How to detect if device can read and write Mifare classic NFC tag?

Question

Is there any way I can check whether the device can read and write Mifare classic NFC tags? I am writing an app which main use case is to read and write Mifare classic tags, so if it can not, the app should show a message and close.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15775832/exclude-non-nxp-android-phones-with-nfc-like-the-nexus-4-10 — ThomasRS, Sep 12 '16 at 13:37

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 09 '16 at 07:55

1

Using the classes in android.nfc.tech you can enumerate a list of TagTechnologies from a scanned tag.

From the documentation at https://developer.android.com/reference/android/nfc/tech/TagTechnology.html:

It is mandatory for all Android NFC devices to provide the following TagTechnology implementations.

NfcA (also known as ISO 14443-3A) NfcB (also known as ISO 14443-3B)

NfcF (also known as JIS 6319-4) NfcV (also known as ISO 15693) IsoDep

Ndef on NFC Forum Type 1, Type 2, Type 3 or Type 4 compliant tags

It is optional for Android NFC devices to provide the following TagTechnology implementations. If it is not provided, the Android device will never enumerate that class via getTechList().

MifareClassic

...

(emphasis mine)

I am not sure if this is enough for you or if you need to distinguish between a tag simply not offering Mifare Classic and the device not implementing support for it? Or even, if you need to determine device support before even scanning a tag?

answered Sep 09 '16 at 07:55

JHH

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I want to determine the device support when opening the app, without having to scan a tag. – Mark Buikema Sep 09 '16 at 08:28
There doesn't seem to be any published API for that I'm afraid. I couldn't find any obvious hidden API's either, if that would have helped you. This is likely up to the specific NFC implementation of the device. – JHH Sep 09 '16 at 08:41
You can detect whether NXP chip is available on the device, however this is not rock solid. – ThomasRS Sep 12 '16 at 13:38
Yes but would this give a conclusive answer to the OPs question? Nxp likely would support classic, but what's to say others won't too? – JHH Sep 12 '16 at 13:40

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 19 '16 at 15:58

 public boolean deviceSupportsMifareClassic() {
    FeatureInfo[] info = mContext. getPackageManager().getSystemAvailableFeatures();
    for (FeatureInfo i : info) {
        String name = i.name;
        if (name != null && name.equals("com.nxp.mifare")) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
 }

How to detect if device can read and write Mifare classic NFC tag?

2 Answers2