Android 5, reading nfc tags, default app?

  • I was recently upgraded to Android 5.1 on my moto x. The old KK rom had nfc unlock integration via motorola's moto skip software. They did away with that in 5.1 in favour of the built in android smart lock/trusted devices. Thats great, i like that they are using the stock integration instead of adding bloat. BUT, moto skip worked better. It would not scan your skip tag (the private inlay on my NFC ring in this case) unless you were at your lock screen. Android scans it whenever its nearby, and when its on the palm of your hand.. well.. PAIN IN THE BUTT.

    So, i thought i'd setup automateit (which i use for other automation) to do some task that doesnt hurt anything whenever it saw my ring. The problem is, andoid seems to be using its "New Tag Collected" app as the default app for reading NFC, and not letting automateit see the tag.

    How the heck do i tell andoid to either let me chose a new default, or set the default to automateit? I tried resetting my app prefs, assuming that this would do that trick, it didnt. I remember KK asking me at some point, and I probably told it to use the internal tag reader as the default, as this was not a problem on KK, just lollipop.

    Anyone know how to fix this?


  • @Gangrif So, trigger got me at least part of what i'm looking for. it grabs the nfc tag before android displays its contents. Still cant get automateit to work.

  • So, trigger was only so useful. It caught the nfc scan so that it didnt pop up the contents on the screen, but each time it scanned it did things like, interrupt my typing, or close my keybaord. This is not much of an improvement. Is this an android 5 problem? or a problem specfically with my manufacturers build of android 5.1?

  • Community Helper

    That sounds like a real pain right there.
    Though completely the opposite of the usual tag not read issues.

    I'd say it will be similar on any phone that scans well, you might have to alter the way you're holding it when you're doing phone stuff. I haven't got an android phone but my tablet will do the same things if I pass my left hand too close to the reader unit. I'm on 5.1.1 but it's been the same since KitKat.