So I just ordered 100 NFC tags... What all do you use yours for?

[hollow sandal]

I just find a case of 100 for like 7 bucks, and grabbed them on a whim. What all do y'all use them for?

[umbral lily]

For me, I have a few automations for my wife to scan so she doesn't have to learn to use the app (she has the typical love-hate dynamic with all my experiments).

Also have one behind a light switch cover to temporarily disable an automation when we're going in/out the door rapidly (e.g. bring in groceries).

[hollow sandal]

Yeah. I have the same issue with my wife. 🤣 We have 2 ceiling fans in the living room, but they're controlled separately. I've offered to link them, but she declines, "I like it the way it is" except she complains about having to go turn that fan off or on. Lol

[visual quartz]

I use one on my motorcycle to open and close the garage so I don’t have to deal with locking or unlocking my phone with a helmet on.

(Or gloves)

[hollow sandal]

Oh that's interesting. Like on the bike itself. I never actually considered using them in that way.

See, this is why I created this thread! 😃

[visual quartz]

I most often have used them to disable automations though. A lot of people will hide them behind switch plates. Then if scanned it turns off the lighting automation associated with that switch.

[autumn island]

i have a few set up to scan certain items as a kind of reminder, if i dont do it in time, an alarm will go off, then i have one next to my bed to put my home into "night" mode

[wispy galleon]

I use one to automate setting my alarms on my phone. One for toggling the heater under my desk. One for running the good night automation to lock my doors and shutoff my lights when I am ready to fully go to sleep.

[plucky hill]

Not all tags are the same. Probably a bad idea to buy 100 of the cheapest. Maybe ok for HA though.

I use them to adjust morning and evening routines though. Besides that, my opinion has been mixed.

[visual quartz]

for 7 bucks I’m sure he’ll survive if they don’t work. I’ve gone with the cheapest available and had zero issues.

[vapid crater]

Do you all only scan the tags with your phone, or do any of you use alternative devices?

[visual quartz]

Just my phone in my case.

[hollow sandal]

Here's what I wound up doing in my garage with one. I have an automation that fires when one of us leaves. It then decrements, then checks a counter, and only if the counter is below 1, it turns off the garage lights. So I am leaving, and want to leave the lights on for my daughter because she's gonna be waiting for the bus, I scan the tag. If she knows my wife is also going to be heading out, she will also scan the tag. All the tag automation does is increment the counter when scanned.

Also, when the lights go off for any reason, it resets the counter to 0.

I have that tag stuck to the wall next to the light switch.

[obsidian dune]

One nice usage I saw a while ago was to put them inside CD cases for your old music collection you probably never touch anymore, with a reader on a cabinet next to eg your record player

When you place it in the right location it detects the tag and plays the album

I'm thinking about using this approach to recreate a "Toniebox" setup for our child once she's old enough... the Toniebox are nice but quite expensive and limited, whereas this would have the potential to add a tag to virtually any toy and have it play much longer playlists

Or even use the same toy to eg play the music from Moana if placed near the record player, or to play the movie itself if placed near the TV

[hollow sandal]

Oh that's cool AF. And I would totally do that if I had any physical media left.

[obsidian dune]

You could do it without the real physical media too, if you can get some CD cases in bulk and just put the covers on them. Or 3D print something to do the same job

I've not implemented it myself but I saw the idea YEARS ago and it's always stuck with me as something cool to do

Oh another I saw and liked: building the NFC reader into some key hooks and using the NFC tag as the thing that gets hung up. That way you can trigger arrive/leave home automations etc

Similar idea to this product, but using NFC to track. IIRC the project I saw actually modified this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CTMBBB8L

Other than those two "cool ideas I love but I've never actually done" - the one I actually use is have tags around the home that override automations for a while for unusual circumstances. I used to find I'd turn automations off and then forget to turn it back on, so I much prefer the ability to pause/override the automation for a sensible amount of time

Eg our pantry detects the door opening and turns the lights on for 2 minutes, but if I'm gonna be tidying up the pantry I tap the tag and it stays on for 30 minutes instead

There's a tag near the garden doors that pauses "It's nighttime there's someone in the back garden" alerts from Frigate for an hour if we're going to be outside late in the evening (eg late evening drinks on a nice night) and another that also turns off the motion lights (eg if we're looking for the northern lights), and I keep meaning to add one near the front door to stop it from setting off my "doorbell alert" automation when I'm standing talking to them... haven't got round to that one yet