Keycard not supported on certain phone models (with limited NFC options)

[Horupa-Olena]

Bug Report

Problem

Some phone models do not support reading/writing our Keycards due to OS limitations or NFC module specifics.

Reproduction

1. Launch the Status app.
2. Select “Create Profile.”
3. Click on “Use an empty Keycard.”
4. Scan the Keycard.

Expected behavior (Proposed)

For phone models that do not support Keycard reading/writing, a popup message should appear informing the user that the device is not compatible with Keycards.

Actual behavior

When tapping the card, the NFC prompt "Ready to scan" remains on the screen , and no further actions occur.

IMG_0115.MP4

Logs (The last attempt was at 16:16 (UTC+2).):
logs (17).zip

Additional Information

Affected Device:
This issue was found on the iPhone SE (model MX9R2QL/A).
According to online sources, the following models have also reported NFC-related issues and may be at risk when using Keycard:

• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13
• iPhone 14
• iPhone 13 mini

Several similar reports were found on the official website, but unfortunately, the suggested solutions did not resolve the issue.

[churik]

@guylouis @ilmotta

I believe the problem is happening because it has "NFC with reader mode".

NFC Modes Supported for IPhone:
• The iPhone SE 2020 primarily supports Reader Mode and Apple Pay-specific functions. Apple has historically limited some NFC functionalities on lower-tier models.
• The iPhone 14 Pro (and other flagship models) supports Reader/Writer Mode, Peer-to-Peer Mode, and full NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) operations, allowing both reading and writing to NFC tags/cards.

On Android devices, NFC Reader Only Mode is rare but can occur due to hardware or software limitations. Most Android devices with NFC support both Reader/Writer Mode and Peer-to-Peer Mode, but some exceptions exist, particularly in budget models or older phones.

So we need to add to spec that phone should support Reader/Writer Mode and provide users with appropriate validation error if they don't support it.

[bitgamma]

There is actually no distinction between reading and writing in the NFC protocol, since both happen via command/response to the card. I don't know if iOS limits the ability to send non-standard commands to cards but that would be specifically odd. It would also be odd that it still displays the scan interface if such limitation existed, since the software declare its intention to send custom APDUs when starting NFC communication.

Notoriously, some iPhones have really weak NFC field making the scanning experience a game of finding the correct place and orientation to tap the card (for many iPhones the spot is top frame at a 45 to 90 degree angle, which is the least intuitive way to tap a card). I would guess this is the problem here or maybe that phone's NFC is so weak that it doesn't manage to power the card regardless how you tap it

[flexsurfer]

i have iPhone 12 mini it works just perfect, better than Android, the spot is top frame at a 45 to 90 degree angle because it's mostly for payments and it's most convenient way, so if you touch keycard 45 degree in the middle of the card on the top spot it works perfect, but im not 100% sure about iPhone SE