise<{ supported: boolean; }>

Checks whether the device has NFC hardware support.

Returns true if NFC hardware is present on the device, regardless of whether NFC is currently enabled or disabled. Returns false if the device does not have NFC hardware.

Use this method to determine if NFC features should be shown in your app's UI. To check if NFC is currently enabled, use getStatus().

Returns: Promise<{ supported: boolean; }>

addListener('nfcEvent', ...)

addListener(eventName: 'nfcEvent', listenerFunc: (event: NfcEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

addListener('tagDiscovered' | 'ndefDiscovered' | 'ndefMimeDiscovered' | 'ndefFormatableDiscovered', ...)

addListener(eventName: 'tagDiscovered' | 'ndefDiscovered' | 'ndefMimeDiscovered' | 'ndefFormatableDiscovered', listenerFunc: (event: NfcEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

addListener('nfcStateChange', ...)

addListener(eventName: 'nfcStateChange', listenerFunc: (event: NfcStateChangeEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

addListener('nfcSessionEnd', ...)

addListener(eventName: 'nfcSessionEnd', listenerFunc: (event: NfcSessionEndEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Interfaces

StartScanningOptions

Options controlling the behaviour of {@link CapacitorNfcPlugin.startScanning}.

WriteTagOptions

Options used when writing an NDEF message on the current tag.

NdefRecord

JSON structure representing a single NDEF record.

Mirrors the data format returned by the legacy Cordova implementation and uses integer arrays instead of strings to preserve the original payload bytes.

TransceiveResult

Result of a successful {@link CapacitorNfcPlugin.transceive} call.

TransceiveOptions

Options for sending a raw command to the current tag.

ShareTagOptions

Options used when sharing an NDEF message with another device using Android Beam / P2P mode.

PluginListenerHandle

NfcEvent

Generic NFC discovery event dispatched by the plugin.

NfcTag

Representation of the full tag information returned by the native layers.

Supports standard NFC Forum tags as well as MIFARE Ultralight cards (including EV1 and NTAG variants). NDEF data is automatically extracted from MIFARE Ultralight tags when available.

NfcStateChangeEvent

Event emitted whenever the NFC adapter availability changes.

NfcSessionEndEvent

Event emitted when an iOS NFC reader session ends.

This event is not emitted when a session closes normally after its first successful read.

Type Aliases

NfcIosPollingOption

iOS-specific polling options for NFC scanning sessions. These options determine the type of tags that a reader session should detect during a polling sequence.

• 'iso14443': Polls for ISO 14443 tags
• 'iso15693': Polls for ISO 15693 tags
• 'iso18092': Polls for ISO 18092 tags
• 'pace': Polls for PACE tags (available on iOS 16 and later)

'iso14443' | 'iso15693' | 'iso18092' | 'pace'

TransceiveTech

NFC technology used for {@link CapacitorNfcPlugin.transceive}.

• nfcV: ISO 15693 (for example ST25DV).
• nfcA: NFC-A / MIFARE (for example NTAG I2C plus).

'nfcV' | 'nfcA'

NfcStatus

Possible NFC adapter states returned by {@link CapacitorNfcPlugin.getStatus}.

Matches the constants provided by the original PhoneGap NFC plugin for compatibility with existing applications.

'NFC_OK' | 'NO_NFC' | 'NFC_DISABLED' | 'NDEF_PUSH_DISABLED'

NfcEventType

Event type describing the kind of NFC discovery that happened.

• tag: A generic NFC tag (no NDEF payload).
• ndef: A tag exposing an NDEF payload.
• ndef-mime: An NDEF tag that matched one of the MIME type filters.
• ndef-formatable: A tag that can be formatted to NDEF.

'tag' | 'ndef' | 'ndef-mime' | 'ndef-formatable'