react-native-nfc-kit

NFC for React Native and Expo, built on the Expo Modules API. New Architecture only, TypeScript throughout, and the asymmetry between iOS and Android visible in the type system rather than discovered in production.

import { nfc } from 'react-native-nfc-kit';

const message = await nfc.withTag({ tech: ['ndef'], timeoutMs: 20_000 }, async (tag) => {
  if (!tag.is('ndef')) throw new Error('Not an NDEF tag');
  return tag.readNdef();
});

Install it

Expo or bare React Native, the requirements, and why you need a development build.

Read your first tag

From an empty project to a working scan screen, step by step.

Set it up for your use case

One page per case, with both the Expo plugin option and the exact plist and manifest XML.

Coming from nfc-manager

An API equivalence table, and the six differences that change your code.

Two things to know before reading further

A tag carries no technology methods until you narrow it

tag.is('ndef') is what makes readNdef exist, in the type system and at runtime. That is how the platform difference stays visible: on iOS tag.is('mifareClassic') is always false, because CoreNFC cannot reach Crypto-1 at any OS version.

if (tag.is('isoDep')) {
  const response = await tag.transceive(command); // ✅ exists here
}
await tag.transceive(command); // ❌ does not compile

withTag always closes the session

On success, on a throw, on an abort, on a timeout, and when the platform ends the session underneath.A leaked session keeps the iOS sheet up and holds Android’s NFC controller exclusively, which is the failure that surfaces two screens later as something unrelated.

What is here

Entry point	What it is
`react-native-nfc-kit`	Reading and writing tags: sessions, tags, errors
`react-native-nfc-kit/ndef`	The NDEF codec. No native dependency, so it runs in Node too
`react-native-nfc-kit/protocols`	ISO 7816, ISO 15693, FeliCa, NTAG/Ultralight, over one primitive
`react-native-nfc-kit/hce`	Card emulation: answer a terminal as though you were a card
`react-native-nfc-kit/vas`	Read an Apple Wallet pass
`react-native-nfc-kit/react`	Hooks, on a subpath so the core never imports React

What works where

The interesting column is the one that says no. None of this is hidden behind a method that exists and then throws — nfc.capabilities and tag.is() tell you at runtime, and the types tell you before that.

Feature	iOS	Android	Web (Chrome)
Read and write NDEF	✅	✅	✅
ISO 7816 / ISO-DEP APDUs	✅	✅	—
ISO 15693, FeliCa	✅	✅	—
NTAG / MIFARE Ultralight	✅	✅	—
MIFARE Classic	—	chipset	—
Raw `NfcA` / `NfcB`	—	✅	—
Tag-removal callback	—	✅	—
Background / launch tags	system-handled	✅	—
Card emulation (HCE)	entitlement, EEA only	✅	—
Observe mode, polling frames	—	API 35+	—
Apple Wallet passes (VAS)	entitlement	—	—
Antenna location	—	API 34+	—
Secure NFC status	—	API 29+	—

NFC needs a development build. It is native code, so Expo Go cannot load it. npx expo run:ios, npx expo run:android, eas build and eas build --local all produce a build that works. See Installation.

Where to go next

Sessions

The three ways to get a tag, and which to reach for.

The NDEF codec

Building and parsing messages, with or without a device.

Error reference

Every NfcErrorCode, what causes it, what to do about it.

Get started

Core concepts

Setup, per use case

Going further

Install it

Read your first tag

Set it up for your use case

Coming from nfc-manager

Two things to know before reading further

What is here

What works where

Where to go next

Sessions

Tags

The NDEF codec

Error reference

Install it

Read your first tag

Set it up for your use case

Coming from nfc-manager

​Two things to know before reading further

​What is here

​What works where

​Where to go next

Sessions

Tags

The NDEF codec

Error reference

Two things to know before reading further

What is here

What works where

Where to go next