Writing your first NFC tag is a genuinely small job. You do not need special hardware beyond the tag itself and a phone, and the app that does the writing is free. This walkthrough takes you through the whole thing in four steps, in plain language, so you can write a review tag today and hand it straight to a customer.
What you need before you start
You need three things: an NFC-capable phone, a blank or rewritable NFC tag, and a free tag-writing app from your phone's usual app store. You also need the link you want the tag to open, so decide that first. For a review card it is usually your public review page, copied exactly as it appears in the browser bar.
One check before you begin: if a tag has already been locked, it cannot be rewritten, so use a tag you are happy to overwrite for your first attempt. The cards, stands, and inlays we supply can be written to, and you can see the formats on our guide page.
Step one: turn NFC on and open a writing app
First, make sure NFC is switched on in your phone's settings. On most phones it lives under "Connections" or "Wireless and networks", and switching it on is a single toggle. Then open your tag-writing app. There are several free options, and they all work in roughly the same way, so pick one and stay with it.
Inside the app you will normally see options to read a tag, write a tag, and erase a tag. For your first card you want the write option, and you want to be ready to add a single record rather than a page full of them.
Step two: choose the record and paste your link
Now tell the app what to write. The record type you want is a URL, sometimes listed as a website or link. Paste your review link into the field, avoiding any stray spaces at the start or end, since a trailing space is one of the most common reasons a written link opens the wrong page.
Give the record a short title if the app invites one. This is the line some phones show before opening the link, and a plain phrase such as "Leave us a review" reads better than a long sentence. Nothing here needs to be clever. It only needs to be correct.
Step three: hold the phone to the tag and write
Press the app's write button and hold your phone against the tag. Keep it still against the chip until the app confirms success, which usually takes a second or two. If the phone moves away too early the write will fail, and the app will tell you so. Simply try again, holding the phone steady.
You will feel no buzz and see no change on the tag itself. The confirmation is entirely on the screen, so watch the phone, not the card. Once it reads as written, the link is stored and the tag is ready.
Step four: test it, then lock it if you want
Before you put the tag into service, test it. Close the writing app, lock the phone if you like, and hold the phone near the tag as a customer would. The browser should open your review page. Test with a second phone if one is available, since not every phone behaves identically.
If everything works, decide whether to lock the tag. Locking prevents anyone from overwriting your link, which is useful for cards in public places. The trade-off is that a locked tag cannot be changed later, so if you expect to update the destination, consider using a dynamic QR code, where the link can be redirected without touching the tag at all. You can compare the two on our dynamic QR page.
Once your first tag works, the rest get quicker, and you can write a whole batch in one sitting. If you would like help choosing a tag, a chip, or a lock setting for your review cards, just ask. Message us on WhatsApp at +86 151 0247 7198 or email nina@cwtape.com and we will walk you through it.