How NFC tags work

In one sentence

An NFC tag is a sticker, card or keychain with a tiny chip inside that holds a link. Hold your phone to it and the link opens by itself: nothing to install, nothing to scan.

What’s inside

A tiny chip and a coiled antenna, almost always hidden in the plastic or paper.

• No battery. It “wakes up” on the energy your phone sends when you hold it close.
• No internet, GPS or Bluetooth. The tag itself doesn’t know where it is or who taps it.
• It holds very little: a few hundred characters at most. The NTAG213, the most common one, has 144 bytes — plenty for a short link.

When your tag points to your page, it doesn’t hold the whole page, only a short vibedout link. You choose where that link goes, and you can change it any time without touching the tag.

What happens when you tap it

1. Your phone sends out a very short-range radio field.
2. That field powers the tag.
3. The tag answers with the link it holds.
4. Your phone opens the link in the browser.

It all takes under a second. The field only reaches a few centimetres, so you have to hold the phone close to the tag — hence “tap”.

How to tap it well

1. Wake the screen. On almost every Android it also has to be unlocked. In general, a phone won’t read a tag with the screen off.
2. Hold the back of the phone to the tag. The antenna isn’t in the same place on every model: on many Androids it’s in the middle or towards the top of the back; on an iPhone, at the top.
3. Keep it still for a second or two. If nothing happens, slide the phone slowly until you find the spot.
4. Clear the way. Thick cases, wallets with a metal card slot, or any metal between the phone and the tag weaken the signal.

On Android, NFC has to be on: usually Settings → Connected devices → NFC (the name changes by brand). An iPhone has no switch.

If you tapped correctly and still nothing happens, follow the guide My tag isn’t reading.

Which phones read it

• Android with NFC: almost all of them. The link opens without installing anything.
• iPhone XS or later: read link tags with no app, with the screen on.
• iPhone 7, 8 and X: only read tags inside an app that supports it. For them, use the QR code.
• Phones without NFC, and computers: can’t read tags. Use the QR code.

That’s why it’s worth putting your page’s QR code next to your tag: every vibedout Link page has one, ready to download and print.

Size and type of tag

• Bigger means more range. A 25 mm sticker reads better than a 10 mm one.
• Metal kills the signal. If you’ll stick it on metal (a bar, a machine, a pipe), buy an “anti-metal” tag, which has a special backing layer.
• Sticker, card or keychain change the shape, not how it works. What matters is the chip: look for NTAG213, NTAG215 or NTAG216. They’re all covered in the FAQ.

Is it safe?

• A tag that points to your page holds only a link: nothing about you or about whoever taps it.
• Anyone with an NFC phone can read it, just like any public link.
• Without protection, anyone with an NFC app could also write over your tag. That’s why vibedout Link lets you set a password, which you can remove whenever you like.
• On the tapper’s side: we only count the tap, with no personal data. And, as with any link, don’t type passwords or card details into a page you don’t recognise.

Words you’ll see

• NFC: the short-range radio technology tags and phones use.
• NTAG213, NTAG215, NTAG216: tag chip models from the maker NXP. They differ in how much they hold: 144, 504 and 888 bytes.
• UID: the chip’s unique serial number. On its own it says nothing about you.
• NDEF: the standard format links and text are stored in on a tag.
• Tap: each time someone holds their phone to your tag. It’s what your statistics count.