Installation

Install into an Expo or a bare React Native project, and get a development build that can actually see a tag.

1. Install the package

   Expo

   npx expo install react-native-nfc-kit
   
2. Add the config plugin

   In app.json or app.config.js. The usage description is the text iOS shows in the scanning sheet, and it is the only explanation your user gets for why the phone is asking about a card — write your own.

   app.json

   {
     "expo": {
       "plugins": [
         [
           "react-native-nfc-kit",
           { "readerUsageDescription": "Hold your card near the top of the phone" }
         ]
       ]
     }
   }
   

   That is the whole configuration for reading and writing NDEF tags. Smartcards, FeliCa, card emulation and background tags each need one option more — see Setup.

   Bare React Native has no prebuild, so there is no plugin to add. Write the plist keys and manifest XML by hand instead: every setup page gives you exactly what to write, and Bare React Native covers getting Expo Modules into a bare project in the first place.

3. Build

   npx expo prebuild --clean
   npx expo run:ios      # or run:android
   

   eas build and eas build --local work too. What does not work is Expo Go.

4. Check it is really there

   import { nfc } from 'react-native-nfc-kit';
   
   const { supported, enabled, capabilities } = await nfc.getAvailability();
   console.log({ supported, enabled, techs: capabilities?.techs });
   

   supported false on a device you know has NFC almost always means the native module did not link — rebuild, and see verifying autolinking.

You need a development build

NFC is native code, so it cannot run in Expo Go, and this is not a temporary state of affairs: Expo Go on the App Store is frozen at SDK 54, and Expo positions it as a learning tool rather than a development target.

How you build	Works?	Notes
Expo Go	❌	No native modules, ever
npx expo run:ios	✅	Needs Xcode and a physical iPhone
npx expo run:android	✅	Needs a physical device; emulators have no radio
eas build	✅	Cloud
eas build --local	✅	Same output, your machine
iOS Simulator	❌	There is no NFC controller to talk to
Android emulator	❌	Same

Requirements

Axis	Minimum	Why
Expo SDK	57	React Native 0.86
React Native (bare)	0.86, with expo installed	New Architecture only; the legacy one is gone from Expo 55+
iOS	16.4, physical device	The Expo SDK 57 podspec floor
Android	API 24	The Expo SDK 56+ floor
Node	20.19.4 / 22.13 / 24.3+	Expo SDK 57’s requirement

CoreNFC has existed since iOS 11, so with a 16.4 floor there is no weak linking to arrange and no -weak_framework CoreNFC hack to copy from anywhere.

Bare React Native is a supported route, not a footnote. This library is built on the Expo Modules API, which does not require the Expo SDK — it requires the expo package, which ships the module and autolinking infrastructure and little else. The only thing you give up is the config plugin.

The iOS capability

Editing the entitlements file — or letting the plugin write it — is not enough on its own. The App ID needs the capability too:

1. Open your App ID

   In the Apple Developer portal, under Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles.

2. Enable Near Field Communication Tag Reading

   It is in the capability list for the identifier.

3. Regenerate the provisioning profile

   Xcode’s “Automatically manage signing” does this for you. A manually managed profile does not, and the failure appears at runtime as a session that will not open, with an error that never mentions provisioning.

Next

Read your first tag

A working scan screen, end to end.

Setup for your use case

Smartcards, FeliCa, HCE, background tags.