Web NFC API

Web NFC API — The Web NFC API lets a web app read and write NDEF messages to NFC tags via the NDEFReader interface.

Browser & ecosystem support

• Legend
• Yes
• Partial
• Flag
• No
• Unknown

Browser / Platform	Support	Versions	Confidence	Source	Notes
Chrome (Desktop)	No	—	high	source	1
Chrome (Android)	Yes	89	high	source	—
Edge (Desktop)	No	—	high	source	23
Firefox (Desktop)	No	—	high	source	4
Firefox (Android)	No	—	high	source	56
Safari (macOS)	No	—	high	source	7
Safari (iOS)	No	—	high	source	89
Samsung Internet	Yes	15.0	high	source	10
WebView (Android)	Yes	89	high	source	11

1. No Chrome support is recorded in browser-compat-data.
2. No Edge support is recorded in browser-compat-data.
3. Derived by browser-compat-data mirroring from Chrome.
4. No Firefox support is recorded in browser-compat-data.
5. No Firefox for Android support is recorded in browser-compat-data.
6. Derived by browser-compat-data mirroring from Firefox.
7. No Safari support is recorded in browser-compat-data.
8. No Safari on iOS support is recorded in browser-compat-data.
9. Derived by browser-compat-data mirroring from Safari.
10. Derived by browser-compat-data mirroring from Chrome Android.
11. Derived by browser-compat-data mirroring from Chrome Android.

Source data: /compatibility/web-nfc.json · Global usage: 35 % (StatCounter 2026-05)

Source: spec · MDN · Last verified 2026-10-03 · Confidence: high (computed from sources)

How to use it

scan() must be called from a secure, active top-level browsing context. Once scanning starts, reading events deliver each tag’s NDEF message:

async function scanNfcTags(onTag) {
  const reader = new NDEFReader();
  await reader.scan();
  reader.onreading = (event) => onTag(event.message, event.serialNumber);
}

How to detect it at runtime

Check for NDEFReader before offering the feature, and give the reader a fallback path when it is absent:

if ('NDEFReader' in window) {
  scanButton.hidden = false;
} else {
  scanButton.hidden = true;
  fallbackNotice.textContent = 'This browser cannot scan NFC tags from the page.';
}

Practical checklist

• Requires a secure context — plain HTTP origins other than potentially trustworthy ones like localhost cannot use it.
• scan() must run in an active top-level browsing context; calling it from a non-active context rejects the returned promise, and losing visibility later suspends rather than cancels the read.
• Per MDN browser-compat-data, Web NFC has no desktop implementation in any browser — 'NDEFReader' in window is false on desktop and the fallback path above is required there.
• Support is limited to Chromium-based browsers on Android (Chrome for Android and browsers that mirror its engine, such as Samsung Internet); Firefox and Safari implement none of the API on any platform.

Where to go next

For the full reference (permissions, write(), and the NDEF message format), see Web NFC: reading and writing NFC tags from the web.

See also WebHID API for another device-access API.

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