[Testing] NFC for Halium 9 ports

fredldotme

EDIT April 3rd 2021: NFC support is now in the devel channel and will be released with OTA-17
Please use this thread as a place to exchange ideas regarding our NFC implementation.

Original post:

Hey! I have something new to play around with for people on Halium 9 builds of Ubuntu Touch: you can now test your device for NFC functionality!
The only prerequisite is that your device needs to be on the devel-based rootfs, not the edge one.

To install:

sudo ubports-qa install xenial_-_android9_-_nfcd
sudo mount -o remount,rw /
sudo apt install nfcd nfcd-tools nfcd-binder-plugin nfcd-repowerd-plugin

To get console output from nfcd:

sudo stop nfcd
sudo /usr/sbin/nfcd -p /usr/lib/nfcd/plugins -v

App developers can try the QtNFC integration module to develop apps based on this technology. This requires the following change to be made to the rootfs before it can be used by (currently only unconfined) apps:

sudo mount -o remount,rw /
sudo apt install qml-module-qtnfc

The API documentation is located here: https://doc-snapshots.qt.io/qt5-5.9/qtnfc-qmlmodule.html

Please use this thread to share your experience with NFC enablement and even ask for help.

mateo_salta

Hi, Ive been experimenting with this test.

I made a experimental test click https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xowIZQAyynsnLAjtzGX7Wxsa1iNkNeTb/view?usp=sharing

It seems that it does not read my tag, or tries to read it in terminal. I will have to try more tags. This one is a small nxp mifare classic 1k "ISO 14443-3a" I have written a url on it with another phone.

non-verbose, shows terminal "target is gone" - perhaps is a unsupported tag? verbose:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/qr9tKvwDd8/

Writing fails with this error(ignore the top, i misspelled the binary at first ;P): http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/QW47SKyJS9/

"QNearFieldTarget::WriteNdefMessages() disabled. See QTBUG-43802"

Very interesting testing, i will need to try more tags.

fredldotme

@mateo_salta Yes, this seems to be a non-NFC-Forum compliant tag at first sight. Nice to see you playing around with it though! It should be ready for OTA-17.

mateo_salta

@fredldotme ah, looks like that is the case only certain types of readers can work with them: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45523081/how-to-read-the-mifare-classic-tag-using-the-nfca-class

If someone can confirm the program works, I can try and compile the other qt examples to use

that it was detecting like it was, I think it is working as it should then Looks like I need to find some different tags no worries, these were old 1kb.

researching more, perhaps these: https://www.adafruit.com/product/4032 , the website even sites problems with mifare: "Unlike "Classic 1K" cards (a.k.a MiFare S50s), these tags are more secure and work with almost any phone with RFID support since they avoid the patent issues with Mifare, which requires an NXP chipset or license fee."

mateo_salta

we could also make a system settings page,
not sure what all will go in besides on/off right now
ideas:
-allow tags to wake device - or not, turn off service on sleep?
-configure tag for long random string, for secondary login like fingerprint (then pin + tag unlock setting) (there are nfc rings perfect for this) or put on your favourite speaker and have it unlock and launch music player automatically?

maybe display plain text tag as notification?
emulate tag, for phone to phone, touching messages/browser url share,

mateo_salta

oh, I see the settings page in github, cool. is there going to be a indicator?

PhoenixLandPirat

@mateo_salta maybe it should just be added to the bluetooth indicator instead of making a seperate one for it

fredldotme

Maybe we can consolidate WIFI, Bluetooth and NFC into one indicator in the future, but that's out-of-scope for the initial release.

mateo_salta

@fredldotme yes, i think the plan is location, bluetooth, ect. as the other networking options are together, wifi, ethernet, cellular

mateo_salta

I think we would also want to build in automatic uri/url handling -
Many tags are written to launch a website/url, and we would want these to be sent to the url dispatcher automatically, would be simple to just call open url externally, url dispatcher takes care of the rest.

I have received new tags, and once written on another device the app i compiled reads then perfectly, we may need to recompile something to enable writing, as the code comments that it was disabled.

The tags I got are ntag 213 ( a watch style tag, and a ring style tag) I plan on writting a custom url (i think "clock://" to open the clock on the "watch band", then maybe we can see what it would take to make a password ring

fredldotme

@mateo_salta I've already taken a look into QtNfc not allowing writes, I know where to enable it. Might take some time though.

For the URL handling: Yes, this has also been requested by Nymea devs, but at the current pace it might not make the cut for OTA-17.

mateo_salta

@fredldotme cool, will be great to have the app usability at first, thank you for all the wor.

mateo_salta

@mateo_salta i could probally write a basic app that just passes on the url to urldispatcher as a stopgap, i think that will be my next thing to try

fredldotme

@mateo_salta Could you possibly release a version of your demo QtNfc writer app with the nfc policy group enabled? I would like to test it in a confined environment. Or even better, could you release the source code for it?

domubpkm

NFC should be in next dev :
https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/1697
But in concrete terms, what will this technology implemented on UT smartphones allow us to do in daily use?

fredldotme

@domubpkm depends on what app developers can envision and implement with it. It could be used for home automation for example, triggering events via NFC tags.

kugiigi

I almost never used NFC in my life. Maybe once or twice I used it to automatically pair bluetooth devices
But that's why I'm really looking forward having it on UT because I'm pretty sure I will use it. I've used a lot things just because they are available on UT

mateo_salta

@fredldotme oh yeah, the source is in the example folders of qt-master, they have a handfull of demos, I will try the apparmor, didn't know that was going yet

mateo_salta

@kugiigi I'm looking foward to trying this example, ( https://github.com/qt/qtconnectivity/blob/8618e25e01ca9c6c6b2221041f625ac69f6757b8/examples/nfc/corkboard/corkboards.qml) and sticking some of the stickers on my refrigerator as notes

flohack

Is there already a test app? I have at least one device here where I would love to test it...