Note that this article is 2 years old, and therefore predates iOS 18.1, which allows applications to directly access the NFC hardware: <a href="https://developer.apple.com/support/nfc-se-platform/" rel="nofollow">https://developer.apple.com/support/nfc-se-platform/</a>
This is cool, do love the hacking ingenuity. And not that I want to give Apple extra credit, but they are slowly opening up NFC: <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/guide/apple-nfc-chip-ios-18-1/" rel="nofollow">https://www.macrumors.com/guide/apple-nfc-chip-ios-18-1/</a> - Is is very restrictive (probably) and very late - most certainly. But at least it's slowly coming.
That information could come in handy, cool.<p>A complementary method is to attach a writable NFC sticker tag to the phone. Though it has to be placed far enough from the phone's NFC antenna in order for both/either to work.<p>The upside is that you get a second tag of your choice (physically) on your phone. There are even UID-writable sticker tags out there (even if they can be a tiny bit harder to find).<p>You also don't need to replace your default transit card, which could be inconvenient depending on where you live.
I’m curious what the security of these NFC lock systems looks like. (I’m talking about the commercial building systems mentioned like Brivo and Unifi, not home systems.)<p>In particular, I know unifi cards rotate keys. So you can’t simply clone them with a Flipper, and this also means third party cards don’t work. By default, this is true, but you can’t simply clone turn it off, as mentioned in the article.<p>Does this mean that the other systems’ cards are easily cloned? This seems very insecure, if so.
I was really excited about the new UniFi G3 access card reader claiming support for iPhone unlock until I realized it's $5/year/device. It just seems like a slow boil into subscriptions for a company whose entire value prop is prosumer networking without the contracts.<p>I don't know if it's Apple or UniFi to blame for this fee, but it turned me off entirely of what would have been a day 1 purchase. Other, cheaper junky IoT home locks support Apple HomeKit for unlocking for free, why can't UniFi figure it out?<p>Really glad to see hacking in this space.