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I have read Reading a Mifare tag using Windows Phone 8 NFC? before, saying Mifare Classic is not NDEF formatted.

When I read about the newest what's new in WP8.1, it says now supports "make your tags read-only, write to unformatted tags, and communicate with other contactless cards".

I wonder whether I can read it or not?

Community
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xhg
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2 Answers2

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Windows Phone 8.1 has additional APIs to NDEF format previously unformatted tags, as well as to communicate with various smart cards through NFC through raw access instead of NDEF (e.g., ATM cards).

You can get some more information about how to integrate the new NFC functionality from the WP 8.1 Jumpstart series: http://channel9.msdn.com/series/Building-Apps-for-Windows-Phone-8-1/15#time=25m40s

In this session, Microsoft highlights that low level / raw access is possible for the following tag types through the WinRT SmartCard API:

  • ISO 7816-4/APDU
  • MiFare Ultralight
  • MiFare Classic
  • MiFare Desfire
  • Felica

As the additional functionality requires the PN547 NFC chipset in the device, it only works on new Windows Phone hardware - e.g., the Nokia Lumia 830 (Lumia 930 is not supported). You can find more information about the WinRT SmartCard API here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/windows.devices.smartcards.aspx

So yes, reading MiFare Classic tags that are not NDEF formatted is possible with WP 8.1 on new hardware.

Andreas Jakl
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  • Thank you very much, Andreas! That's exactly what I want. – xhg May 13 '14 at 09:44
  • Are you sure about Nokia Lumia supporting the new functionality? The other answer here states that it is not supported. – newenglander Sep 19 '14 at 13:54
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    True, it turned out that the Lumia 930 still has the old NFC controller chip inside. Only the very latest phones like the Lumia 830 should be compatible. I've updated the answer accordingly! – Andreas Jakl Sep 22 '14 at 13:14
  • I'm developing with the Lumia 830 and 735, and confirm that they both have the PN547 chipset. – Nick Wright Jan 05 '15 at 16:49
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Raw MIFARE Classic/Ultralight/DESfire (as well as ISO7816-4 APDU/limited Felica/ISO15693/Jewel) is supported starting in Windows Phone 8.1 however it requires driver support that is currently only available for the NXP PN547 NFC chip that is only available in the Lumia 830 and 73x devices (Lumia 930 is NOT supported, but most future devices should support it going forward)

Assuming that hardware limitation isn't a deal-breaker for you, there's some sample code showing the use the of the APIs here: http://nfcsmartcardreader.codeplex.com

Alex
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  • Oh it is very bad so few devices can do it. Thank you. – xhg Sep 16 '14 at 05:59
  • Can you provide some more information regarding the Lumia 930? Does it not support reading/writing raw NFC data or just not the particular tag the OP is using? – newenglander Sep 19 '14 at 10:55
  • The Lumia 930 has a PN544 chip, so it doesn't support any raw access at all to any tags/cards (only supports NDEF read/write) – Alex Sep 19 '14 at 23:39
  • I'm using a 2012 Google Nexus, which apparently has the same chip, to read/write using ISO-DEP. So I guess the Lumia 930 is missing the proper driver, or does the PN544 actually support that? Or is there something else I'm missing/mistaken about? – newenglander Sep 22 '14 at 08:57
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    It's that the driver doesn't support it, the driver for the PN544 was built back when the OS only supported Proximity so the PN544 driver consequently was written to only support Proximity. In WP8.1 when raw smart card support was added only the PN547 driver was under development, so that one got support. – Alex Jan 17 '15 at 08:09