Course Overview

What is NFC? An Introduction to NFC Tags, Cards, and Readers

Introduction

Tag Counter Game App

Set up a React Native NFC iOS and Android App

An Introduction to the React Native NFC Module Library

How to Build an iOS NFC Tag Scanner App With React Native

How to Build an Android NFC Tag Scanner App With React Native

App1 Conclusion

Tag-Counter Game App

Tap-And-Go App

How to Code an NDEF Message With the NFC Tools App

A Deep Dive Into NDEF and NdefRecord to Share Data via NFC

Tap-And-Go Project Setup With React Native and NFC Manager

How to Read NFC Tags and Write NDEF Data With NfcManager

How to Build a Website NFC Tag And Use Deep Linking With NFC

App2 Conclusion

Tap-And-Go  App

NFC Pokemon App

The User Flow of an NFC Tag Reader and Writer App

Intro to Type 2 NFC Tags: Read and Write NFC Tags With React

How to Sign and Verify NFC Data With React Native and elliptic

How to Add Memory Protection to NFC Tags For Copy Protection

App3 Conclusion

NfcPokemon  App

react

react-native

react-native-elements

react-native-nfc-manager

react-native-paper

## What we will cover in this course

First, I will provide an overview of NFC technology, so you can understand basic concepts and terms. After that, we will build three apps throughout this course.

### App 1: Tag Counter

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/10307875/148626752-38646752-bb16-4db2-8324-9fc19efdef04.png)

App 1 is a game app to count how much time a user needs to scan five NFC tags. You will learn:
- how to properly set up an NFC project 
- how to trigger NFC scanning
- the difference from iOS and Android regarding NFC feature

### App 2: Tap-and-Go

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/10307875/148627270-2dc43df8-8d5c-479d-8dd6-041b236d7009.png)

App 2 is about NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF), which is the standard NFC data format supported by both iOS and Android. NDEF can be used for almost any NFC tag. We will build an NDEF reader-writer app, and you will learn:
- how to write specific NDEF URI into NFC tags 
- how to read NDEF URI and trigger corresponding actions, for example, opening an URL, making a phone call, or sending a message. 
- how to use deep linking with NFC tags.

### App 3: NFC Pokemon

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/10307875/148627203-562e742d-973e-406c-8e9e-a871ccdaf6d9.png)

App 3 dives into low-level NFC programming, which directly manipulates the NFC tag’s internal memory and uses proprietary NFC commands. 
The app we'll build is called "NFC Pokemon," which is a digital identity management platform. It can seal a specific Pokemon, for example, a Pikachu, into an NFC tag. 

When building this app, you will learn:
- how to use low-leve tag command to directly manipulate NFC tag's internal memory
- how to create digital signatures in React Native
- how to use proprietary password protection command for NXP NTAG 213 / 215

NFC technology is everywhere in our daily life, from transportation, access control, to payment system. However, understanding NFC is still a hard topic because of its wide technology landspace. 

So in this course, We will guide you from the simplest case like using common NDEF format, all the way to a complex digital identity management app which leverages some unique NFC features.

The newline Guide to NFCs with React Native

How to integrate NFC feature into your React Native app

How to handle the differences between Android and iOS regarding NFC feature

Understand NDEF and use it across iOS and Android

Understand low-level NFC programming and communicate with NFC tags directly

How to use asymmetric cryptography library with React Native

How to use password protection commands from NTAG 21x NFC tags

Hello! In this lesson, we will discuss how to enable memory protection for our NFC Pokemon tags.

Before we dive in, let's first consider why we need this memory protection feature.

In the previous lesson, we already started using digital signatures to protect our NFC tags. So, you might wonder, why do we need extra memory protection?

Actually, these two mechanisms handle different security issues.

The digital signature mechanism is useful against the case when people try to fake or clone our NFC tags because we can verify the signature to find out if it's legitimate, as mentioned before.

However, what if people simply want to load the tag with bad content?

To be more precise, you have seen that we can use the write command to write data into our NFC tags. What if others also do write commands to override the data in our tags? Without a memory protection mechanism, our NFC tags will easily have tampered-with bad content.

Let's first discuss our options regarding NFC tag memory protection.

Recall from the previous lesson that NFC tags have a special block called CC block, which is used to indicate whether this NFC tag is NDEF-compatible. The second byte of the CC block can be used to enable read-only protection for NFC tags. This operation is irreversible, which means that once you set it to read-only, you won't be able to write it again.

You can turn on this protection by calling 

. Since we're not using NDEF in this app, this option won't be our final choice.

The second approach is for Type 2 Platform. 

The NFC Type 2 Platform has defined a "Lock Control" feature, which has the ability to control the write access for each block or page. However, this feature has two drawbacks. First, this feature is pretty complex and hard to use. Second, this operation is irreversible, just like the NDEF one. Once you turn on these protection bits, you cannot turn them off.

For our NFC Pokemon app, we actually want to disable unauthorized write operations, not lock the tag data forever. So, this approach doesn't suit our use-case either.

The final approach is to use the tag-specific "password protection" feature. This feature is available for NXP NTAG 213 and 215 families, which are the most widely used NFC tags on the market.

How to use the password protection commands

---
title: How to Add Memory Protection to NFC Tags For Copy Protection
isPublicLesson: false
privateVideoUrl: https://fullstack.wistia.com/medias/y41pyswrh8
---

Hello! In this lesson, we will discuss how to enable memory protection for our NFC Pokemon tags.

We will:

-   Review the concept of the NFC tag memory protection mechanism
-   Explain how to use the password protection commands
-   Implement a password protection feature for our app

Let's get started.

## Why do we need memory protection?

Before we dive in, let's first consider why we need this memory protection feature.

In the previous lesson, we already started using digital signatures to protect our NFC tags. So, you might wonder, why do we need extra memory protection?

Actually, these two mechanisms handle different security issues.

The digital signature mechanism is useful against the case when people try to fake or clone our NFC tags because we can verify the signature to find out if it's legitimate, as mentioned before.

However, what if people simply want to load the tag with bad content?

To be more precise, you have seen that we can use the write command to write data into our NFC tags. What if others also do write commands to override the data in our tags? Without a memory protection mechanism, our NFC tags will easily have tampered-with bad content.

## Memory protection

Let's first discuss our options regarding NFC tag memory protection.

There are three levels of protection:

-   NDEF
-   Type 2 Platform
-   Tag-specific

Let's discuss the first NDEF level.

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/10307875/148350340-1a415240-1a71-4573-a571-4f5d3f57b62d.png)

Recall from the previous lesson that NFC tags have a special block called CC block, which is used to indicate whether this NFC tag is NDEF-compatible. The second byte of the CC block can be used to enable read-only protection for NFC tags. This operation is irreversible, which means that once you set it to read-only, you won't be able to write it again.

You can turn on this protection by calling `NfcManager.ndefHandler.makeReadOnly()`. Since we're not using NDEF in this app, this option won't be our final choice.

The second approach is for Type 2 Platform. 

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/10307875/148350492-340be365-0210-4057-a2e7-9f95ca7f859f.png)

The NFC Type 2 Platform has defined a "Lock Control" feature, which has the ability to control the write access for each block or page. However, this feature has two drawbacks. First, this feature is pretty complex and hard to use. Second, this operation is irreversible, just like the NDEF one. Once you turn on these protection bits, you cannot turn them off.

For our NFC Pokemon app, we actually want to disable unauthorized write operations, not lock the tag data forever. So, this approach doesn't suit our use-case either.

The final approach is to use the tag-specific "password protection" feature. This feature is available for NXP NTAG 213 and 215 families, which are the most widely used NFC tags on the market.

## How to use the password protection commands

### Memory configuration

The password protection feature for NTAG families is configured by the blocks in the following diagram.

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/10307875/148350745-b8dd3a8c-08e0-45b7-b9f3-f7bc9c960b58.png)

The AUTH byte indicates the block index to start our memory protection. For example, if we want all user blocks to be protected, we can set this byte to 3. The default value for this byte is 255, indicating that the protection is not enabled.

Then comes the ACCESS byte. Each bit of this byte indicates a different meaning, and we only discuss the most significant bit here. The MSB for ACCESS byte controls the memory protection strategy. Value 0 means we only protect the write operation. Value 1 means we want to protect both read and write operations. For our use-case, we should set the value to be 0.

Learn

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Teach

Amelia Wattenberger

Author of Fullstack D3

Community

The newline Guide to NFCs with React Native

Module 1: Introduction

Introduction:

Start Here

Lesson 1: (5:40)

Course Overview

Lesson 2: (10:37)

What is NFC? An Introduction to NFC Tags, Cards, and Readers

Module 2: Tag-Counter Game App

Lesson 1: (1:41)

Tag Counter Game App

Lesson 2: (11:10)

Set up a React Native NFC iOS and Android App

Lesson 3: (7:42)

An Introduction to the React Native NFC Module Library

Lesson 4: (10:03)

How to Build an iOS NFC Tag Scanner App With React Native

Lesson 5: (16:36)

How to Build an Android NFC Tag Scanner App With React Native

Lesson 6: (3:14)

App1 Conclusion

Module 3: Tap-And-Go App

Lesson 1: (1:40)

Tap-And-Go App

Lesson 2: (7:10)

How to Code an NDEF Message With the NFC Tools App

Lesson 3: (9:30)

A Deep Dive Into NDEF and NdefRecord to Share Data via NFC

Lesson 4: (11:46)

Tap-And-Go Project Setup With React Native and NFC Manager

Lesson 5: (18:19)

How to Read NFC Tags and Write NDEF Data With NfcManager

Lesson 6: (12:28)

How to Build a Website NFC Tag And Use Deep Linking With NFC

Lesson 7: (3:57)

App2 Conclusion

Module 4: NfcPokemon App

Lesson 1: (2:12)

NFC Pokemon App

Lesson 2: (6:51)

The User Flow of an NFC Tag Reader and Writer App

Lesson 3: (17:20)

Intro to Type 2 NFC Tags: Read and Write NFC Tags With React

Lesson 4: (17:29)

How to Sign and Verify NFC Data With React Native and elliptic

Lesson 5: (14:48)

How to Add Memory Protection to NFC Tags For Copy Protection

Lesson 6: (4:30)

App3 Conclusion

How to Add Memory Protection to NFC Tags For Copy Protection