---
title: My weird piece of EDC
description: Reasons why I always carry NFC cards with me
date: 2019-08-10
tags:
- random
aliases:
- /blog/2019/08/10/why-i-carry-nfc
- /blog/why-i-carry-nfc
---

Im back with a quick little post about something I cary with me everywhere I go, EDC (Every-Day Carry) if you will.

## How this started
Earlier this year, my friend @hyperliskdev showed me a piece of "fake ID" he was given as a joke. After some experimentation, he noticed that, upon tapping it to his phone, he would get an error message about an un-formatted card.

After hearing of this, I opened up [NFC Tools](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wakdev.nfctools.pro) on my phone and started playing. We had quite some fun with [various settings and data](#shenanigans), and I decided that I wanted a card too. I send a message to someone that I knew worked with these, and got myself 4 to play with.

## Shenanigans 
Upon figuring out how to write to @hyperliskdev's card, we started out simple. We sent bits of text to eachother, and I eventually sent him a copy of my contact information, and bitcoin address. Then, came the real fun..

By setting the data type to `external link`, and the content to [this totally not suspicious URL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ), we now had the perfect tool for derailing a lesson. An automatic [Rick Roll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickrolling) card. Upon tapping this card to a phone, the youtube app would auto-play *Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up*. After this discovery, people started asking to buy pre-configured cards from me :laughing:.

After this came even more fun ideas:
 - Enabling flashlights
 - Rebooting phones
 - Calling phone numbers
 - Sending texts
 - Filling phones with fake contacts

## Practical use
I don't actually carry my cards around for messing with people but instead, use them for things like:
 - Cloning hotel access cards (being in a room of 4 with only 2 cards)
 - Creating login cards for school printers (so I don't have to log in manually)
 - Sharing small amounts of data and links between phones
 - Giving my contact info to people

Thanks to the NFC Tools app, pretty much everything is 3 taps and a swipe away. I strongly recommend picking up some cards for yourself if wou work with a large number of NFC-compatible systems.


## A/N
Occasionally, I either have nothing in the works, or am working on some very boring and technical projects, so I look to post some fun content like this. Currently the latter of the options is true, and I wanted a quick break from writing networking code.

Let me know what you think of this type of content!