NDEFReader: scan() method

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

Secure context: This feature is available only in secure contexts (HTTPS), in some or all supporting browsers.

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The scan() method of the NDEFReader interface activates a reading device and returns a Promise that either resolves when an NFC tag read operation is scheduled or rejects if a hardware or permission error is encountered. This method triggers a permission prompt if the "nfc" permission has not been previously granted.

Syntax

js
scan(options)

Parameters

options Optional

An object with the following properties:

signal

An AbortSignal that allows cancelling this scan() operation.

Return value

A Promise that resolves immediately after scheduling read operations for the NFC adapter.

Exceptions

This method doesn't throw exceptions; instead, it rejects the returned promise, passing a DOMException whose name is one of the following:

AbortError DOMException

Returned if the scan operation was aborted with the AbortSignal passed in the options argument.

InvalidStateError DOMException

Returned if there's already an ongoing scan.

NotAllowedError DOMException

Returned if the permission for this operation was rejected.

NotSupportedError DOMException

Returned if there is no NFC adapter compatible with Web NFC or a connection cannot be established.

Examples

Handle scanning errors

This example shows what happens when a scan promise rejects and readingerror is thrown.

js
const ndef = new NDEFReader();
ndef
  .scan()
  .then(() => {
    console.log("Scan started successfully.");
    ndef.onreadingerror = (event) => {
      console.log(
        "Error! Cannot read data from the NFC tag. Try a different one?",
      );
    };
    ndef.onreading = (event) => {
      console.log("NDEF message read.");
    };
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.log(`Error! Scan failed to start: ${error}.`);
  });

Specifications

Specification
Web NFC
# dom-ndefreader-scan

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
scan
Experimental

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
No support
No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.