NDEF stopped working on IOS 14.6

[Gustavo.Laureano]

Hi,

We have a product on the field using an ST25DV tag with NDEF records, and we also developed an IOS app to interact with it, now, after updating to IOS 14.6, our app stopped working, this is what we discovered so far:

• Both our App and the IOS ST App (V3.1, latest) stopped detecting our product (on the ST app only on the "Read NDEF" button, the "Read Tag" button still finds it)
• This is not a problem with an invalid NDEF, I also tested with other ST25DV tags formatted and created with different NFC apps, including the ST app
• This problem seems to affect only ISO 15693 tags, I tested with an M24SR tag (ISO 14443), and both our app and the ST app were able to detect it

Is ST already aware of this problem? Does anyone knows if is there any workaround for the app to work again? we started receiving complains from customers and the situation will escalate quickly if we don't find a solution.

Any help from ST will be appreciated!

Thanks

Gustavo

[victor laraison]

Thx Gustavo for your feedback and good analysis....

You're right, iOS14.6 introduced a major regression in the reading of NDEF. J have just seen it !!!

I confirm that it impacts Type5 , Type2 tags. NOT Type4a Tags.

Log debug in iOS App does not show any error or execption.

We"re investigating and will see if iOS14.7 beta is fixing issue. Otherwise, we"re logging a ticket to Apple.

By the way, you can still use NDEFs on Type5 as follow :

• Hit Read Button
• In Menu, select Area Content Editor
• Click on AreaX (Grey line in table View)
• it will display the NDEF Editor

This process uses the iso15693 protocol for reading/writing NDEF. It does not use the NDEF protocol as deined in coreNFC

Hope it helps

[Gustavo.Laureano]

Hi Victor,

Thanks for checking this with Apple for us!

And please keep us updated

Yes, we assumed this is an issue with the IOS native NDEF handling, which is exactly what our app uses to interact.. we will assess how difficult it must be to switch to raw memory read/write and do the decode/encode in-app...

Do you have any idea how long it would take Apple to solve this and release the 14.7?

Thanks again

Gustavo

[victor laraison]

Very strange !! I have tested with iOS14.6 and other iOS NFC Apps (NFC Tools), and reading NDEF works fine. Maybe they don't use NDEF protocol....

I'm installing iOS 14.7 beta : I will let you know.

Regarding solving issue at Apple, it depends !!! Always obscure....

[victor laraison]

behavior is same with iOS14.7 beta !!!

[victor laraison]

have you tried with other Type5 tags not STM ?

[Gustavo.Laureano]

Hi Victor!

No, I searched for other tags here but found no other 15693 & NDEF-capable tags for testing, I'll see if I can get some..

I also tested yesterday 2 more apps (NFC Tools & NXP taginfo) and they are still working on the 14.7!

How do they implemented it? do they really decode the NDEF inside the app?

Is there an "easy" way of doing this, without needing to re-implement the low-level memory reading and writing? it feels like reinventing the wheel...

[victor laraison]

Hi Gustavo,

I have tried with NFC Tools, and behavior is same if you select the "compatibility" mode in settings => Not able to read NDEF. I guess that this "compatibilty" mode is the NDEF protocol. If you switch to "Normal" mode, it uses the iso15693 protocol.

Regarding other tags, I m coming back to my office today for testing with competitor tags and add RF Spy .

Stay tuned

Br,

[victor laraison]

After analysing NFC traces with Spy :

-      Inventory response OK

-      But, iphone with iOS14.6 loops on ReadSingleBlock 0 (CC), and that’s all !!!

-      Behavior same both on ST25DV and NXP ICode SLX Type5 Tags.

[Gustavo.Laureano]

Hi!

This "compatibility" selection on NFC Tools is interesting!

From the programming point of view it makes sense, they are probably doing exactly what you said!

Interesting, so it is really a low-level sw bug from Apple, good that you could confirm it

We are trying to solve our app issue using NFCTagReaderSession instead of NFCNDEFReaderSession, the reading seems to work, let's see the write

[victor laraison]

I confirm that using NFCTagReaderSession  works fine, both for reading and writing NDEF. This is what we used in our iOS NFC Tap application when you hit button "Read Tag" , then select menu "Area Content Editor" for editing NDEF.

Otherwise, I have logged a ticket to apple for raising issue. Don't know if you have access to feedback assistant :

ref to https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/feedback/9120751

 "

Hi ,

The Latest iOS14.6 official release has introduced a major regression in the reading of NDEF message with Type5 tags only !!!

This is not a problem with an invalid NDEF or with our Tag : It was tested with other many Type5 Tags (STMicro, NXp) and tags formatted and created with different iOS NFC apps

·      This problem seems to affect only ISO 15693 tags : tested with ISO 14443A, we were able to detect it

So, Type5 tags are only impacted. Not Type4A.

How to reproduce it :

- Install the iOS14.6 or iOS14.7 beta

- Download your coreNFC reference App from https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corenfc/building_an_nfc_tag-reader_app

- Use a Type5 Tag with a NDEF Formatted message

- Run NFC Tag reader , and see that when scanning tag, NDEF is not detected.

When debugging sample code, the NFCNDEFReaderSessionDelegate is never called.

Thanks a lot for your support

"