I had ordered a bunch of NFC tags from Amazon to automate some parts of my life and turn my home into a smart home. However, creating pragmatic use cases for NFC tags turned out to be much harder than I thought. After some trials and taking inspiration from user forums, I found seven practical use cases for NFC tags that made my life easier.
Table of Contents
1. Set Kitchen Timers
One of the easiest yet effective ways to use NFC tags is to place them in the kitchen. Since I boil eggs or cook noodles often, I programmed an NFC tag to start a timer of 5 minutes and place it near the kitchen counter. After that, I just tap my iPhone on the tag and the timer starts immediately. Of course, there are other ways to set timers on your iPhone too.
2. Send ETA to Your Family
My work involves frequent travel shuttling between from the office or a client meeting to home. There are days when I get late and my family wants to know when I will be back home. Of course, they don’t want me to talk or text while driving.
To automate this piece of communication, I scan an NFC tag placed on my car dashboard. This triggers a Siri shortcut which automatically calculates my ETA (estimated time of arrival) from the current location to my saved home location and sends it over as an SMS/WhatsApp to a chosen contact.
3. Log Your Water Intake
I recently got sick due to dehydration, an easily preventable situation with adequate water consumption. After doctor’s recommendation, I started to monitor my water intake. It’s easy to forget that during busy days to drink at least 2-3 liters, I wanted to record and monitor it. That’s why I programmed an NFC tag and stuck it to my water bottle.
After that, every time I drink water from the bottle, I tap the tag with my phone to log the intake to my preferred app. That’s when I learned that NFC doesn’t work on metal surfaces – ergo, metal bottles. So I used a plastic water bottle and concealed the tag with a tape to avoid any accidental water damage.
On my iPhone, I use the WaterMinder app. It supports Siri shortcuts and can easily integrate into the native shortcut apps. The app also works on Android.
4. Turn Off Alarm With NFC Tag
Like many, even I struggle to wake up from bed in the morning. But, you can put an alarm tied with an NFC tag far away from your bed, like in the kitchen or bathroom. When the alarm goes off, you will be forced to get out of bed. You’ll need to tap your phone on the NFC tags to turn off the alarm. That’ll make it hard for you to return to your bed, isn’t it?
Many apps let you program NFC tags to turn off alarms. For me, NFC Alarm kept things simple and ad-free.
5. Allow Guests to Connect to Wi-Fi
Sharing complex Wi-Fi passwords isn’t easy and you wouldn’t want to spell it out all the time. To fix that, you can program your NFC tags to store your Wi-Fi network information (SSID and password). Stick that NFC tag in the living room and the next time you have guests over, they can tap the back of their smartphone to connect to Wi-Fi network.
The NFC Tools works on Android phones to quickly help connect to a programmed Wi-Fi network. Unfortunately, iPhone doesn’t allow connecting to Wi-Fi with NFC tags for security purposes. So a combination of QR code and NFC will provide more holistic approach for all guests.
6. Control Your Lights for Reading Time
As an avid reader who sometimes lacks the motivation to pick up a book after a long day at work, I use NFC tags to create a dedicated reading time experience. I stuck a programmed NFC tag next to my bed to change the brightness whenever I interact my phone with it. When scanned, it adjusts the color temperature to warm white, setting the ideal mood for getting cozy with a good book.
You don’t need expensive NFC compatible smart bulbs such as Philips Hue or LIFX. Look for smart bulbs with compatible apps that support Siri shortcuts (iPhone) or Tasker (Android). I bought TP-Link Kasa for less than $5 and paired it with my iPhone using their official guide.
7. Turn on Room AC From Your Main Door
Air conditioners take time to turn on compressor and cool the room. So, when I’m coming home after a long summer day, I just tap my phone on the NFC tag placed on shoe rack and it starts my room’s air conditioner. By the time I remove my shoes and keep my bags, my room is already cool. I like to call it Siberia mode.
To make this work with regular ACs, you will have to buy a 16 Amp smart plug that supports Siri shortcuts or Tasker integration. A good way to check whether it supports NFC tags is to check the online reviews of the product. Plugs from smart home brands like TP-Link support these features. I used a Havel’s smartplug and it worked fine.
While the promise of NFC was high on payments, but the tags can be pretty useful to make your life a little more easier. If you have figured out another helpful way, share a photo/video of your cool setup at @techwiser on Twitter.
