Hex NFC for iPhone

Hex NFC reads the NFC tags around you and shows every record a tag holds. It writes records back to a blank tag and sets a password on the chips that can carry one. The app also reads a Japanese transit card or the chip in an electronic passport. There is no account to create, and the app carries no analytics.

What you need

• Hex NFC, installed from the App Store, on your iPhone.

• An iPhone running iOS 17 or later.

• An NFC tag. Most blank stickers, cards and key fobs carry a chip the app reads. Tags that work with Hex NFC names them, and the chip support matrix says what each one can do.

What you can do

Hex NFC opens on the home screen, which carries four tiles.

• Tap Scan to read a tag and see what it holds: Scan a tag. A transit card reads the same way, and a passport takes two taps.

• Tap Build to put records together from scratch, then write them: Write a link to a tag.

• Tap Library for the tags you scanned before: Find a tag you scanned before. The sets of records you kept are there too: Save a tag as a preset.

• Tap Advanced to send a raw command to a chip whose command set you know: Send a raw command to a tag.

Change what a tag holds

Once a tag is open you can rebuild its records with Edit a tag's records, choosing from the kinds in Record types. Protect a tag with a password sets the secret a chip checks. Remove a tag's password takes it off again. Limit wrong password tries says how many refusals the chip accepts. Three tools work on the tag itself: Erase or format a tag, Lock a tag permanently and Save a copy of a tag's memory.

Get started

Read your first tag goes from the home screen to your first scan in about 5 minutes. Tag protection explains what a password covers and what it cannot get back. When a tag will not answer, go to If a tag does not scan or write. Settings lists every switch in the app, Privacy and your data says what stays on your iPhone, and Common questions answers what it costs.