Share WiFi easily with NFC tags

Finished product first — my nfc wifi tag mounted next to the thermostat for easy access

Getting started with NFC tags is easy. I first started using them when I was trying to wake up earlier in the morning for 30 days in an attempt to become more of a morning person. My solution was to use the Android alarm app: Sleep as droid. It allows you to create an alarm that won’t stop until you tap an NFC tag. So, I stuck an old expired credit card to my coffee machine and used that as a makeshift NFC tag for a couple of weeks. Once I proved to myself that this method was working, I decided to order a pack of proper NFC tags on eBay (much nicer than the expired credit card). I ended up with a bunch of extra tags and decided I should come up with some other projects, the most useful of these so far has been my guest wifi NFC tag.

This guide will walk you through how to create an NFC tag that your guests can tap to connect to a nearby wifi network.

What you’ll need

1. NFC tags (or an old credit card if you don’t care how it looks)
2. An Android phone with NFC capabilities
3. NFC Tools or a similar NFC writing app

You can get NFC tags from many different suppliers, I chose a 10 pack of 215 type tags from eBay which cost me less than $10 CAD including shipping.

How to create your NFC wifi sharing tag

1. Open up NFC Tools and select the write menu. From there you will “Add a Record”

NFC Tags Write Menu

2. Select “Wi-fi Network” from the bottom of the list

Select “Wi-Fi Network”

3. Input the information for the network you’d like to share by NFC

Add in your wifi connection details

4. Write to your NFC tag by holding the blank tag up to your phone.

Tap your NFC tag to write to it

Congratulations! That’s it, you’ve got a nice easy way to share your wifi. To test, simply disconnect from your wifi network, enable NFC on your phone and tap your new tag.