NFC: Launch App

The NFC Launch App sample shows how to use the NFC tag to launch an app on the polling smartphone. It uses the NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) library.

Requirements

This sample supports the following development kits:

Hardware platforms

PCA

Board name

Build target

nRF5340 DK

PCA10095

nrf5340dk_nrf5340

nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp_ns nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp

nRF52 DK

PCA10040

nrf52dk_nrf52832

nrf52dk_nrf52832

nRF52840 DK

PCA10056

nrf52840dk_nrf52840

nrf52840dk_nrf52840

When built for an _ns build target, the sample is configured to compile and run as a non-secure application with Cortex-M Security Extensions enabled. Therefore, it automatically includes Trusted Firmware-M that prepares the required peripherals and secure services to be available for the application.

The sample also requires a smartphone or a tablet. You need to have the nRF Toolbox app installed for iOS devices.

Overview

When the sample starts, it initializes the NFC tag and generates an NDEF message with two records that contain the app Universal Link and Android Application Record. Then it sets up the NFC library to use the generated message and sense the external NFC field.

The only events handled by the application are the NFC events.

User interface

LED 1:

Indicates if an NFC field is present.

Building and running

This sample can be found under samples/nfc/record_launch_app in the nRF Connect SDK folder structure.

When built as firmware image for the _ns build target, the sample has Cortex-M Security Extensions (CMSE) enabled and separates the firmware between Non-Secure Processing Environment (NSPE) and Secure Processing Environment (SPE). Because of this, it automatically includes the Trusted Firmware-M (TF-M). To read more about CMSE, see Processing environments.

To build the sample with Visual Studio Code, follow the steps listed on the How to build an application page in the nRF Connect for VS Code extension documentation. See Building and programming an application for other building and programming scenarios and Testing and debugging an application for general information about testing and debugging in the nRF Connect SDK.

Note

If you are using debug messages in the NFCT driver, the driver might not be working properly if you have CONFIG_LOG_MODE_IMMEDIATE enabled. The NFCT driver is part of the nrfx driver package. For more information about this driver, see the NFCT driver page in the nrfx repository.

Testing

After programming the sample to your development kit, complete the following steps to test it:

  1. Touch the NFC antenna with the smartphone or tablet and observe that LED 1 is lit.

  2. Observe that the smartphone or tablet launches the nRF Toolbox application.

  3. Move the smartphone or tablet away from the NFC antenna and observe that LED 1 turns off.

    Note

    Devices running iOS require the nRF Toolbox app to be installed before testing the sample. Devices running Android open Google Play when the application is not installed.

Dependencies

This sample uses the following nRF Connect SDK libraries:

In addition, it uses the Type 2 Tag library from sdk-nrfxlib:

The sample uses the following Zephyr libraries:

  • include/zephyr.h

  • include/power/reboot.h

The sample also uses the following secure firmware component: