Read your first tag

In about 5 minutes you read one NFC tag with Hex NFC and see what it holds, on screen and in the app's history. You need your iPhone and one tag.

Before you start

• Install Hex NFC from the App Store on an iPhone running iOS 17 or later. There is nothing to set up on first launch: the app opens on the home screen. Common questions covers what it costs and which iPhones it runs on.

• Have one tag to hand. A sticker, a card or a key fob all work.

• A blank tag counts as a read.

• Reading a tag changes nothing on it. Nothing on this page writes to your tag.

Read your first tag

1. 第 1 步Open the scan screen

   Hex NFC opens on the home screen, which carries four tiles under the app's name: Scan, Build, Library and Advanced. Tap Scan, the tile at the top left. The scan screen opens and waits, reading "Hold tag against the top of your iPhone".

2. 第 2 步Hold the tag against your iPhone

   Rest the top edge of your iPhone flat against the tag and keep it still. iOS puts up a panel of its own across the bottom of the screen while the read runs. The app's text stays above it. The scan screen reads "Reading…", then "Tag detected". Once "Tag detected" appears the app has finished with the tag, so you can take your iPhone away. If no tag is read, the screen reads "Scan failed" and gives the reason under it. Tap Try again, then hold the tag steady against the top of your iPhone. If a tag does not scan or write covers a tag that will not answer.

3. 第 3 步Read what the app found

   Under "Tag detected" the app names the chip and counts what it read. A record is one piece of content on a tag, a link or some text, and a tag carrying one reads "1 record found". A tag carrying none reads "No NDEF records on this tag". The screen holds for about a second. The chip name and the tag's UID come back on the next screen, so there is nothing to memorise here. Scan a tag has the other readings.

4. 第 4 步Open a record

   The Tag screen opens by itself. The card at the top names the chip and carries a UID row. Under the card, each record is a row showing its type and a preview of what it holds. Tap a row to see the whole record, then tap Cancel to come back. Cancel closes the record and writes nothing, on the tag or in the app. A blank tag reads "Empty tag" in place of the rows, which is a complete read rather than a failure.

5. 第 5 步Close the tag

   Tap Close. The Tag screen closes without writing anything, and you are back on the home screen.

What you learned

You can now read any tag you pick up and tell what it carries. The app kept that scan. Tap Library on the home screen, then History, the second of the two tabs across the top of the Library screen. Your scan sits at the top of the list. Pinning one keeps it past the limits that Find a tag you scanned before sets out. Opening a stored scan brings back the same Tag screen, without holding the tag again.

What's next

• Read Scan a tag for what each scan result means, and for a tag that asks for a password first.

• Read Find a tag you scanned before to reopen, pin and delete stored scans.

• Read Write a link to a tag to put a website address on a blank tag.

• Read Tags that work with Hex NFC to see which chips the app recognises.

• Read If a tag does not scan or write when a tag will not answer.