Near Field Communication (NFC) enables wireless communication between two devices at close proximity, usually less than a few centimeters. NFC is an international standard (ISO/IEC 18092) defining an interface and protocol for simple wireless interconnection of closely coupled devices operating at 13.56 MHz.

The hardware standard is defined in [[[NFC-STANDARDS]]].

This document defines an API to enable selected use cases based on NFC technology. The current scope of this specification is NDEF.

Low-level I/O operations (e.g. ISO-DEP, NFC-A/B, NFC-F) and Host-based Card Emulation (HCE) are not supported within the current scope.

Implementers need to be aware that this specification is considered unstable. Implementers who are not taking part in the discussions will find the specification changing out from under them in incompatible ways. Vendors interested in implementing this specification before it eventually reaches the Candidate Recommendation phase should subscribe to the repository on GitHub and take part in the discussions.

This document defines conformance criteria that apply to a single product: the UA (user agent) that implements the interfaces it contains.

Introduction

Web NFC user scenario is as follows: Hold a device in close proximity to a passively powered NFC tag, such as a plastic card or sticker, in order to read and/or write data.

NFC works using magnetic induction, meaning that the reader (an active, powered device) will emit a small electric charge which then creates a magnetic field. This field powers the passive device which turns it into electrical impulses to communicate data. Thus, when the devices are within range, a read is always performed (see NFC Analog Specification and NFC Digital Protocol, NFC Forum, 2006). The peer-to-peer connection works in a similar way, as the device periodically switches into a so-called initiator mode in order to scan for targets, then later to fall back into target mode. If a target is found, the data is read the same way as for tags.

As NFC is based on existing RFID standards, many NFC chipsets support reading RFID tags, but some of these are only supported by single vendors and not part of the NFC standards. As such, this document specifies ways to interact with the NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF).

Terminology and conventions

The Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) notation used is specified in [[RFC5234]].

NFC stands for Near Field Communications, a short-range wireless technology operating at 13.56 MHz which enables communication between devices at a distance less than 10 cm. The NFC communications protocols and data exchange formats, and are based on existing radio-frequency identification (RFID) standards, including ISO/IEC 14443 and FeliCa. The NFC standards include ISO/IEC 18092[5] and those defined by the NFC Forum. See NFC Forum Technical Specifications for a complete listing.

An NFC adapter is the software entity in the underlying platform which provides access to NFC functionality implemented in a given hardware element (NFC chip). A device may have multiple NFC adapters, for instance a built-in one, and one or more attached via USB.

An NFC tag is a passive NFC device that is not blocklisted. The NFC tag is powered by magnetic induction when an active NFC device is in proximity range. An NFC tag that supports NDEF contains a single NDEF message.

The way of reading the message may happen through proprietary technologies, which require the reader and the tag to be of the same manufacturer. They may also expose an NDEF message.

An NFC peer is an active, powered device which can interact with other devices in order to exchange data using NFC.

As currently spec'ed, peer-to-peer is not supported.

An NFC device is either an NFC peer, or an NFC tag.

NDEF is an abbreviation for NFC Forum Data Exchange Format, a lightweight binary message format that is standardized in [[!NFC-NDEF]].

An NDEF message encapsulates one or more application-defined NDEF records. NDEF messages can be stored on an NFC tag or exchanged between NFC-enabled devices.

The term NFC content denotes all bytes sent to or received from an NFC tag. In the current API it is synonym to NDEF message.

The NFC Standard

NFC is standardized in the NFC Forum and described in [[NFC-STANDARDS]].

NDEF compatible tag types

The NFC Forum has mandated the support of five different tag types to be operable with NFC devices. The same is required on operating systems, such as Android.

In addition to that, the MIFARE Standard specifies a way for NDEF to work on top of the older MIFARE Standard, which may be optionally supported by implementers.

A note about the NDEF mapping can be found here: MIFARE Classic as NFC Type MIFARE Classic Tag.

  1. NFC Forum Type 1: This tag is based on the ISO/IEC 14443-3A (NFC-A). The tags are rewritable and can be configured to become read-only. Memory size can be between `96` bytes and `2` Kbytes. Communication speed is `106` kbit/s. In contrast to all other types, these tags have no anti-collision protection for dealing with multiple tags within the NFC field.
  2. NFC Forum Type 2: This tag is based on the ISO/IEC 14443-3A (NFC-A). The tags are rewritable and can be configured to become read-only. Memory size can be between `48` bytes and `2` Kbytes. Communication speed is `106` kbit/s.
  3. NFC Forum Type 3: This tag is based on the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) X 6319-4 (ISO/IEC 18092), commonly known as FeliCa. The tags are preconfigured to be either rewritable or read-only. Memory is `2` kbytes. Communication speed is `212` kbit/s or `424` kbit/s.
  4. NFC Forum Type 4: This tag is based on the ISO/IEC 14443-4 A/B (NFC A, NFC B) and thus supports either NFC-A or NFC-B for communication. On top of that the tag may optionally support ISO-DEP (Data Exchange Protocol defined in ISO/IEC 14443 (ISO/IEC 14443-4:2008 Part 4: Transmission protocol). The tags are preconfigured to be either rewritable or read-only. Variable memory, up to `32` kbytes. Supports three different communication speeds `106` or `212` or `424` kbit/s.
  5. NFC Forum Type 5: This tag is based on ISO/IEC 15693 (NFC-V) and allows reading and writing an NDEF message on an ISO/IEC 15693 RF tag that is accessible by long range RFID readers as well. The NFC communication is limited to short distance and may use the Active Communication Mode of ISO/IEC 18092 where the sending peer generates the field which balances power consumption and improves link stability. Variable memory, up to `64` kbytes. Communication speed is `26.48` kbit/s.
  6. MIFARE Standard: This tag, often sold under the brand names MIFARE Classic or MIFARE Mini, is based on the ISO/IEC 14443-3A (also known as NFC-A, as defined in ISO/IEC 14443-3:2011, Part 3: Initialization and anticollision). The tags are rewritable and can be configured to become read-only. Memory size can be between `320` and `4` kbytes. Communication speed is `106` kbit/s.

    MIFARE Standard is not an NFC Forum type and can only be read by devices using NXP hardware. Support for reading and writing to tags based on the MIFARE Standard is thus non-nominative, but the type is included due to the popularity and use in legacy systems.

In addition to data types standardized for NDEF records by the NFC Forum, many commercial products such as bus cards, door openers may be based on the MIFARE Standard which requires specific NFC chips (same vendor of card and reader) in order to function.

The NDEF record and fields

An NDEF record is a part of an NDEF message. Each record is a binary structure that contains a data payload, as well as associated type information. In addition to this, it includes information about how the data is structured, like payload size, whether the data is chunked over multiple records etc.

A generic record looks like the following:

Only the first three bytes (lines in figure) are mandatory. First the header byte, followed by the TYPE LENGTH field and PAYLOAD LENGTH field, both of which may be zero.

The TNF field (bit `0-2`, type name format) indicates the format of the type name and is often exposed by native NFC software stacks. The field can take binary values denoting the following NDEF record payload types:
TNF value Description
0 Empty record
1 NFC Forum [=well-known type record=]
2 MIME type record
3 Absolute-URL record
4 NFC Forum external type record
5 Unknown record
6 Unchanged record
7 Reserved for future use

The IL field (bit `3`, id length) indicates whether an ID LENGTH field is present. If the IL field is `0`, then the ID field is not present either.

The SR field (bit `4`, short record) indicates a short record, one with a payload length <= `255` bytes. Normal records can have payload lengths exceeding `255` bytes up to a maximum of `4` GB. Short records only use one byte to indicate length, whether as normal records use `4` bytes (`2``32``-1` bytes).

The CF field (bit `5`, chunk flag) indicates whether the payload is chunked across multiple records.

Web NFC turns all received chunked records into logical records and transparently chunks sent payload when that is needed.

The ME field (bit `6`, message end) indicates whether this record is the last in the NDEF message.

The MB field (bit `7`, message begin) indicates whether this record is the first of the NDEF message.

The TYPE LENGTH field is an unsigned 8-bit integer that denotes the byte size of the TYPE field.

The TYPE field is a globally unique and maintained identifier that describes the type of the PAYLOAD field in a structure, encoding and format dictated by value of the TNF field.

The [[[!NFC-RTD]]] requires that the TYPE field names MUST be compared in case-insensitive manner.

The ID LENGTH field is an unsigned 8-bit integer that denotes the byte size of the ID field.

The ID field is an identifier in the form of a URI reference ([[RFC3986]]) that is unique, and can be absolute of relative (in the latter case the application must provide a base URI). Middle and terminating chunk records MUST NOT have an ID field, other records MAY have it.

The PAYLOAD LENGTH field denotes the byte size of the PAYLOAD field. If the SR field is `1`, its size is one byte, otherwise 4 bytes, representing an 8-bit or 32-bit unsigned integer, respectively.

The PAYLOAD field carries the application bytes. Any internal structure of the data is opaque to NDEF. Note that in certain cases discussed later, this field MAY contain an NDEF message as data.

NDEF Record types

Empty NDEF record (TNF 0)

An empty record's' TYPE LENGTH field, ID LENGTH field and PAYLOAD LENGTH field MUST be `0`, thus the TYPE field, ID field and PAYLOAD field MUST NOT be present.

Well-known type records (TNF 1)

The NFC Forum has standardized a small set of useful sub record types in [[NFC-RTD]] (Resource Type Definition specifications) called well-known type records, for instance text, URL, media and others. In addition, there are record types designed for more complex interactions, such as smart posters (containing optional embedded records for url, text, signature and actions), and handover records.

The type information stored in the TYPE field of well-known type records can be of two kinds: local types and global types.

Well-known local types

NFC Forum local type that are defined by the NFC Forum or by an application, and always start with lowercase character or a number. Those are usually short strings that are unique only within the local context of the containing record. They are used when the meaning of the types doesn't matter outside of the local context of the containing record and when storage usage is a hard constraint. See Smart poster for an example on how local types are used.

A [=local type=] is thus defined in terms of a containing record type, and thus doesn't need any namespacing. For this reason the same local type name can be used within another record type with different meaning and different payload type.

Well-known global types

NFC Forum global types are defined and managed by the NFC Forum and usually start with an uppercase character. Examples: "`T`" for text, "`U`" for URL, "`Sp`" for smart poster, "`Sig`" for signature, "`Hc`" for handover carrier, "`Hr`" for handover request, "`Hs`" for handover select, etc.

Text record
The Text record is a [=well-known type record=] that is defined in the [[NDEF-TEXT]] specification. The TNF field is `1` and the TYPE field is "`T`" (`0x54`). The first byte of the PAYLOAD field is a status byte, followed by the [=language tag=] in US-ASCII encoding. The rest of the payload is the actual text, encoded either in UTF-8 or UTF-16, as indicated by the status byte as follows:
  • Bits 0 to 5 define the length of the [=language tag=].
  • Bit 6 is `0`.
  • If bit 7 if set, means the payload is encoded in UTF-8, otherwise in UTF-16.
URI record

URI record is defined in [[NDEF-URI]]. The TNF field is `1` and the TYPE field is "`U`" (`0x55`). The first byte of the PAYLOAD field is a URI identifier code, in fact an index in an abbreviation table where the values are prepended to the rest of the URI. For instance the value `0` denotes no prepending, `1` denotes "`http://www.`", `0x04` denotes "`https://`"" and so on. The rest of the payload contains the rest of the URI as a UTF-8 string (and if the first byte is `0`, then it denotes the whole URI).

The URI is defined in [[RFC3987]] and in fact is a UTF-8 encoded IRI that can be a URN or a URL.

Smart poster record
Smart poster is defined in [[NDEF-SMARTPOSTER]] to describe a given web content as an NDEF record that contains an NDEF message as payload, including the following records:
  • A single mandatory URI record that refers to the smart poster content.

    The [[NDEF-SMARTPOSTER]] states that applications SHALL use only the smart poster record if it is present in an NDEF message that also contains other URI records.

  • Zero or more Text records that act as a title record related to the content. When there are more than one title record present, they MUST be with different language tags. Applications SHOULD select one title record for presentation to the end user.
  • Zero or more MIME type records that act as icon record related to the content. The MIME type is usually "`image/jpg`", "`image/png`", "`image/gif`", or even "`video/mpeg`". Applications SHOULD select one icon record for presentation to the end user.
  • One optional type record that has a [=local type name=] "`t`" specific to smart poster and the PAYLOAD field contains a UTF-8 encoded MIME type for the content referred to by the URI record.
  • One optional size record that has [=local type name=] "`s`" specific to smart poster and the PAYLOAD field contains a 4-byte 32 bit unsigned integer that denotes the size of the object referred to by the URL in the URI record of the smart poster.
  • One optional action record that has a [=local type name=] "`act`" specific to smart poster and the PAYLOAD field contains a single byte, whose value has the following meaning:
    Value Description
    0 Do the action
    1 Save for later
    2 Open for editing
    3..0xFF Reserved for future use
    There is no default action on the smart poster content if the action record is missing.

    At the time of NDEF standardization the value `0` ("do the action") was intended for use cases like send an SMS, make a call or launch browser. Similarly, the value `1`, ("save the content for later processing") was intended for use cases like store the SMS in inbox, save the URL in bookmarks, or save the phone number to contacts. Also, the value `2` ("open for editing") was meant to open the smart poster content with a default application for editing.

    Implementations don't need to implement any standardized behavior for the actions defined here. In this API it's up to the applications what actions they define (that may include the use cases above). However, Web NFC just provides the values.

  • A smart poster MAY also contain other records, which can be handled in an application specific manner.
The example below shows a smart poster record that embeds a text and a URL record.
Signature records

NDEF Signature is defined [[NDEF-SIGNATURE]]. Its TYPE field contains "`Sig`" (`0x53`, `0x69`, `0x67`) and its PAYLOAD field contains version, signature and a certificate chain.

As currently spec'ed, this is not supported.

Handover records

NFC handover is defined [[NFC-HANDOVER]] and the corresponding message structure that allows negotiation and activation of an alternative communication carrier, such as Bluetooth or WiFi. The negotiated communication carrier would then be used (separately) to perform certain activities between the two devices, such as sending photos to the other device, printing to a Bluetooth printer or streaming video to a television set.

As currently spec'ed, this is not supported.

MIME type records (TNF 2)

The MIME type records are records that store binary data with associated MIME type.

Absolute-URL records (TNF 3)

In absolute-URL records the TYPE field contains the absolute-URL string, and not the payload.

NOTE: Some platforms, like Windows Phone have stored additional data in the payload, but any payload data in these records are ignored by other platforms such as Android. On Android, reading such a record, will attempt to load the URL in Chrome and it is as such not intended for client applications.

External type records (TNF 4)

The NFC Forum external type records are for application specified data types and are defined in [[[NFC-RTD]]].

The external type is a URN with the prefix `"urn:nfc:ext:"` followed by the name of the owner [=domain=], adding a `U+003A` (`:`), then a non-zero type name, for instance `"urn:nfc:ext:w3.org:atype"`, stored as `"w3.org:atype"` in the TYPE field.

Unknown type records (TNF 5)

The unknown records are records that store opaque data without associated MIME type, meaning that the `application/octet-stream` default MIME type MAY be assumed. The [[NFC-NDEF]] specification recommends that NDEF parsers store or forward the payload without processing it.

Unchanged type records (TNF 6)

The unchanged records are record chunks of a chunked data set, and is used for any, but the first record. A chunked payload is spread across multiple NDEF records that undergo the following rules:
  • The initial chunk record has the CF field set, its TYPE field set to the type of the whole chunked payload and its ID field MAY be set to an identifier used for the whole chunked payload. Its PAYLOAD LENGTH field denotes the size of the payload chunk in this record only.
  • The middle chunk records have the CF field set, have the same ID field as the first chunk, their TYPE LENGTH field and IL field MUST be `0` and their TNF field MUST be `6` (unchanged).
  • The terminating chunk record has this flag cleared, and in rest undergo the same rules as the middle chunk records.
  • A chunked payload MUST be contained in a single NDEF message, therefore the initial and middle chunk records cannot have the ME field set.
First record:
Intermediate record:
Last record:

Any implementation of Web NFC MUST transparently expose chunked records as single logical records.

Use Cases

A few NFC user scenarios have been enumerated here and in the Web NFC Use Cases document. The rudimentary Web NFC interactions are the following.

Reading an NFC tag

Reading an NFC tag containing an NDEF message, while the {{Document}} of the top-level browsing context using Web NFC is visible. For instance, a web page instructs the user to tap an NFC tag, and then receives information from the tag.

Writing to an NFC tag

The user opens a web page which can write to an NFC tag. The write operations may be one of the following:
  1. Writing to a non-formatted NFC tag.
  2. Writing to an empty, but formatted NFC tag.
  3. Writing to an NFC tag which already contains an NDEF message.
  4. Writing to other, writable NFC tags (i.e. overwriting a generic tag).

Note that an NFC write operation to an NFC tag always involves also a read operation.

Making an NFC tag read-only

The user opens a web page which can make an NFC tag permanently read-only. The operations may be one of the following:
  1. Making a non-formatted NFC tag permanently read-only.
  2. Making an empty, but formatted NFC tag permanently read-only.
  3. Making an NFC tag which already contains an NDEF message permanently read-only.

Note that making an NFC tag permanently read-only always involves a read operation.

Support for multiple NFC adapters

Users may attach one or more external NFC adapters to their devices, in addition to a built-in adapter. Users may use either NFC adapter.

Features

High level features for the Web NFC specification include the following:
  1. Support devices with single or multiple NFC adapters. If there are multiple adapters present when invoking an NFC function then the UA operates all NFC adapters in parallel.
  2. Support communication with passive (smart cards, tags, etc.) NFC devices.
  3. Allow users to act on (e.g. read, write or transceive) discovered passive NFC devices, as well as access the payload which were read in the process as NDEF messages.
  4. Allow users to write a payload via NDEF records to compatible devices, such as writable tags, when they come in range, as NDEF messages.

Examples

This section shows how developers can make use of the various features of this specification.

Feature support

Detecting if Web NFC is supported can be done by checking the {{NDEFReader}} object. Note that this does not guarantee that NFC hardware is available.

      if ("NDEFReader" in window) { /* Scan and write NDEF Tags */ }
    

General information about writing data

Writing data is generally straightforward, but there are a few gotcha's around how writing works with NFC.

An NFC reader works by polling, so in order to be able to write to a tag or making it permanently read-only, a tag first needs to be found and read, which means that polling needs to be initialized first.

If polling is not initiated already by first calling `scan()`, then the `write()` and `makeReadOnly()` methods will initiate it temporarily until a tag was found and read, and the operation was attempted.

This means that the flow is that first a read is performed as the tag is first found, then followed by a writing operation.

This means that if `scan()` is running and you have an event listener for the `reading` event, it will be dispatched once during a `write()` or `makeReadOnly()` operation, which might not be the intended behavior.

In the following sections we will discuss how you can easily deal with this behavior, but first a few simple examples.

Write a text string

Writing a text string to an NFC tag is straightforward.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      ndef.write(
        "Hello World"
      ).then(() => {
        console.log("Message written.");
      }).catch(error => {
        console.log(`Write failed :-( try again: ${error}.`);
      });
    

Write a URL

In order to write an NDEF record of URL type, simply use NDEFMessage. Here we rely on async/await.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      try {
        await ndef.write({
          records: [{ recordType: "url", data: "https://w3c.github.io/web-nfc/" }]
        });
      } catch {
        console.log("Write failed :-( try again.");
      };
    

Handling initial reads while writing

In order to write, a tag needs to be found and thus read. This gives you the ability to check whether it is actually a tag that you want to write to or not, by checking existing data or serial number.

For this reason, it is recommended calling `write()` from a `reading` event. Same applies to `makeReadOnly()`.

The below example shows how to coordinate between a common `reading` handler and one used specifically for a single write.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      let ignoreRead = false;

      ndef.onreading = (event) => {
        if (ignoreRead) {
          return; // write pending, ignore read.
        }

        console.log("We read a tag, but not during pending write!");
      };

      function write(data) {
        ignoreRead = true;
        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
          ndef.addEventListener("reading", event => {
            // Check if we want to write to this tag, or reject.
            ndef.write(data).then(resolve, reject).finally(() => ignoreRead = false);
          }, { once: true });
        });
      }

      await ndef.scan();
      try {
        await write("Hello World");
        console.log("We wrote to a tag!")
      } catch(err) {
        console.error("Something went wrong", err);
      }
    

Scheduling a write with a timeout

It can sometimes be useful to set a time limit on a write operation. Like you ask the user to touch a tag, and if no tag is found within a certain amount of time, then you time out.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      ndef.onreading = (event) => console.log("We read a tag!");

      function write(data, { timeout } = {}) {
        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
          const ctlr = new AbortController();
          ctlr.signal.onabort = () => reject("Time is up, bailing out!");
          setTimeout(() => ctlr.abort(), timeout);

          ndef.addEventListener("reading", event => {
            ndef.write(data, { signal: ctlr.signal }).then(resolve, reject);
          }, { once: true });
        });
      }

      await ndef.scan();
      try {
        // Let's wait for 5 seconds only.
        await write("Hello World", { timeout: 5_000 });
      } catch(err) {
        console.error("Something went wrong", err);
      } finally {
        console.log("We wrote to a tag!");
      }
    

Handle scanning errors

This example shows what happens when {{NDEFReader/scan}} promise rejects and `readingerror` is fired.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      ndef.scan().then(() => {
        console.log("Scan started successfully.");
        ndef.onreadingerror = (event) => {
          console.log("Error! Cannot read data from the NFC tag. Try a different one?");
        };
        ndef.onreading = (event) => {
          console.log("NDEF message read.");
        };
      }).catch(error => {
        console.log(`Error! Scan failed to start: ${error}.`);
      });
    

Read a single tag, once

This example show you how to easily create a convenience function that just reads a single tag and then stops polling, saving battery life by cutting unneeded work.

The example could easily be extended to time out after a given amount of milliseconds.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();

      function read() {
        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
          const ctlr = new AbortController();
          ctlr.signal.onabort = reject;
          ndef.addEventListener("reading", event => {
            ctlr.abort();
            resolve(event);
          }, { once: true });
          ndef.scan({ signal: ctlr.signal }).catch(err => reject(err));
        });
      }

      read().then(({ serialNumber }) => {
        console.log(serialNumber);
      });
    

Read data from tag, and write to empty ones

This example shows reading various different kinds of data which can be stored on a tag. If the tag is unformatted or contains an empty record, a text message is written with the value "Hello World".

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      await ndef.scan();
      ndef.onreading = async ({ message }) => {
        if (message.records.length == 0 ||               // unformatted tag
            message.records[0].recordType == "empty") {  // empty record
          await ndef.write({
            records: [{ recordType: "text", data: "Hello World" }]
          });
          return;
        }

        const decoder = new TextDecoder();
        for (const record of message.records) {
          switch (record.recordType) {
            case "text":
              const textDecoder = new TextDecoder(record.encoding);
              console.log(`Text: ${textDecoder.decode(record.data)} (${record.lang})`);
              break;
            case "url":
              console.log(`URL: ${decoder.decode(record.data)}`);
              break;
            case "mime":
              if (record.mediaType === "application/json") {
                console.log(`JSON: ${JSON.parse(decoder.decode(record.data))}`);
              }
              else if (record.mediaType.startsWith("image/")) {
                const blob = new Blob([record.data], { type: record.mediaType });

                const img = document.createElement("img");
                img.src = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
                img.onload = () => window.URL.revokeObjectURL(this.src);

                document.body.appendChild(img);
              }
              else {
                console.log(`Media not handled`);
              }
              break;
            default:
              console.log(`Record not handled`);
          }
        }
      };
    

Save and restore game progress with an NFC tag

Filtering of relevant data sources can be done by the use of a custom record identifier, in this case "`/my-game-progress`". When we read the data, we immediately update the game progress by issuing a write with a custom NDEF data layout.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      await ndef.scan();
      ndef.onreading = async ({ message }) => {
        if (message.records[0]?.id !== "/my-game-progress")
          return;
        console.log(`Game state: ${ JSON.stringify(message.records) }`);

        const encoder = new TextEncoder();
        const newMessage = {
          records: [{
            id: "/my-game-progress",
            recordType: "mime",
            mediaType: "application/json",
            data: encoder.encode(JSON.stringify({
              level: 3,
              points: 4500,
              lives: 3
            }))
          }]
        };
        await ndef.write(newMessage);
        console.log("Message written");
      };
    

Write and read JSON (serialized and deserialized)

Storing and receiving JSON data is easy with serialization and deserialization.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      await ndef.scan();
      ndef.onreading = (event) => {
        const decoder = new TextDecoder();
        for (const record of event.message.records) {
          if (record.mediaType === "application/json") {
            const json = JSON.parse(decoder.decode(record.data));
            const article =/^[aeio]/i.test(json.title) ? "an" : "a";
            console.log(`${json.name} is ${article} ${json.title}`);
          }
        }
      };

      const encoder = new TextEncoder();
      await ndef.write({
        records: [
          {
            recordType: "mime",
            mediaType: "application/json",
            data: encoder.encode(JSON.stringify({
              name: "Benny Jensen",
              title: "Banker"
            }))
          },
          {
            recordType: "mime",
            mediaType: "application/json",
            data: encoder.encode(JSON.stringify({
              name: "Zoey Braun",
              title: "Engineer"
            }))
          }]
      });
    

Write data and print out existing data

Writing data requires tapping an NFC tag.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      await ndef.scan();
      ndef.onreading = async (event) => {
        const decoder = new TextDecoder();
        for (const record of event.message.records) {
          console.log("Record type:  " + record.recordType);
          console.log("MIME type:    " + record.mediaType);
          console.log("=== data ===\n" + decoder.decode(record.data));
        }

        try {
          await ndef.write("Overriding data is fun!");
        } catch(error) {
          console.log(`Write failed :-( try again: ${error}.`);
        }
      };
    

Stop listening to NDEF messages

Read NDEF messages for 3 seconds by using {{NDEFScanOptions/signal}}.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      const ctrl = new AbortController();

      await ndef.scan({ signal: ctrl.signal });
      ndef.onreading = () => {
        console.log("NDEF message read.");
      };

      ctrl.signal.onabort = () => {
        console.log("We're done waiting for NDEF messages.");
      };

      // Stop listening to NDEF messages after 3s.
      setTimeout(() => ctrl.abort(), 3_000);
    

Write a smart poster message

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      const encoder = new TextEncoder();
      await ndef.write({ records: [
        {
          recordType: "smart-poster",  // Sp
          data: { records: [
            {
              recordType: "url",  // URL record for the Sp content
              data: "https://my.org/content/19911"
            },
            {
              recordType: "text",  // title record for the Sp content
              data: "Funny dance"
            },
            {
              recordType: ":t",  // type record, a local type to Sp
              data: encoder.encode("image/gif") // MIME type of the Sp content
            },
            {
              recordType: ":s",  // size record, a local type to Sp
              data: new Uint32Array([4096]) // byte size of Sp content
            },
            {
              recordType: ":act",  // action record, a local type to Sp
              // do the action, in this case open in the browser
              data: new Uint8Array([0])
            },
            {
              recordType: "mime", // icon record, a MIME type record
              mediaType: "image/png",
              data: await (await fetch("icon1.png")).arrayBuffer()
            },
            {
              recordType: "mime", // another icon record
              mediaType: "image/jpg",
              data: await (await fetch("icon2.jpg")).arrayBuffer()
            }
          ]}
        }
      ]});
    

Read an external record with an NDEF message as payload

External type records can be used to create application defined records. These records may contain an NDEF message as payload, with its own NDEF records, including local types that are used in the context of the application.

Note that the smart poster record type also contains an NDEF message as payload.

As NDEF gives no guarantee on the ordering of records, using an external type record with an NDEF message as payload, can be useful for encapsulating related data.

This example shows how to read an external record for social posts, which contains an NDEF message, containing a text record and a record with the local type "act" (action), with definition borrowed from smart poster, but used in local application context.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      await ndef.scan();
      ndef.onreading = (event) => {
        const externalRecord = event.message.records.find(
          record => record.type == "example.com:smart-poster"
        );

        let action, text;

        for (const record of externalRecord.toRecords()) {
          if (record.recordType == "text") {
            const decoder = new TextDecoder(record.encoding);
            text = decoder.decode(record.data);
          } else if (record.recordType == ":act") {
            action = record.data.getUint8(0);
          }
        }

        switch (action) {
          case 0: // do the action
            console.log(`Post "${text}" to timeline`);
            break;
          case 1: // save for later
            console.log(`Save "${text}" as a draft`);
            break;
          case 2: // open for editing
            console.log(`Show editable post with "${text}"`);
            break;
        }
      };
    

Write an external record with an NDEF message as payload

External type records can be used to create application defined records that may even contain an NDEF message as payload.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      await ndef.write({ records: [
        {
          recordType: "example.game:a",
          data: {
            records: [
              {
                recordType: "url",
                data: "https://example.game/42"
              },
              {
                recordType: "text",
                data: "Game context given here"
              },
              {
                recordType: "mime",
                mediaType: "image/png",
                data: getImageBytes(fromURL)
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      ]});
    

Write and read unknown records inside an external record

Unknown type records may be useful inside external type records as developers know what they represent and therefore can avoid specifying the mime type.

      const encoder = new TextEncoder();
      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      await ndef.write({ records: [
        {
          recordType: "example.com:shoppingItem", // External record
          data: {
            records: [
              {
                recordType: "unknown", // Shopping item name
                data: encoder.encode("Food")
              },
              {
                recordType: "unknown", // Shopping item description
                data: encoder.encode("Provide nutritional support for an organism.")
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      ]});
    
      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      await ndef.scan();
      ndef.onreading = (event) => {
        const shoppingItemRecord = event.message.records[0];
        if (shoppingItemRecord?.recordType !== "example.com:shoppingItem")
          return;

        const [nameRecord, descriptionRecord] = shoppingItemRecord.toRecords();

        const decoder = new TextDecoder();
        console.log("Item name: " + decoder.decode(nameRecord.data));
        console.log("Item description: " + decoder.decode(descriptionRecord.data));
      };
    

Make an NFC tag permanently read-only

Making an NFC tag permanently read-only is straightforward.

      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      ndef.makeReadOnly().then(() => {
        console.log("NFC tag has been made permanently read-only.");
      }).catch(error => {
        console.log(`Operation failed: ${error}`);
      });
    
      const ndef = new NDEFReader();
      try {
        await ndef.write("Hello world");
        console.log("Message written.");
        await ndef.makeReadOnly();
        console.log("NFC tag has been made permanently read-only after writing to it.");
      } catch (error) {
        console.log(`Operation failed: ${error}`);
      }
    

Data Representation

The NDEFMessage interface

The content of any NDEF message is exposed by the NDEFMessage interface:

      [SecureContext, Exposed=Window]
      interface NDEFMessage {
        constructor(NDEFMessageInit messageInit);
        readonly attribute FrozenArray<NDEFRecord> records;
      };

      dictionary NDEFMessageInit {
        required sequence<NDEFRecordInit> records;
      };
    

The records property represents a list of NDEF records defining the NDEF message.

The NDEFMessageInit dictionary is used to initialize an NDEF message.

The NDEFRecord interface

The content of any NDEF record is exposed by the NDEFRecord interface:

      [SecureContext, Exposed=Window]
      interface NDEFRecord {
        constructor(NDEFRecordInit recordInit);

        readonly attribute USVString recordType;
        readonly attribute USVString? mediaType;
        readonly attribute USVString? id;
        readonly attribute DataView? data;

        readonly attribute USVString? encoding;
        readonly attribute USVString? lang;

        sequence<NDEFRecord>? toRecords();
      };

      dictionary NDEFRecordInit {
        required USVString recordType;
        USVString mediaType;
        USVString id;

        USVString encoding;
        USVString lang;

        any data; // DOMString or BufferSource or NDEFMessageInit
      };
    

The mediaType property represents the MIME type of the NDEF record payload.

The recordType property represents the NDEF record types.

The id property represents the record identifier, which is an absolute or relative URL. The required uniqueness of the identifier is guaranteed only by the generator, not by this specification.

The NFC NDEF specifications uses the terms "message identifier" and "payload identifier" instead of record identifier, but the identifier is tied to each record and not the message (collection of records), and it may be present when no payload is.

The encoding attribute represents the [=encoding/name|encoding name=] used for encoding the payload in the case it is textual data.

The lang attribute represents the [=language tag=] of the payload in the case that was encoded.

A language tag is a string that matches the production of a Language-Tag defined in the [[BCP47]] specifications (see the IANA Language Subtag Registry for an authoritative list of possible values). That is, a language range is composed of one or more subtags that are delimited by a U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS ("-"). For example, the 'en-AU' language range represents English as spoken in Australia, and 'fr-CA' represents French as spoken in Canada. Language tags that meet the validity criteria of [[RFC5646]] section 2.2.9 that can be verified without reference to the IANA Language Subtag Registry are considered structurally valid.

The data property represents the PAYLOAD field data.

The toRecords() method, when invoked, MUST return the result of running convert NDEFRecord.data bytes with the NDEF Record.

The NDEFRecordInit dictionary is used to initialize an NDEF record with its record type recordType, and optional record identifier id and payload data data.

Additionally, there are additional optional fields that are only applicable for certain record types:
  • "mime": Optional MIME type mediaType.
  • "text": Optional [=encoding/label|encoding label=] encoding and [=language tag=] lang.

The mapping from data types of an NDEFRecordInit to NDEF record types is presented in the algorithmic steps which handle the data and described in the [[[#steps-receiving]]] and [[[#writing-content]]] sections.

To convert NDEFRecord.data bytes given a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:

  1. Let |bytes:byte sequence| be the value of record's data attribute.
  2. Let |recordType:record type| be the value of |record|'s recordType attribute.
  3. If the |recordType| value is "`smart-poster`", then return the result of running parse records from bytes given |bytes| and `"smart-poster"`.
  4. If running validate external type on |recordType| returns true, then return the result of running parse records from bytes given |bytes| and `"external"`.
  5. Otherwise, [= exception/throw =] a {{"NotSupportedError"}}.

The record type string

This string defines the allowed record types for an NDEFRecord. The [[[#data-mapping]]] section describes how it is mapped to NDEF record types.

A standardized well known type name can be one of the following:

The "empty" string
The value representing an empty NDEFRecord.
The "text" string
The value representing a Text record.
The "url" string
The value representing a URI record.
The "smart-poster" string
The value representing a Smart poster record.
The "absolute-url" string
The value representing an absolute-URL record.
The "mime" string
The value representing a MIME type record.
The "unknown" string
The value representing an unknown record.

In addition to [=well known type names=] it is also possible for organizations to create a custom external type name, which is a string consisting of a [=domain=] name and a custom type name, separated by a colon `U+003A` (`:`).

Applications MAY also use a local type name, which is a string that MUST start with lowercase character or a number, representing a type for an NFC Forum [=local type=]. It is typically used in a record of an NDEFMessage that is the payload of a parent NDEFRecord, for instance in a smart poster. The context of the local type is the parent record whose payload is the NDEFMessage to which this record belongs and the local type name SHOULD NOT conflict with any other type names used in that context.

Any implementation of Web NFC MUST transparently expose chunked records as single logical records, therefore unchanged records are not explicitly represented.

Two well-known type records (including any NFC Forum local type and any NFC Forum global type) MUST be compared character by character in case-sensitive manner.

Two external types MUST be compared character by character, in case-insensitive manner.

The binary representation of any well-known type record and external type MUST be written as a relative URI (RFC 3986), omitting the namespace identifier (NID) "`nfc`" and namespace specific string (NSS) "`wkt`" and "`ext`", respectively, i.e. omitting the "`urn:nfc:wkt:`" and "`urn:nfc:ext:`" prefixes. For instance, "`urn:nfc:ext:company.com:a" is stored as "`company.com:a`" and the well-known type records of a Text record is "`urn:nfc:wkt:T`", but it is stored as "`T`".

Data mapping

The mapping from data types of an NDEFRecordInit to NDEF record types, as used in the [[[#writing-content]]] section is as follows:

{{recordType}} {{mediaType}} {{data}} record type [=TNF field=] [=TYPE field=]
"`empty`" unused unused Empty record 0 unused
"`text`" unused {{BufferSource}} or
{{DOMString}}
[=Well-known type record=] 1 "`T`"
"`url`" unused {{DOMString}} [=Well-known type record=] 1 "`U`"
"`smart-poster`" unused {{NDEFMessageInit}} [=Well-known type record=] 1 "`Sp`"
[=local type name=] prefixed by a colon `U+003A` (`:`), e.g., "`:act`", "`:s`", and "`:t`" unused {{BufferSource}} or {{NDEFMessageInit}} [=Local type=] record* 1 [=local type name=], e.g., "`act`", "`s`", and "`t`"
"`mime`" [= MIME type =] {{BufferSource}} MIME type record 2 [= MIME type =]
"`absolute-url`" unused {{DOMString}} url Absolute-URL record 3 [=Absolute-URL=]
[=external type name=] unused {{BufferSource}} or
{{NDEFMessageInit}}
External type record 4 [=external type name=]
"`unknown`" unused {{BufferSource}} [=Unknown record=] 5 unused

* A [=local type=] record has to be embedded with the NDEFMessage payload of another record.

The mapping from NDEF record types to NDEFRecord, as used for incoming NDEF messages described in the [[[#steps-receiving]]] section, is as follows.

record type [=TNF field=]
[=TYPE field=] {{recordType}} {{mediaType}}
[=Empty record=] 0 unused "`empty`" null
[=Well-known type record=] 1 "`T`" "`text`" null
[=Well-known type record=] 1 "`U`" "`url`" null
[=Well-known type record=] 1 "`Sp`" "`smart-poster`" null
[=Local type=] record* 1 [=local type name=], e.g., "`act`", "`s`", and "`t`" [=local type name=] prefixed by a colon `U+003A` (`:`), e.g., "`:act`", "`:s`", and "`:t`" null
[=MIME type record=] 2 [=MIME type=] "`mime`" The MIME type used in the NDEF record
[=Absolute-URL record=] 3 URL "`absolute-url`" null
[=External type record=] 4 [=external type name=] [=external type name=] null
Unknown record 5 unused "`unknown`" null

The NDEFReader object

The NDEFReader is an object that exposes NFC functionality to the browsing context: reading NDEF messages when a device, such as a tag, is within the magnetic induction field. Also, it is used for writing NDEF messages to NFC tags within range.

    typedef (DOMString or BufferSource or NDEFMessageInit) NDEFMessageSource;

    [SecureContext, Exposed=Window]
    interface NDEFReader : EventTarget {
      constructor();

      attribute EventHandler onreading;
      attribute EventHandler onreadingerror;

      Promise<undefined> scan(optional NDEFScanOptions options={});
      Promise<undefined> write(NDEFMessageSource message,
                                     optional NDEFWriteOptions options={});
      Promise<undefined> makeReadOnly(optional NDEFMakeReadOnlyOptions options={});
    };

    [SecureContext, Exposed=Window]
    interface NDEFReadingEvent : Event {
      constructor(DOMString type, NDEFReadingEventInit readingEventInitDict);

      readonly attribute DOMString serialNumber;
      [SameObject] readonly attribute NDEFMessage message;
    };

    dictionary NDEFReadingEventInit : EventInit {
      DOMString? serialNumber = "";
      required NDEFMessageInit message;
    };
  

The NDEFMessageSource is a union type representing argument types accepted by the {{NDEFReader/write()}} method.

The NDEFReadingEvent is the event being dispatched on new NFC readings. The serialNumber property represents the serial number of the device used for anti-collision and identification, or empty string in case none is available. The message is an NDEFMessage object.

NDEFReadingEventInit is used to initialize a new event with a serial number and the NDEFMessageInit data via the message member. If serialNumber is not present or is null, empty string will be used to init the event.

Though most tags will have a stable unique identifier (UID), not all have one and some tags even create a random number on each read. The serial number usually consists of 4 or 7 numbers, separated by `:`.

An {{NDEFReader}} object has the following internal slots:

Internal Slot Initial value Description (non-normative)
[[\WriteOptions]] null The {{NDEFWriteOptions}} value for writing.
[[\WriteMessage]] null The {{NDEFMessage}} to be written. It is initially unset.

The onreading is an {{EventHandler}} which is called to notify that new reading is available.

The onreadingerror is an {{EventHandler}} which is called to notify that an error happened during reading.

NFC state associated with the settings object

The relevant settings object of the active document of a browsing context which supports NFC has an associated NFC state record with the following internal slots:

Internal Slot Initial value Description (non-normative)
[[\Suspended]] false A boolean flag indicating whether NFC functionality is suspended or not, initially false.
[[\ActivatedReaderList]] empty set A set of {{NDEFReader}} instances.
[[\PendingWrite]] empty A <|promise:Promise|, |writer:NDEFReader|> tuple where |promise| holds a pending {{Promise}} and |writer| holds an {{NDEFReader}}.
[[\PendingMakeReadOnly]] empty A <|promise:Promise|, |writer:NDEFReader|> tuple where |promise| holds a pending {{Promise}} and |writer| holds an {{NDEFReader}}.

The activated reader objects is the value of the [[\ActivatedReaderList]] internal slot.

The pending write tuple is the value of the [[\PendingWrite]] internal slot.

The pending makeReadOnly tuple is the value of the [[\PendingMakeReadOnly]] internal slot.

NFC is suspended if the [[\Suspended]] internal slot is true.

To suspend NFC, set the [[\Suspended]] internal slot to true.

To resume NFC, set the [[\Suspended]] internal slot to false.

Internal slots are used only as a notation in this specification, and implementations do not necessarily have to map them to explicit internal properties.

Handling NFC adapters

Implementations MAY use multiple NFC adapters according to the algorithmic steps described in this specification.

Obtaining permission

The Web NFC API is a [=default powerful feature=] which is identified by the [=powerful feature/name=] "nfc".

To obtain permission, run these steps:
  1. Let |state:PermissionState| be the result of [=getting the current permission state=] with "nfc".
  2. If |state| is {{PermissionState["granted"]}} (i.e. permission has been granted to the origin and global object using the [[[PERMISSIONS]]] API), return true.
  3. Otherwise, if |state| is {{PermissionState["prompt"]}}, then optionally request permission to use "nfc" from the user. If that is granted, return true.

    The request permission steps are not yet clearly defined. At this point the UA asks the user about the policy to be used with "nfc" for the given origin and global object, if the user grants permission, return true.

  4. Return false.

Handling visibility change

The [=page visibility change steps=] for this specification, given the string |visibilityState| and the {{Document}} |document|, are:

  1. If |visibilityState| is `"visible"`, resume NFC and abort these steps.
  2. Otherwise, perform these steps:
    1. Suspend NFC.
    2. Attempt to abort a pending write operation.
    3. Attempt to abort a pending make read-only operation.

The term suspended refers to NFC operations being suspended, which means that no NFC content is written by NDEFReaders, and no received NFC content is presented to any {{NDEFReader}} while being suspended.

Aborting pending write operation

To attempt to abort a pending write operation, run the following steps:
  1. If there is no pending write tuple |tuple|, abort these steps.
  2. If |tuple|'s writer has already initiated an ongoing NFC data transfer, abort these steps.
  3. Reject |tuple|'s promise with an {{"AbortError"}} and abort these steps.

    Rejecting the promise will clear the pending write tuple.

Aborting pending make read-only operation

To attempt to abort a pending make read-only operation, run the following steps:
  1. If there is no pending makeReadOnly tuple |tuple|, abort these steps.
  2. If |tuple|'s writer has already made an NFC tag permanently read-only, abort these steps.
  3. Reject |tuple|'s promise with an {{"AbortError"}} and abort these steps.

    Rejecting the promise will clear the pending makeReadOnly tuple.

Releasing NFC

To release NFC on an environment settings object, perform the following steps:

  1. Suspend NFC.
  2. Attempt to abort a pending write operation.
  3. Attempt to abort a pending make read-only operation.
  4. Clear the activated reader objects.
  5. Release the NFC resources on the underlying platform.

The UA must release NFC given the document's relevant settings object as additional unloading document cleanup steps.

The NDEFWriteOptions dictionary

      dictionary NDEFWriteOptions {
        boolean overwrite = true;
        AbortSignal? signal;
      };
    

When the value of the overwrite property is false, the write algorithm will read the NFC tag to determine if it has NDEF records on it, and if yes, it will not execute any pending write.

The signal property allows to abort the {{NDEFReader/write()}} operation.

The NDEFMakeReadOnlyOptions dictionary

      dictionary NDEFMakeReadOnlyOptions {
        AbortSignal? signal;
      };
    

The signal property allows to abort the {{NDEFReader/makeReadOnly()}} operation.

The NDEFScanOptions dictionary

        dictionary NDEFScanOptions {
          AbortSignal signal;
        };
      

The signal property allows to abort the {{NDEFReader/scan()}} operation.

Writing content

This section describes how to write an NDEF message to an NFC tag when it is next time in proximity range before a timer expires. At any time there is a maximum of one NDEF message that can be set for writing for an origin until the current message is sent or the write is aborted.

The write() method

The NDEFReader.write method, when invoked, MUST run the write a message algorithm:
  1. Let |p:Promise| be a new {{Promise}} object.
  2. If not currently executing in the currently active top-level browsing context, then reject |p| with and {{"InvalidStateError"}} and return |p|.
  3. Let |message:NDEFMessageSource| be the first argument.
  4. Let |options:NDEFWriteOptions| be the second argument.
  5. Let |signal:AbortSignal| be the |options|’ dictionary member of the same name if present, or null otherwise.
  6. If |signal| is [= AbortSignal/aborted =], then reject |p| with |signal|'s [=AbortSignal/abort reason=] and return |p|.
  7. If |signal| is not null, then add the following abort steps to |signal|:
    1. Run the abort a pending write operation on the environment settings object.
  8. [=promise/React=] to |p|:
    1. If |p| was settled (fulfilled or rejected), then clear the pending write tuple if it exists.
  9. Return |p| and run the following steps in parallel:
    1. If the obtain permission steps return false, then reject |p| with a {{"NotAllowedError"}} and abort these steps.
    2. If there is no underlying NFC Adapter, or if a connection cannot be established, then reject |p| with a {{"NotSupportedError"}} and abort these steps.
    3. If the UA is not allowed to access the underlying NFC Adapter (e.g. a user preference), then reject |p| with a {{"NotReadableError"}} and abort these steps.
    4. If pushing data is not supported by the underlying NFC Adapter, then reject |p| with a {{"NotSupportedError"}} and abort these steps.
    5. An implementation MAY reject |p| with a {{"NotSupportedError"}} and abort these steps.

      The UA might abort message write at this point. The reasons for termination are implementation details. For example, the implementation might be unable to support the requested operation.

    6. Let |output| be the notation for the NDEF message to be created by UA, as the result of invoking create NDEF message with |message|, `""`, and `0`. If this throws an exception, reject |p| with that exception and abort these steps.
    7. Attempt to abort a pending write operation.

      A write replaces all previously configured write operations.

    8. Set `this`.[[\WriteOptions]] to |options|.
    9. Set `this`.[[\WriteMessage]] to |output|.
    10. Set pending write tuple to (`this`, |p|).
    11. Run the start the NFC write steps whenever an NFC tag |device| comes within communication range.

      If NFC is suspended, continue waiting until promise is aborted by the user or an NFC tag comes within communication range.

To start the NFC write, run these steps:
  1. Let |p:Promise| be the pending write tuple's promise.
  2. Let |writer| be the pending write tuple's writer.
  3. Let |options:NDEFWriteOptions| be |writer|.[[\WriteOptions]].
  4. If the NFC tag in proximity range does not expose NDEF technology for formatting or writing, then reject |p| with a {{"NotSupportedError"}} and return |p|.
  5. Verify that NFC is not suspended.
  6. In case of success, run the following steps:
    1. If |device| is an NFC tag and if |options|'s overwrite is false, read the tag to check whether there are NDEF records on the tag. If yes, then reject |p| with a {{"NotAllowedError"}} and return |p|.
    2. Let |output:NDEFMessage| be |writer|.[[\WriteMessage]].
    3. Initiate data transfer to |device| using |output| as buffer, using the NFC adapter in communication range with |device|.

      If the NFC tag in proximity range is unformatted and NDEF-formatable, format it and write |output| as buffer.

      Multiple adapters should be used sequentially by users. There is very little likelihood that a simultaneous tap will happen on two or multiple different and connected NFC adapters. If it happens, the user will likely need to repeat the taps until success, preferably one device at a time. The error here gives an indication that the operation needs to be repeated. Otherwise the user may think the operation succeeded on all connected NFC adapters.

    4. If the transfer fails, reject |p| with {{"NetworkError"}} and abort these steps.
    5. When the transfer has completed, resolve |p|.

Creating NDEF message

To create NDEF message given |source:NDEFMessageSource|, |context:string|, and |recordsDepth:unsigned short|, run these steps:
  1. Switch on |source:NDEFMessageSource|'s type:
    {{DOMString}}
    • Let |textRecord| be an NDEFRecord initialized with its |recordType| set to "`text`" and |data| set to |source|.
    • Let |records| be the list « |textRecord| ».
    • Set |source|'s records to |records|.
    {{BufferSource}}
    • Let |mimeRecord| be an NDEFRecord initialized with its |recordType| set to "`mime`", |data| set to |source|, and |mediaType| set to "`application/octet-stream`".
    • Let |records| be the list « |mimeRecord| ».
    • Set |source|'s records to |records|.
    {{NDEFMessageInit}}
    • If |source|'s records [= list/is empty =], [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
    • Increment |recordsDepth| by one.
    • If |recordsDepth| > `32`, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
    unmatched type
    • [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. Let |output| be the notation for the NDEF message to be created by the UA as a result of these steps.
  3. [= list/For each =] |record:NDEFRecordInit| in the list |source|'s records, run the following steps:
    1. Let |ndef| be the result of running create NDEF record given |record:NDEFRecordInit|, |context|, and |recordsDepth| or make sure the underlying platform provides equivalent values to |ndef|. If the algorithm throws an exception |e|, reject |promise| with |e| and abort these steps.
    2. Add |ndef| to |output|.
  4. If running check created records given |output| and |context| throw an |error: Error|, reject |promise| with |error| and abort these steps.
  5. Return |output|.

Check created records

To check created records given |records: NDEFRecord sequence| and |context: string|, run these steps:
  1. If |context| is `"smart-poster"` and |records| does not contain exactly one URI record, or if it contains more than one type record, size record or action record, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. If |context| is `"smart-poster"`, move the URI record to the beginning of |records|.

Web NFC currently allows writing external type and local type records in smart poster. Also, empty records are allowed. Applications MAY ignore any extra records inside the smart poster.

Icon record media types could be limited to `"image/"` or `"video/"`, but the [[NDEF-SMARTPOSTER]] specification does actually allow other media type records in a smart poster, which can be treated in an application-specific manner, for instance a vCard contact card using one of its associated MIME types.

Creating NDEF record

To create NDEF record given |record:NDEFRecordInit|, |context:string|, and |recordsDepth:unsigned short|, run these steps:
  1. Let |ndef| be the representation of an NDEF record to be created by the UA.
  2. If |record|'s id is not undefined:
    • Let |identifier| be |record|'s id.
    • Set |ndef|'s IL field to `1`.
    • Set |ndef|'s ID LENGTH field to the length of |identifier|.
    • Set |ndef|'s ID field to |identifier|.
  3. Switching on |record|'s recordType, invoke the algorithm specified below with |record|, |ndef|, |context| and |recordsDepth| and return the result. If an exception |e| is thrown, reject |promise| with |e| and abort these steps.
    "`empty`"
    "`text`"
    "`url`"
    "`mime`"
    "`smart-poster`"
    "`absolute-url`"
  4. If |record|'s recordType starts with a colon `U+003A` (`:`):
    • If |context| is `""` (i.e. |record| is not a payload to another NDEF record), reject |promise| with a {{TypeError}} and abort these steps.
    • If running the validate local type steps on |record|'s recordType returns false, reject |promise| with a {{TypeError}} and abort these steps.
    • Return the result of running map local type to NDEF given |record|, |ndef|, |context|, and |recordsDepth|. If that throws an exception |e|, reject |promise| with |e| and abort these steps.
  5. If running validate external type on |record|'s recordType returns true, return map external data to NDEF given |record|, |ndef|, |context|, and |recordsDepth|. If that throws an exception |e|, reject |promise| with |e| and abort these steps.
  6. Otherwise, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}} and abort these steps.

Validating external type

The [[NFC-RTD]] specifies that external types MUST contain the [=domain=] name of the issuing organization, a colon `U+003A` (`:`) and a type name that is at least one character long, for instance "`w3.org:member`", all stored as ASCII characters.

The [[NFC-RTD]] specifies the URN prefix “`urn:nfc:ext:`” as well, but it is not stored in the NDEF record, therefore Web NFC applications SHOULD NOT specify the URN prefix when creating external type records.

The [[NFC-RTD]] requires that external type names are represented with the URN prefix “`urn:nfc:ext:`”, e.g. when reading NDEF messages. However, since external type records are distinguished by having the TNF FIELD set to `0x04`, there is no risk seen for type name clashing. Also, there are W3C TAG recommendations to avoid using URNs in the Web. Therefore, Web NFC does not use the URN prefix neither when reading or writing NDEF messages.

To split external type given |input:USVString|, run these steps:

  1. If `U+003A` (`:`) is not found in |input|, return failure.
  2. Let |domain| be the |input| from the start of |input| up to but excluding the first occurrence of `U+003A` (`:`).
  3. Let |type| be the |input| after the first occurrence, if any, of `U+003A` (`:`) up to the end of |input|.
  4. Return the |domain| and |type| pair.

To validate external type given |input:USVString|, run these steps:

  1. Let |domain| and |type| be the result of running [=split external type=], or return false if failure.
  2. If |domain| is not a [=valid domain string=], return false.
  3. If |type| contains [=code points=] that are not [=ASCII alphanumeric=], or `U+0024` (`$`), `U+0027` (`'`), `U+0028` `LEFT PARENTHESIS` (`(`), `U+0029` `RIGHT PARENTHESIS` (`)`), `U+002A` (`*`), `U+002B` (`+`), `U+002C` (`,`), `U+002D` (`-`), `U+002E` (`.`), `U+003B` (`;`), `U+003D` (`=`), `U+0040` (`@`), `U+005F` (`_`), return false.
  4. Return true.

Validating local type

To validate local type given an |input:USVString| run these steps:

  1. Let |localTypeName| be the |input| after the first occurrence of `U+003A` (`:`) up to the end of |input|.
  2. If |localTypeName| is not a {{USVString}} or its length exceeds 255 bytes, return false.
  3. If |localTypeName| does not start with a lowercase character or a number, return false.
  4. If |input| is equal to the record type of any NDEF record defined in its containing NDEF message, return false.
  5. Return true.

Mapping empty record to NDEF

To map empty record to NDEF given |record:NDEFRecordInit|, |ndef|, run these steps:
  1. If |record|'s mediaType is not undefined, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. If |record|'s id is not undefined, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  3. Set the |ndef|'s TNF field to `0` (empty record).
  4. Set the |ndef|'s IL field to `0`.
  5. Set |ndef|'s TYPE LENGTH field, and PAYLOAD LENGTH field to `0`, and omit TYPE field and PAYLOAD field.
  6. Return |ndef|.

Mapping string to NDEF

To map text to NDEF given |record:NDEFRecordInit| and |ndef|, run these steps:

This is useful when clients specifically want to write text in a [=well-known type record=]. Other options would be to use the value "`mime`" with an explicit MIME type text type, which allows for better differentiation, e.g. when using "`text/xml`", or "`text/vcard`".

  1. If |record|'s mediaType is not undefined, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. If the type of |record|'s data is not {{DOMString}} or {{BufferSource}}, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}} and abort these steps.
  3. Let |documentLanguage:string| be the [=document element=]'s lang attribute.
  4. If |documentLanguage| is the empty string, set it to "`en`".
  5. Let |language:string| be |record|'s lang if it [= map/exists =], or else to |documentLanguage|.
  6. Switch on the type of |record|'s data:
    {{DOMString}}
    1. If |record|'s encoding is neither undefined nor "`utf-8`", [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}} and abort these steps.
    2. Let |encoding label:string| be "`utf-8`".
    {{BufferSource}}
    1. Let |encoding label:string| be |record|'s encoding if it [= map/exists =], or else "`utf-8`".
    2. If |encoding label| is not equal to "`utf-8`", "`utf-16`", "`utf-16le`" or "`utf-16be`" [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  7. Let |encoding name| be the [=encoding/name|name=] obtained from |encoding label|.
  8. Let |header:byte| be a byte constructed the following way:
    1. If |encoding name| is equal to UTF-8, set bit `7` to the value `0`, or else set the value to `1`.
    2. Set bit `6` to the value `0` (reserved).
    3. Let |languageLength:octet| be the length of the |language| string.
    4. If |languageLength| cannot be stored in 6 bit (|languageLength| > 63), [= exception/throw =] a {{SyntaxError}}.
    5. Set bit `5` to bit `0` to |languageLength|.
  9. Let |data:byte sequence| be an empty [= byte sequence =].
    1. Set the first byte (position 0) of |data| to |header|.
    2. Set position 1 (second byte) to position |languageLength| of |data| to |language|.
    3. Switch on the type of |record|'s data:
      {{DOMString}}
      1. Let |stream:byte stream| be the resulting byte stream of running UTF-8 encode on |record|'s data.
      2. Read bytes from |stream| into |data| (from position |languageLength| + 1) until read returns end-of-stream.
      {{BufferSource}}
      1. Set bytes from |record|'s data into |data| (from position |languageLength| + 1) .
  10. Set |length:unsigned long| to the [=byte sequence/length=] of |data|.
    1. Set the |ndef|'s TNF field to `1` ( [=well-known type record=]).
    2. Set the |ndef|'s TYPE field to "`T`" (`0x54`).
    3. Set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD LENGTH field to |length|.
    4. If |length| > `0`, set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field to |data|.
  11. Return |ndef|.

Mapping URL to NDEF

To map a URL to NDEF given |record:NDEFRecordInit| and |ndef|, run these steps:
  1. If |record|'s mediaType is not undefined, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. If |record|'s data is not a {{DOMString}}, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  3. Let |url:URL| be the result of parsing |record|'s data.
  4. If |url| is failure, [= exception/throw =] a {{SyntaxError}}.
  5. Let |serializedURL:string| be serialization of |url|.
  6. Match the URI prefixes as defined in [[[NFC-STANDARDS]]], URI Record Type Definition specification, Section 3.2.2, against the |serializedURL|.
  7. Let |prefixString:string| be the matched prefix or else the empty string.
  8. Let |prefixByte:byte| be the corresponding prefix number, or else `0`.
  9. Let |shortenedURL:string| be |serializedURL| with |prefixString| removed from the start of the string.
  10. Let |data:byte sequence| be an empty [= byte sequence =].
    1. Set the first byte of |data| to |prefixByte|.
    2. Let |stream:byte stream| be the resulting byte stream of running UTF-8 encode on |shortenedURL|.
    3. Read bytes from |stream| into |data| (from position 1) until read returns end-of-stream.
  11. Set |length:unsigned long| to the [=byte sequence/length=] of |data|.
  12. Set the |ndef|'s TNF field to `1` ([=well-known type record=]).
  13. Set the |ndef|'s TYPE field to "`U`" (`0x55`).
  14. Set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD LENGTH field to |length|.
  15. If |length| > `0`, set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field to |data|.
  16. Return |ndef|.

Mapping binary data to NDEF

To map binary data to NDEF given |record:NDEFRecordInit| and |ndef|, run these steps:
  1. If the type of a |record|'s data is not {{BufferSource}}, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. Let |mimeType| be the MIME type returned by running parse a MIME type on |record|'s mediaType.
  3. If |mimeType| is failure, let |mimeTypeRecord| be a new MIME type record whose type is "`application`", and subtype is "`octet-stream`".
  4. Set |arrayBuffer| to |record|'s data.
  5. Set |length:unsigned long| to |arrayBuffer|.[[\ArrayBufferByteLength]].
  6. Set |data:byte sequence| to |arrayBuffer|.[[\ArrayBufferData]].
  7. Set the |ndef|'s TNF field to `2` (MIME type).
  8. Set the |ndef|'s TYPE field to the result of serialize a MIME type with |mimeType| as the input.
  9. Set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD LENGTH field to |length|.
  10. If |length| > `0`, set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field to |data|.
  11. Return |ndef|.

Mapping external data to NDEF

To map external data to NDEF given |record:NDEFRecordInit|, |ndef|, and |recordsDepth:unsigned short|, run these steps:
  1. If |record|'s mediaType is not undefined, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. Let |domain| and |type| be the result of running [=split external type=] with |record|'s recordType.
  3. Let |domain| be the result of running domain to ASCII with |domain| and true.
  4. Let |customTypeName| be |domain|, "`:`" and |type| concatenated.
  5. If |customTypeName| is not a {{USVString}} or its length exceeds 255 bytes, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  6. Set the |ndef|'s TYPE field to |customTypeName|.
  7. If the type of a |record|'s data is not {{BufferSource}} or {{NDEFMessageInit}}, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  8. Set |ndef|'s TNF field to `4` (external type record).
  9. If the type of a |record|'s data is {{BufferSource}},
    1. Set |arrayBuffer| to |record|'s data.
    2. Set |length:unsigned long| to |arrayBuffer|.[[\ArrayBufferByteLength]].
    3. Set |data:byte sequence| to |arrayBuffer|.[[\ArrayBufferData]].
    4. Set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD LENGTH field to |length|.
    5. If |length| > `0`, set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field to |data|.
  10. If the type of a |record|'s data is {{NDEFMessageInit}},
    1. Set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field to the result of running the create NDEF message given |record|'s data `"external"`, and |recordsDepth|.
    2. Set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD LENGTH field to the length of |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field.
  11. Return |ndef|.

Mapping local type to NDEF

To map local type to NDEF given |record:NDEFRecordInit|, |ndef|, |context:string|, and |recordsDepth:unsigned short|, run these steps:
  1. If |record|'s mediaType is not undefined, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. If the type of a |record|'s data is not {{BufferSource}} or {{NDEFMessageInit}}, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  3. Set |ndef|'s TNF field to `1` ([=well-known type record=]).
  4. Let |localTypeName| be the |record|'s recordType after the first occurrence of `U+003A` (`:`) up to the end of |record|'s recordType.
  5. Set |ndef|'s TYPE field to |localTypeName|, representing the local type name.
  6. If |context| is `"smart-poster"`, |localTypeName| is "`s`" (`0x73`) and if the type of |record|'s data is not {{BufferSource}} or its byte length is bigger than 4, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  7. If |context| is `"smart-poster"`, |localTypeName| is "`act`" (`0x61` `0x63` `0x74`) and if the type of |record|'s data is not {{BufferSource}} or its byte length is not exactly one, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}} and abort these steps.
  8. If the type of a |record|'s data is {{BufferSource}},
    1. Set |arrayBuffer| to |record|'s data.
    2. Set |length:unsigned long| to |arrayBuffer|.[[\ArrayBufferByteLength]].
    3. Set |data:byte sequence| to |arrayBuffer|.[[\ArrayBufferData]].
    4. Set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD LENGTH field to |length|.
    5. If |length| > `0`, set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field to |data|.
  9. If the type of a |record|'s data is {{NDEFMessageInit}},
    1. Set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field to the result of running the create NDEF message given |record|'s data `"local"`, and |recordsDepth|.
    2. Set the |ndef|'s PAYLOAD LENGTH field to the length of |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field.
  10. Return |ndef|.

Mapping smart poster to NDEF

To map smart poster to NDEF, given |record:NDEFRecordInit|, |ndef|, and |recordsDepth:unsigned short|, run these steps:
  1. If |record|'s mediaType is not undefined, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. If the type of a |record|'s data is not {{NDEFMessageInit}}, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  3. Set |ndef|'s TNF field to `1` ([=well-known type record=]).
  4. Set |ndef|'s TYPE field to "`Sp`" (`0x53` `0x70`).
  5. Set |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field to the result of running the create NDEF message given |record|'s data, `"smart-poster"`, and |recordsDepth|.
  6. Set |ndef|'s PAYLOAD LENGTH field to the length of |ndef|'s PAYLOAD field.
  7. Return |ndef|.

Mapping absolute-URL to NDEF

To map absolute-URL to NDEF given |record:NDEFRecordInit|, |ndef|, and |context:string|, run these steps:
  1. If |context| is `"smart-poster"`, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.

    The [[NDEF-SMARTPOSTER]] specification allows only one URL in a smart poster and that MUST be a single URI record.

  2. If |record|'s mediaType is not undefined, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  3. If |record|'s data is not a {{DOMString}}, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  4. If the result of parsing |record|'s data is failure, [= exception/throw =] a {{SyntaxError}}.
  5. Set |arrayBuffer| to |record|'s data.
  6. Set |data:byte sequence| to |arrayBuffer|.[[\ArrayBufferData]].
  7. Set |ndef|'s TNF field to `3` ([=absolute-URL record=]).
  8. Set |ndef|'s TYPE field to |data|.
  9. Set |ndef|'s PAYLOAD LENGTH field to `0` and omit PAYLOAD field.
  10. Return |ndef|.

Making content read-only

This section describes how to make an NFC tag permanently read-only when it is in proximity range. At any time there is a maximum of one request for an origin until the NFC tag is made permanently read-only or the operation is aborted.

The makeReadOnly() method

The NDEFReader.makeReadOnly method, when invoked, MUST run the make an NFC tag permanently read-only algorithm:
  1. Let |p:Promise| be a new {{Promise}} object.
  2. If not currently executing in the currently active top-level browsing context, then reject |p| with and {{"InvalidStateError"}} and return |p|.
  3. Let |options:NDEFMakeReadOnlyOptions| be the second argument.
  4. Let |signal:AbortSignal| be the |options|’ dictionary member of the same name if present, or null otherwise.
  5. If |signal| is [= AbortSignal/aborted =], then reject |p| with |signal|'s [=AbortSignal/abort reason=] and return |p|.
  6. If |signal| is not null, then add the following abort steps to |signal|:
    1. Run the abort a pending make read-only operation on the environment settings object.
  7. [=promise/React=] to |p|:
    1. If |p| was settled (fulfilled or rejected), then clear the pending write tuple if it exists.
  8. Return |p| and run the following steps in parallel:
    1. If the obtain permission steps return false, then reject |p| with a {{"NotAllowedError"}} and abort these steps.
    2. If there is no underlying NFC Adapter, or if a connection cannot be established, then reject |p| with a {{"NotSupportedError"}} and abort these steps.
    3. If the UA is not allowed to access the underlying NFC Adapter (e.g. a user preference), then reject |p| with a {{"NotReadableError"}} and abort these steps.
    4. An implementation MAY reject |p| with a {{"NotSupportedError"}} and abort these steps.

      The UA might abort at this point. The reasons for termination are implementation details. For example, the implementation might be unable to support the requested operation.

    5. Attempt to abort a pending make read-only operation.

      A make read-only operation replaces all previously configured make read-only operations.

    6. Set pending makeReadOnly tuple to (`this`, |p|).
    7. Run the start the NFC make read-only steps whenever an NFC tag |device| comes within communication range.

      If NFC is suspended, continue waiting until promise is aborted by the user or an NFC tag comes within communication range.

To start the NFC make read-only, run these steps:
  1. Let |p:Promise| be the pending makeReadOnly tuple's promise.
  2. If the NFC tag in proximity range does not expose NDEF technology for formatting, then reject |p| with a {{"NotSupportedError"}} and return |p|.
  3. Verify that NFC is not suspended.
  4. In case of success, run the following steps:
    1. Make |device| permanently read-only, using the NFC adapter in communication range with |device|.
    2. If the operation fails, reject |p| with {{"NetworkError"}} and abort these steps.
    3. When the operation has completed, resolve |p|.
    4. This operation is a one-way process and cannot be reversed. Once an NFC tag has been made read-only, it can't be written anymore.

Listening for content

To listen for NFC content, the client MUST activate an {{NDEFReader}} instance by calling NDEFReader.scan(). When attaching an event listener for the "`reading`" event on it, NFC content is accessible to the client.

If there are any {{NDEFReader}} instances in activated reader objects then the UA MUST listen to NDEF messages on all connected NFC adapters.

The scan() method

Incoming NFC content is matched using {{NDEFReader}} instances.

When the NDEFReader.scan method is invoked, the UA MUST run the following NFC listen algorithm:
  1. Let |p:Promise| be a new {{Promise}} object.
  2. If not currently executing in the currently active top-level browsing context, then reject |p| with an {{"InvalidStateError"}} and return |p|.
  3. Let |reader:NDEFReader| be the {{NDEFReader}} instance.
  4. Let |options| be first argument.
  5. Let |signal:AbortSignal| be the |options|’ dictionary member of the same name if present, or null otherwise.
  6. If |signal| is [= AbortSignal/aborted =], then reject |p| with |signal|'s [=AbortSignal/abort reason=] and return |p|.
  7. If |signal| is not null, then add the following clean up the pending scan steps to |signal|:
    1. Remove |reader| from the activated reader objects.
    2. If the activated reader objects [= list/is empty =], then make a request to stop listening to NDEF messages on all NFC adapters.
  8. Return |p| and run the following steps in parallel:
    1. If the obtain permission steps return false, then reject |p| with a {{"NotAllowedError"}} and abort these steps.
    2. If there is no underlying NFC Adapter, or if a connection cannot be established, then reject |p| with a {{"NotSupportedError"}} and abort these steps.
    3. If the UA is not allowed to access the underlying NFC Adapter (e.g. a user preference), then reject |p| with a {{"NotReadableError"}} and abort these steps.
    4. If |reader| is already in the activated reader objects, then reject |p| with an {{"InvalidStateError"}} and abort these steps.
    5. Add |reader| to the activated reader objects.
    6. Resolve |p|.
    7. Whenever the UA detects NFC technology, run the NFC reading algorithm.

The NFC reading algorithm

To receive NDEF content, run the NFC reading algorithm:
  1. If NFC is suspended, abort these steps.
  2. If the NFC tag in proximity range does not expose NDEF technology for reading or formatting, run the following sub-steps:
    1. [= list/For each =] {{NDEFReader}} instance |reader:NDEFReader| in the activated reader objects, run the following sub-steps:
      1. Fire an event named "`readingerror`" at |reader|.
    2. Abort these steps.
  3. Let |serialNumber:serialNumber| be the device identifier as a series of numbers, or null if unavailable.
  4. If |serialNumber| is not null, set it to the string of U+003A (`:`) concatenating each number represented as ASCII hex digit, in the same order.
  5. Let |message:NDEFMessage| be a new NDEFMessage object, with |message|'s records set to the empty list.
  6. If the NFC tag in proximity range is unformatted and is NDEF-formattable, let |input| be null. Otherwise, let |input| be the notation for the NDEF message which has been received.

    The UA SHOULD represent an unformatted NFC tag as an NDEF message containing no NDEF records, i.e. an empty array for its {{NDEFMessage/records}} property.

  7. [= list/For each =] NDEF record which is part of |input|, run the following sub-steps:
    1. Let |ndef| be the notation for the current NDEF record with |typeNameField:number| corresponding to the TNF field and |payload:byte sequence| corresponding to the PAYLOAD field data.
    2. Let |record:NDEFRecord| be the result of parse an NDEF record given |ndef| and `""`.
    3. If |record| is not null, append |record| to |message|'s records.
  8. Run the dispatch NFC content steps with given |serialNumber| and |message|.

Dispatching NFC content

To dispatch NFC content given a |serialNumber:serialNumber| of type serialNumber and a |message:NDEFMessage| of type NDEFMessage, run these steps:

  1. [= list/For each =] {{NDEFReader}} instance |reader:NDEFReader| in the activated reader objects,
    1. fire an event named "`reading`" at |reader| using NDEFReadingEvent with its serialNumber attribute initialized to |serialNumber| and its message attribute initialized to |message|.

Parsing content

Parsing records from bytes

To parse records from bytes given |bytes:byte sequence| and |context: string|, run these steps:
  1. If the length of |bytes| is `0`, return null.
  2. Let |records| be the empty list.
  3. As long as there are unread bytes of |bytes|, run the following sub-steps:
    1. If the remaining length of |bytes| is less than `3`, return null.
    2. If any of the following steps requires reading bytes beyond the remaining length of |bytes|, return null.
    3. Let |ndef| be the notation for the current NDEF record.
    4. Let |header:byte| be the next byte of |bytes|.
      1. Let |messageBegin:boolean| (MB field) be the left most bit (bit 7) of |header|.
      2. If this is the first iteration of these sub-steps and |messageBegin| is false, return null.
      3. Let |messageEnd:boolean| (ME field) be bit 6 of |header|.
      4. As chunked records are not allowed as sub records, ignore bit 5 (CF field) is ignored.

      5. Let |shortRecord:boolean| (SR field) be bit 4 of |header|.
      6. Let |hasIdLength:boolean| (IL field) be bit 3 of |header|.
      7. Let |ndef|'s |typeNameField:number| (TNF field) be the integer value of bit 2-0 of |header|.
    5. Let |typeLength:number| be the integer value of next byte (TYPE LENGTH field) of |bytes|.
    6. If |shortRecord| is true, let |payloadLength:number| be the integer value of next byte (PAYLOAD LENGTH field) of |bytes|.
    7. Otherwise, let |payloadLength| be the integer value of the next 4 bytes of |bytes|.
    8. If |hasIdLength| is true, let |idLength:number| be the integer value of next byte (ID LENGTH field) of |bytes|, otherwise let it be `0`.
    9. If |typeLength| > 0, let |ndef|'s |type:string| be result of running UTF-8 decode on the next |typeLength| (TYPE field) bytes, or else let |type| be the empty string.
    10. If |idLength| > 0, let |ndef|'s |id:string| be result of running UTF-8 decode on the next |idLength| (ID field) bytes, or else let |ndef|'s |id| be the empty string.
    11. Let |ndef|'s |payload| be the byte sequence of the last |payloadLength| (PAYLOAD field) bytes, which may be `0` bytes.
    12. Let |record:NDEFRecord| be the result of parse an NDEF record given |ndef| and |context|.
    13. If |record| is not null, append |record| to |records|.
    14. If |messageEnd| is true,
      1. If check parsed records given |records| and |context| throws an |error|, reject |promise| with |error| and abort these steps.
      2. Otherwise abort these sub-steps (terminate the loop).
  4. Return |records|.

Check parsed records

To check parsed records given |records: NDEFRecord sequence| and |context: string|, run these steps:
  1. If |context| is `"smart-poster"` and |records| does not contain exactly one URI record, or if it contains more than one type record, size record or action record, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  2. Otherwise return true.

Parsing NDEF records

To parse an NDEF record given |ndef| and |context:string| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s id to |ndef|'s |id:string|.
  2. Set |record|'s lang to null.
  3. Set |record|'s encoding to null.
  4. If |ndef|'s |typeNameField:number| (TNF field) is `0` (empty record):
    1. Set |record|'s id to null.
    2. Set |record|'s recordType to "`empty`".
    3. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
    4. Set |record|'s data to null.
  5. If |ndef|'s |typeNameField| is `1` ([=well-known type record=]), then
    1. If |ndef|'s |type:string| is "`T`" (`0x54`), set |record| to the result of running parse an NDEF text record on |ndef|.
    2. If |ndef|'s |type:string| is "`U`" (`0x55`), set |record| to the result of running parse an NDEF URL record on |ndef|.
    3. If |ndef|'s |type:string| is "`Sp`" (`0x53` `0x70`), set |record| to the result of running parse an NDEF smart-poster record on |ndef|.
    4. If |ndef|'s |type:string| is "`s`" (`0x73`) and if |context| is equal to `"smart-poster"`, set |record| to the result of running parse a smart-poster size record on |ndef|.
    5. If |ndef|'s |type:string| is "`t`" (`0x74`) and if |context| is equal to `"smart-poster"`, set |record| to the result of running parse a smart-poster type record on |ndef|.
    6. If |ndef|'s |type:string| is "`act`" (`0x61` `0x63` `0x74`) and if |context| is equal to `"smart-poster"`, set |record| to the result of running parse a smart-poster action record on |ndef|.
    7. If running the validate local type steps on |ndef|'s |type:string| returns true,
      1. If |context| is not `"external"` or `"smart-poster"`, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
      2. Set |record| to the result of running parse a local type record on |ndef|.
    8. Otherwise [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  6. If |ndef|'s |typeNameField| is `2` (MIME type record), then set |record| to the result of running parse an NDEF MIME type record on |ndef|, or make sure that the underlying platform provides equivalent values to the |record| object's properties.
  7. If |ndef|'s |typeNameField| is `3` (absolute-URL record), then set |record| to the result of running parse an NDEF absolute-URL record on |ndef|.
  8. If |ndef|'s |typeNameField| is `4` (external type record), then set |record| to the result of running parse an NDEF external type record on |ndef|, or make sure that the underlying platform provides equivalent values to the |record| object's properties.
  9. If |ndef|'s |typeNameField| is `5` (unknown record) then set |record| to the result of running parse an NDEF unknown record on |ndef|, or make sure that the underlying platform provides equivalent values to the |record| object's properties.
  10. Otherwise [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.

Parsing NDEF well-known `T` records

To parse an NDEF text record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`text`".
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  3. If |ndefRecord|'s PAYLOAD field is not present, set |record|'s data to null and return |record|.
  4. Let |header:byte| be the first byte of |ndefRecord|'s PAYLOAD field.
  5. Let |languageLength:octet| be the value given by bit `5` to bit `0` of the |header|.
  6. Let |language:string| be the result of running ASCII decode on second byte to the |languageLength| + `1` byte, inclusive.
  7. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of the rest of the |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field (excluding |header| and |languageLength| number of bytes).
  8. Set |record|'s lang to |language|.
  9. Set |record|'s encoding be "`utf-8`" if bit `7` ([=MB field=]) of |header| is equal to the value `0`, or else "`utf-16be`".
  10. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.
  11. Return |record|.

Parsing NDEF well-known `U` records

To parse an NDEF URL record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`url`".
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  3. If |ndefRecord|'s PAYLOAD field is not present, set |record|'s data to null and return |record|.
  4. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field.
  5. Let |prefixByte:byte| be the value of the first byte of |buffer|.
  6. If the value of |prefixByte| matches the URL expansion codes in the [[[NFC-STANDARDS]]] URI Record Type Definition specification, Section 3.2.2, Table 3, then
    1. Let |prefixString:string| be the byte sequence value corresponding to the value of |prefixByte|.
    2. Set |record|'s data to |prefixString| appended to |buffer|.
  7. Otherwise, if there is no match for |prefixByte|, set |record|'s data to |buffer|.
  8. Return |record|.

Parsing NDEF well-known `Sp` records

To parse an NDEF smart-poster record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`smart-poster`".
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  3. If |ndefRecord|'s PAYLOAD field is not present, set |record|'s data to null and return |record|.
  4. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field.
  5. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.
  6. Return |record|.

    Applications may call toRecords() on data to parse it to NDEF records, or may parse it themselves.

To parse a smart-poster size record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`:s`".
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  3. If |ndefRecord|'s PAYLOAD field has not exactly 4 bytes, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  4. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field.
  5. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.

    Applications can parse this value as a 32 bit unsigned integer that denotes the size of the object the URI record in the smart-poster refers to.

  6. Return |record|.
To parse a smart-poster type record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`:t`".
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  3. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field.

    Applications can parse this value as a string that contains an [[RFC2048]] media type that denotes the media type of the object the URI record in the smart-poster refers to.

  4. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.
  5. Return |record|.
To parse a smart-poster action record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`:act`".
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  3. If |ndefRecord|'s PAYLOAD field has not exactly 1 byte, [= exception/throw =] a {{TypeError}}.
  4. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field.
  5. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.

    Applications can parse this value as an 8 bit unsigned integer for which the values are defined here.

  6. Return |record|.

Parsing local type records

To parse a local type record given |ndef| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`:`" (`U+003A`) concatenated with |ndef|'s |type:string|.
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  3. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field.
  4. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.
  5. Return |record|.

Parsing NDEF MIME type records

To parse an NDEF MIME type record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`mime`".
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to the result of serialize a MIME type with |mimeType| as the input.
  3. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field if that exists, or otherwise null.
  4. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.
  5. Return |record|.

Parsing NDEF absolute-URL records

To parse an NDEF absolute-URL record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`absolute-url`".
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  3. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s TYPE field.
  4. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.
  5. Return |record|.

Parsing NDEF external type records

To parse an NDEF external type record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. If running [=validate external type=] on record's |ndefRecord|'s TYPE field returns false, return null.
  2. Let |domain| and |type| be the result of running [=split external type=] with the value of |ndefRecord|'s TYPE field.
  3. Let |domain| be the result of running Unicode ToUnicode with |domain_name| set to |domain|, |CheckHyphens| set to false, |CheckBidi| set to true, |CheckJoiners| set to true, |UseSTD3ASCIIRules| set to true, and |Transitional_Processing| set to false. If result contains any errors, return null.
  4. Set |record|'s recordType to |domain|, "`:`" and |type| concatenated.
  5. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  6. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field if that exists, or otherwise null.
  7. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.
  8. Return |record|.

Parsing NDEF unknown type records

To parse an NDEF unknown record given an |ndefRecord| into a |record:NDEFRecord|, run these steps:
  1. Set |record|'s recordType to "`unknown`".
  2. Set |record|'s mediaType to null.
  3. Let |buffer:byte sequence| be the byte sequence of |ndefRecords|'s PAYLOAD field if that exists, or otherwise null.
  4. Set |record|'s data to |buffer|.
  5. Return |record|.

The Blocklist

This specification relies on a blocklist file to restrict the set of NFC devices a website can access.

The result of parsing the blocklist at a |url:URL| is a list of historical bytes hexadecimal values, produced by the following algorithm:

  1. Fetch |url:URL|, and let |contents:string| be its body, decoded as UTF-8.
  2. Let |lines:array| be |contents| split on `"\n"`.
  3. Let |result:list| be an empty list.
  4. [= list/For each =] |line:string| in |lines|, run the following sub-steps:
    1. If |line| is empty, continue to the next line.
    2. If |line| starts with `"#"`, continue to the next line.
    3. If |line| contains invalid hexadecimal values, continue to the next line.
    4. Append |line| to |result|.
  5. Return |result|.

The blocklist is the result of parsing the blocklist at https://github.com/w3c/web-nfc/blob/gh-pages/blocklist.txt. The UA should re-fetch the blocklist periodically, but it’s unspecified how often.

An NFC device is blocklisted if the blocklist’s value contains the device's historical bytes hexadecimal values. In ISO 14443-4 terminology, the historical bytes are a subset of the RATS (Request for Answer To Select) response.

Security and Privacy

Chain of trust

Implementations need to make sure that when the user authorizes a method which is part of the Web NFC API, only that action is run, without side effects.

By default, NDEF doesn't provide any way to make the content trusted beyond allowing tags to be made permanently read-only after writing data to them. This can even be done from a factory setting.

Data written by the use of this API is not signed or encrypted automatically, which follows existing native NFC APIs. In order to protect the integrity and authenticity of NDEF messages, the NFC Forum introduced [[NDEF-SIGNATURE]]. Using NDEF signature and key management is the responsibility of the application.

For trusting the confidentiality of the data exchanged via NFC, applications may use encrypted NFC content.

For trusting the integrity of the data exchanged via NFC, applications may use an NDEF signature, with key management based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

Security considerations for MIME types in general are discussed in [[RFC2048]] and [[RFC2046]].

Privacy implications and implementation considerations

The comparison to barcodes or QR codes is appropriate because NFC tags are another non-human-readable method of exchanging data and sharing them can have unforeseen privacy and security implications. For a web site to read a QR code, a piece of interruptive UI must be used (the camera) which captures an image and makes it apparent that the contents of this image (including the QR code) will be available to the web page, making it clear to the user that scanning is being performed.

Scanning a tag with NFC requires the user to place the scanning device (e.g. phone) in close proximity to the NFC tag - usually 5-10 cm, 2-4 inches.

Scanning a tag when a Web NFC scan is not active, triggers the host OS handling. Thus launching URLs and apps from scanning a NFC tag is not handled and supported by Web NFC itself.

Furthermore, Web NFC scanning needs to be activated from a user interaction, and scanning is paused when the web site is not in focus or the device screen turns off (i.e. is not unlocked). This is put in place so that accidental scans are not likely to happen.

Web NFC further recommends that the implementation makes it very clear UX-wise to the user that data will be scanned when placing the scanning device in close proximity to a NFC tag - basically mimicking the UX flow of scanning a QR code.

There are many options for doing so, like playing back a sound or showing some persistent UI while the scanning can happen, for instance a modal dialog with the ability to cancel at any point.

An implementation could also show the data that is about to be uploaded, postpone sharing the read data until the user OK'd it and even show some UI allowing the user to select which records to share.

Reading and writing during a scan

When the user scans a tag, at that point the web application has access to read the data on the tag, and in case it is not read-only, also to write data to the tag. Consumer stickers for private usage (e.g. in the maker community) are often unlocked (read + write), whereas commercial deployment of NFC are read-only.

An older protocol SNEP (Simple NDEF Exchange Protocol) allowed active devices (e.g. a phone) to receive NDEF data from another active device, but it is unsupported by Web NFC and it is currently being deprecated on supported native platforms.

A newer protocol TNEP (Tag NDEF Exchange Protocol) allows bidirectional communication between a scanner device (e.g. phone) and actively powered device like an IOT device. It is currently unsupported by Web NFC, and furthermore it has restrictions on what input to accept and the IOT device must ensure that the accepted records are valid.

If the tag contains privacy sensitive data, such data will be shared with the site. Potentially, not immediately if the UX requires the user to confirm the data exchange before doing so.

In some cases it might be obvious that the tag/device contains privacy sensitive data, say in case of NFC equipped conference badgets and business cards. This would also be the case with an NFC equipped glucose meter, which can indicate that you, or someone in the close family, are a diabetes patient.

In other cases it might be less obvious that that can happen, but a user might have used an app or website to write data to a tag that unknowingly to the user encoded a user id or the like, which can later be read back by any other site.

Private and unexpected data can also be stored in files (e.g. word pressing documents, PDFs or camera images) which are uploaded using the file upload API. The mitigations associated with the Web NFC API are stronger than those associated with file upload and the data less likely to be personally identifiable.

Reading and writing during a scan

A scan of a tag might also reveal user location if the website knows how to identify the tag and know the tags location in the real world, like if it is mounted inside a museum. It might also be able to deduct it somewhat as for instance FeliCa NFC tags are mostly used in Japan, but Web NFC doesn’t reveal what tag technology is used.

This does not bring the web advertising and tracking model into the real world, because it requires an action by the user and it cannot be triggered in the background; and with proper UX it should be clear that scanning is active.

Overwriting existing data

There is also the fear that writing to a NFC tag can ruin it or “brick it”. As NFC tags were designed to be read by multiple user applications, NDEF tags have been designed with an easy way to make devices permanently read-only and can even be configured that way from a factory.

NDEF is a simple exchange format for reading and writing data and not for bi-directional communication. NFC supports multiple communications formats based on lower tech (thus not locked as read-only as NDEF) and none of these are supported by Web NFC.

Things that users should be made aware of when using NFC

This section details some of the things that users ought to be aware of when using NFC. It is recommendated that implementations help educate the users of given facts before or when related NFC actions are performed.

Data that is read is shared with site

When a site has access to read NFC content, then the data of the scanned tags is shared with the site, in a similar way to uploading files and images. As with any site, it is up to the user whether to trust that the site handles this data properly and in the intended manner.

A site may modify and overwrite data of tags that are not made read-only

Deployed NFC solutions, like tags in stores etc, should always be made read-only in order to ensure they are not modified by mistake or as part of a malicious act.

Private tags and stickers are often unlocked (writable) from the factory and the user should be aware that such tags might be overwritten/modified by scanning them.

Reading a fixed (e.g. mounted) tag may expose reading location

A fixed tag may encode its ID or location in the data, meaning that reading it exposes that information to the site that knows the physical location of the tag, which then can deduct the location the read took place. That combined with being logged into a service, can share your location data with the site.

Data written is readable by other apps and sites with granted read access Any NDEF data on a tag can be read by any app or web site with the proper access, so if that is not intended then the data should be encrypted in a secure manner that only who is supposed to read it can.

Multiple tags may be within the reading field at the same time

NFC can only read one tag at the time, but multiple tags can be detected and one of the tags can be selected as the tag to communicate with.

Use cases for this could be having multiple smart cards (NFC based) in your wallet and not wanting to take the card out.

This is mostly useful for payment cards and travel cards that are read by external hardware and thus not a use-case for Web NFC. For Web NFC, we do not allow reading when there are multiple tags available, preventing the following attack vector.

There is an attack vector, where someone places another malicious NFC tag/sticker on top of a legitimate tag, in order to load the wrong app/site, or inject wrong data into the right app/site. They can do so by cloning the data of the original tag and modifying it - either by changing the URL to load a malicious app/site, or by changing the data to inject malicious data in the right app/site. Example: the tag is supposed to take you to https://example.com but is modified to take you to https://exаmple.com (that is with a Cyrillic а) - it looks legitimate and you might now to giving sensitive data to a malicious site.

Loading web sites from a tag is outside the scope of Web NFC, but it is recommended for user agents to not auto load URLs when multiple tags are available due to the above attack vector.

By disallowing reading when there are multiple tags available, Web NFC protects well against injecting wrong/malicious data into a site as shielding the existing NFC tag is quite difficult as it requires ferrite shielding which is quite visible. Metal interferes with the magnetic field and makes tags not readable.

Assets

Assets to be protected include the following:
  • NDEF message as a whole, NDEF records (including payload and header) in particular, either in-transfer or in-storage state, when they are being overwritten by a Web NFC triggered operation, against data disclosure and data modification. This also includes Denial of Service attacks against a solution deployed with NFC tags (e.g. a malicious actor destroying tags linked to a solution).
  • User identity or other privacy sensitive attributes that can be directly or indirectly determined by using Web NFC, by the NFC content creator, or by a web site using Web NFC. This data could be used directly or leaked forward to third parties. Examples are user location, device identifiers and user identifiers.
  • User data exposed to a web page using Web NFC. While a web page might collect user data using other means than Web NFC, it might embed this data into NDEF records and share via Web NFC.
  • Integrity of user device. A read of an NFC tag might result in a user device compromise that can further lead to loss of other web NFC or platform assets.

Attacker model

The following attacker patterns have been considered:

Threats

An introduction to NFC security is found here. Potential threats for Web NFC are given below.

Fingerprinting and data collection

Threat description
Malicious web page collects user data, identity or other privacy sensitive attributes (such as location) without user consent and exposes it to third parties (writing it to NFC tags).
Affected assets
User data, user identity or other privacy sensitive attributes
Actors
Malicious web page owner using Web NFC, malicious tag owner.
Mitigation, comments
The user SHOULD be able to be aware of what data can be shared using NFC from the given web page. Use permissions and user prompts for accessing personal data, minimize user data exposed to NFC. An NFC tag SHOULD NOT ever trigger a user’s device to navigate to a web site without asking permission, unless the site has been in the foreground or has been brought to the foreground and has been granted permission. User agents SHOULD take into account the security and privacy measures listed in the Geolocation API.

NFC tag modification

Threat description
An NFC tag is being modified without user consent, potentially irreversibly by making it read-only. This might enable further attacks using a malicious tag or can be a Denial of Service attack to make one or more tags unusable.
Affected assets
NDEF message records, including payload and header in-storage.
Actors
Malicious web page creator, malicious user.
Mitigation, comments
Require permission and user prompt needed for writing to tags and making them read-only. Or, control what tags can be written by a given web page, for instance a web page can write only a tag that can be connected to its origin. Or, allow overwriting since tags not meant to be written can be protected by making them read-only. Use NDEF signature to detect a modification of NFC tags.

NDEF record modification in-transit

Threat description
NDEF records transferred between Web NFC and the NFC adapter and user device are modified to cause various man-in-the-middle attacks or denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. Also, NDEF signature records can be removed or replaced along with changed content.
Affected assets
NDEF records in-transfer.
Actors
Malicious man-in-the-middle user.
Mitigation, comments
This threat is out of scope for Web NFC implementations. Applications can use NDEF signatures and appropriate tools (signature algorithm, certificates, security policies) to protect the NFC content. Additionally, harden the platform stack.

NDEF record payload disclosure

Threat description
Confidential payload of NDEF record in-storage (stored on an NFC tag) or in-transfer between Web NFC and the NFC adapter are read by unauthorized parties.
Affected assets
Confidential NDEF message payload in-transfer and in-storage.
Actors
Malicious man-in-the-middle user, malicious web page creator.
Mitigation, comments
To ensure confidentiality, use payload encryption and secure communication for data exchange, authentication and authorization between Web NFC and NFC adapters.

Active attack via malicious NFC tag

Threat description
Malicious tag may be involuntarily or voluntarily read by devices and the data read may constitute an attack vector on the user agent. For example it can attempt to trigger an action on the device, which may be a threat, for instance launching a malicious web site, or opening an image prepared for attacking the device.
Affected assets
Integrity of user device, all other Web NFC assets.
Actors
Malicious tag creator.
Mitigation, comments
This is a generic problem with all existing NFC tags. The data is considered application specific. Implementations need security hardening. Involuntary touch is low probability due to short range and critical angle for reading, and due to the focus requirements. Automatic actions for smart posters and other tags should not be allowed. The user must be made aware and given the ability to control what is happening during the NFC communication. For instance, opening content from smart poster, automatic connection to (possibly malicious) WiFi via NFC handover, etc. Do no allow actions from untrusted NFC tags, trust can be established via the NDEF signature check.

Security mechanisms for implementations

Obtaining permission

Implementations SHOULD use a mechanism to obtain permission, for instance an explicit permission given by the user. The [[[PERMISSIONS]]] API is suggested to be used by UAs for implementing NFC related permissions.

Implementations MAY use per-session/ephemeral permissions.

Warning user during NFC operations

Implementations MAY show an overlay dialog whenever the NFC adapter is being accessed by the web page (e.g. there is an ongoing scan) in order to warn user.

Security mechanisms for applications

Encrypting NFC content

For trusting the confidentiality of the data exchanged via NFC, applications may use encrypted NFC content with key management based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Key management is out of the scope of Web NFC.

Signing NDEF records

For trusting the integrity of the data exchanged via NFC, user agents MAY use an NDEF signature with a Public Key Infrastructure for key management.

For tags signed with NDEF signature version 1.0 ([[NFC-SECURITY]]), the signature is applied only to the TYPE field, ID field and PAYLOAD field, leaving out the first byte of the NDEF header, allowing surface to attacks. Version 2.0 of [[NFC-SECURITY]] included tag hardware attributes in the signature and allowed for shorter certificates.

An NDEF signature covers the preceding records until another NDEF signature or the beginning of the NDEF message is reached.

In order to mitigate known vulnerabilities of NDEF signature, it is recommended that applications always sign a full NDEF message with a single NDEF signature, and use the right tool chain and security policies for creating and verifying signatures.

Security policies

This section lists the normative security policies for implementations.

Secure Context

Only secure contexts are allowed to access NFC content. Browsers MAY ignore this rule for development purposes only.

Visible document

Web NFC functionality is allowed only for the {{Document}} of the top-level browsing context, where its {{Document/visibilityState}} is `"visible"`.

This also means that UAs should block access to the NFC radio if the display is off or the device is locked. For backgrounded web pages, receiving and writing NFC content must be suspended.

Permissions controls

Making an NFC tag permanently read-only MUST obtain permission, or otherwise fail. See the [[[#making-content-read-only]]] section.

Setting up listeners for reading NFC content SHOULD obtain permission.

Writing NFC content to an NFC tag MUST obtain permission. See the [[[#writing-content]]] section.

All permission that are preserved beyond the current browsing session MUST be revocable.

Blocklist

Web NFC includes a blocklist of vulnerable NFC devices to prevent websites from taking advantage of them.

Warn about risk of physical location leak

When listening for and writing NFC content, the UA MAY warn the user that the given origin may be able to infer physical location.

Restrict automatic handling

When the payload data on NFC content is untrusted, it MUST NOT be used by the UA to do automatic handling of the content, such as opening a web page with a URL found in an NFC tag, or installing an application, or other actions, unless the user approves that.

Signing NFC content

The following policies are recommended to be implemented by applications.

Acknowledgments

The editors would like to thank Jeffrey Yasskin, Anne van Kesteren, Anssi Kostiainen, Domenic Denicola, Daniel Ehrenberg, Jonas Sicking, Don Coleman, Salvatore Iovene, Rijubrata Bhaumik, Wanming Lin, Han Leon, Ryan Sleevi, Balázs Engedy, Theodore Olsauskas-Warren, Reilly Grant, Diego González and Daniel Appelquist for their contributions to this document.

Special thanks to Luc Yriarte and Samuel Ortiz for their initial work on exposing NFC to the web platform, and for their support for the current approach. Also, special thanks to Elena Reshetova for the contributions to the Security and Privacy section.