Recommendations for NFC tags/stickers

[Clay Whitenack]

Hey all, 

I'm wanting to start using nfc tags to trigger car mode when I set the phone on my car dock.  Are there any things I need to keep in mind when picking out nfc tags?  Are all tags the same, or do some work better than others?

[Robert Ryan]

NFC is turned off when the phone goes to sleep or locks, so when the phone wakes up it will read any nearby tag again. For that reason I've found it is best not to have the tag directly on the dock. I placed mine on the dash about 3 inches away. 

For triggering Tasker scripts it doesn't matter much what tag you use. I use the flat, 1-inch diameter NFCtoGo stickers found on Amazon.

[Pak]

I will add to Roberts comments that some tags are very thin and some are mounted in thicker stock (some tags I have are about the thickness of a US dime). So if the tag has to be (or you just want it to be) very flat when on your car dock you want to look for the much flatter ones. The ones sold by the Trigger app people are very flat.

Like Robert, I prefer to keep my tag elsewhere so I can specifically tap my phone on it when I want to run my "car mode". There are other times where I don't want to full "car mode" to run but want to stick my phone in the holder anyway (like if I am driving a half mile away to pick up my kid from someone's house, I don't need all my volumes cranked, Waze to run, etc.

Also note that if you put it on the dock, when you take the phone away it won't "toggle". Meaning if you set up your tag so first tap runs "car mode" and then a second tap restores "normal" mode, you will still have to tap the phone a second time after you remove it from the dock. Another reason why I like my car tag to be in its own place.

As to other things to keep in mind, some tags have more memory than others. So one tag might be able to hold more things to do than other tags. This really only matters if you use an app like Trigger that normally loads each "thing" onto the tag (e.g. Turn on blue tooth, Run Waze, change ringer volume to 11, etc. with each one of those commands needing a bit of memory on the tag). But with tasker this doesn't matter as much since you only need enough memory to run a task which can then be as much as you want. I still use Trigger myself but I use it to mostly run Tasker tasks. So I bundle a lot of individual things into single Tasker tasks so Trigger only needs to load one "run a Tasker Task" into the NFC's memory and then Tasker does the heavy lifting. 

[Scott Almond]

I recommend these sticker style NFC tags or similar. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-25mm-NFC-NTAG203-Smart-Tag-Adhesive-Label-Sticker-Tag-for-Windows-8-Samsung-/141351941489?hash=item20e93b7571:g:06cAAOxyJypTlY8U

but any NFC tag will work.

If you are routed and using xposed framework, I would recommend using the "NFC LockScreenOff Enabler" module. This allows you to use your NFC whilst your phone is locked/asleep. it has Tasker integration that allows you to react upon seeing the NFC and loosing the NFC, which in turn allows you to have Tasker do one thing when you place your phone against the tag and then when you finally remove the phone, you can react again in Tasker.

I use this for in car dock and my NFC ring to disable/enable the lock-screen automatically and to speak out the title/artist/album of the currently playing music when I swipe my hand/ring against my phone in my pocket etc etc.

[Pak]

Good tip. I will have to check that one out. Does it require root on the phone to operate?