NFC API

Non-standard
This feature is not on a current W3C standards track, but it is supported on the Firefox OS platform. Although implementations may change in the future and it is not supported widely across browsers, it is suitable for use in code dedicated to Firefox OS apps.

This API is available on Firefox OS for privileged or certified applications only.

The Near Field Communication (NFC) API is used to exchange data between NFC-enabled mobile devices or NFC tags by tapping them together.

Overview

You access the entire set of NFC functionality through the Navigator.mozNfc property, returning a MozNFC object that further operations can be performed on.

Permission

Privileged applications that want to use the NFC API must request the nfc permission within their app manifest. Firefox 2.2+ allows usage of NFC in privileged apps; previous to that it is only available to certified apps.

"permission": {
  "nfc":{}
}

NFC API supports three modes of operations defined in NFC Forum.

Reader/Writer Mode

This mode can be used to read/write NFC tags through MozNFCTag interface by using MozNDEFRecord, or communicate with the NFC Tag by sending/receiving APDU command.

Peer to Peer Mode

This mode is used to share content with another NFC device through MozNFCPeer interface.

Card Emulation Mode

This mode allows the NFC device to be emulated as an NFC Tag. This mode is mostly used in NFC payments.

As of Firefox OS v2.2, only Secure Element-based Card Emulation is supported.

NDEF Record

NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) is the common data format defined in NFC Forum. By using NDEF, an application can operate on the MozNFCTag if the tag is compliant with NFC Forum Tag, or it can exchange data with MozNFCPeer.

See the documentation in MozNDEFRecord.

Event Dispatching

For the NFC Tag or NFC Peer events, the priority is to dispatch these events to the foreground application first (decided by System application). If the foreground application cannot process the event, the event will be re-dispatched to System app again, then System app will launch applications by invoking MozActivity.

You can find more details on using NFC in Firefox OS in Using the NFC API.

NFC Interfaces

MozNDEFRecord: NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) structure for NFC-related data.
MozNFC: Top level Navigator object for NFC operations.
MozNFCTag: NFC object used to manipulate data on tags.

MozNFCPeer: NFC object used to manipulate data on devices.

Specifications

The NFC implementation in Gecko follows the NFC Forum specifications.

Feature	Chrome	Firefox (Gecko)	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari (WebKit)
Basic support	No support	No support	No support	No support	No support

Feature	Android	Firefox Mobile (Gecko)	Firefox OS (Gecko)	IE Phone	Opera Mobile	Safari Mobile
Basic support	No support	No support	2.0 moz [1]	No support	No support	No support

[1] Available in privileged apps as of Firefox OS 2.2; certified-only before that.