Using your Bag Charm to it's Full Potential - Part 2 Opening Flies
How to Automate an NFC Tag to Open Files on Your Phone
You can set up your NFC tag to open a file stored on your device or in the cloud. Here’s how to do it using the free NFC Tools app.
What You’ll Need:
- Your phone (iPhone or Android with NFC enabled)
- An NFC tag (rewritable)
- The NFC Tools app (free on App Store or Google Play)
- A shareable file link (hosted online if the file isn’t natively supported)
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Prepare Your File
- Upload your file to a cloud service like:
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- iCloud
- OneDrive
- Set the file sharing to “Anyone with the link can view”
- Copy the shareable URL
2. Download & Open NFC Tools
- Install NFC Tools from your app store
- Open the app and tap the "Write" tab
3. Add a Record
- Tap “Add a record”
- Select “URL / URI”
- Paste in the shareable link to your file
4. Write to the NFC Tag
- Tap “Write”
- Hold your phone against the NFC tag
- Wait for the confirmation message (usually 1–2 seconds)
5. Test It
- Lock your phone screen and unlock it again
- Tap your phone to the NFC tag
- The file link should open automatically in your browser or cloud app
Things to Keep in Mind:
Other peoples phones can’t directly open local files(like PDFs stored only on your device) from an NFC tag use a cloud-hosted file instead.
- Tags have limited space. Keep your URL short or use a URL shortener like Bit.ly if needed.
- If you want to open a file using a specific app, make sure the app supports web links.
Click HERE for Part 1 - Setting up your Bag Charm - Adding links
Click HERE for part 2 - Using your charm to open files
Click HERE for part 3 - Automating your Life.