NFC & QR Utility

The app reads and writes NFC tags, digs into their raw memory when you need it, and keeps a history of everything you've scanned. It all starts from one dashboard, where each task has its own clearly labelled tile.

NFC is the point of the app. It also scans and creates QR codes, because people who work with tags usually work with codes too, but that's a side door, not the front one.

NFC kept coming up in our client work, and so did the same three jobs. Instead of switching between tools for each one, we built a single app that does all three properly.

Each card links to the chapter that shows how the app meets it.

How might the app help people find the right NFC action quickly, understand the result, and write to a tag with confidence?The design question

Three kinds of people pick up an NFC app, and the same screen has to work for all of them.

Most NFC apps stop at the standard format. Ours goes down to the chip, because that's where testing and inspecting actually happen.

Android and iPhone aren't equal here. Android gives apps deeper access to NFC hardware. Everyday reading and writing works on both, but some low-level tools are Android-only, and the app says so on screen instead of failing silently.

We already knew the problem from the inside. That made the scope easy to set, and the hard decision easy to spot.

1. 2026 · The need

   Testing, writing, inspecting

   NFC kept coming up in client projects. We were checking, writing and inspecting tags with whatever tools were to hand, so we built the one we wanted.

2. The hard call

   Expert tools for everyone?

   Memory dumps and raw block writes are expert territory, and they can do damage. We kept them, but one tap further in, behind a single Advanced tile, with permanent actions clearly marked.²

3. The build

   One codebase, history that follows you

   React Native gives one codebase for Android and iOS. Sign in with Google and your tag history is saved to the cloud with Firebase, so it follows you to a new phone. Or carry on as a guest.

   React NativeFirebaseGoogle sign-in
4. October 2026 · Live

   On both stores

   Under a month from first screen to launch, on the App Store and Google Play.

Tap Scan Tag and hold the phone to a tag. Everything the app learns is laid out in plain view, and nothing happens until you choose.

This was the hardest call in the project. Raw memory tools are what made the app useful to us, and they're exactly what can confuse or harm a tag in the wrong hands. So they're all here, but in one place, with plain explanations and no surprises.

The home screen is where the “anyone can use it” promise is kept. Six tiles, two rows, every one labelled twice.

1. 1
   Fewer choices on screen means faster choices.

   Two short, grouped rows beat one long list.¹ That's the dashboard.

2. 2
   Expert tools stay safe when they're one step further in.

   Beginners never trip over them; experts are one tap away.² That's the Advanced tile.

3. 3
   Trust comes from honest feedback.

   Show what a tag holds, show the status before a write, and warn before anything permanent.³ That's the read, write and lock flows.

Simple jobs up front, expert tools one tap in, and no surprises. That's why it works for a first-time user, and for us.

The app has only just launched, so there are no results to report yet, and we won't invent any. These are the signals we track from day one.

Next: testing permission, empty and unreadable-tag states on a wider range of real devices and chips.