> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://react-native-nfc-kit.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Installation

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

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install the package">
    <CodeGroup>
      ```bash Expo theme={null}
      npx expo install react-native-nfc-kit
      ```

      ```bash npm theme={null}
      npm install react-native-nfc-kit
      ```

      ```bash pnpm theme={null}
      pnpm add react-native-nfc-kit
      ```

      ```bash yarn theme={null}
      yarn add react-native-nfc-kit
      ```
    </CodeGroup>
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.

    ```json app.json theme={null}
    {
      "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](/setup/overview).

    <Note>
      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](/setup/bare-react-native) covers getting
      Expo Modules into a bare project in the first place.
    </Note>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build">
    ```bash theme={null}
    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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check it is really there">
    ```ts theme={null}
    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](/setup/bare-react-native#verifying-autolinking).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## You need a development build

<Warning>
  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.
</Warning>

| 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.

<Info>
  **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.
</Info>

## 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:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open your App ID">
    In the Apple Developer portal, under **Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable Near Field Communication Tag Reading">
    It is in the capability list for the identifier.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Next

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Read your first tag" icon="bolt" href="/quickstart">
    A working scan screen, end to end.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Setup for your use case" icon="wrench" href="/setup/overview">
    Smartcards, FeliCa, HCE, background tags.
  </Card>
</Columns>