Understanding how to access the embedded secure element

Question

I have been looking at this blog https://nelenkov.blogspot.com/2012/08/accessing-embedded-secure-element-in.html, this is really good however I am having trouble understanding how to add the com.android.nfc_extras to my project. Also, the way the etc/nfc_access.xml file works. If there is anyone that will help me break through this process then it will be nice, since I am new to this.

Answer 1

It really depends. The most basic answer is: disregard the article (it's 6 years old, Android changed a lot!) and try to use GlobalPlatform Open Mobile API. It is API for accessing secure elements present on many phones.

Expanded answer: it varies between manufacturers. Some will allow you to access their embedded secure element (eSE) via OMAPI, sometimes you might need to use propietary service as a proxy. One example of vendor-specific service is Samsung KMS Agent (still, eSE is visible in OMAPI).

After that introduction, if you want to access eSE and you are new to this, you probably want to use OMAPI. If you are writing app targeting Android P - great news, OMAPI is now part of Android.

But in reality you would probably target older Android version, so bad news is - you don't know if OMAPI is present on the phone. See: List of OMAPI supported devices

But assuming you have OMAPI present, then take a look at Android documentation for OMAPI: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/se/omapi/package-summary and GlobalPlatform.org documentation e.g. OMAPI docs