NFC ID Reader: Chip ID Card

NFC ID Reader opens the chip inside a Vietnamese citizen ID card (CCCD gắn chip) or any ICAO e-passport and shows exactly what that chip stores about you.

Card data never leaves the phone: no database, no analytics, and nothing read from a card is sent to us or an ad network. Leaving the result screen wipes it from memory.

HOW IT WORKS
Following ICAO Doc 9303, the chip refuses every command until the reader proves it knows what is printed on the card: the 6-digit CAN, or the document number plus birth and expiry dates.

1. Show the card to the camera: the app reads the QR code on the front or the machine-readable lines. Poor light? Use a still photo, or type the numbers.
2. Hold the card flat against the back of the phone.
3. The app negotiates PACE, falls back to BAC, and reads the chip.

Card moved halfway? Put it back in the same place: the read continues from where it stopped instead of starting over. The partial read stays in memory for 2 minutes at most.

WHAT YOU SEE
• Portrait photo stored in DG2, decoded on the device
• Vietnamese details from DG13 with full diacritics, plus the raw chip list (Vietnam does not publish the DG13 layout, so labels are a best guess)
• Passports and foreign cards: extra holder and document details from DG11/DG12 when the chip has them
• The machine-readable zone, with country names spelled out
• Validity at a glance: valid for how long, expiring soon, or expired, with an optional renewal reminder you save in your own calendar app

CARD FACE VS CHIP
When you scanned the card with the camera, the app compares what is printed (QR code or MRZ) with what the chip says, field by field: match, different, or missing. A difference means the printed card and the chip disagree; scan again first, as camera reading can be wrong. It is not a test of whether the card is genuine.

WHAT WAS ACTUALLY PROVEN
Every read opens with a panel separating reading a card from proving one. Each row is green, red, or unanswerable.

• The chip opened: the access key worked. A copied chip opens too, so alone this proves nothing.
• Data matches EF.SOD: every data group read hashes to the value in the chip's signed index.
• EF.SOD signature is valid: checked against the signer certificate inside the card.
• The chip is not a copy: Active or Chip Authentication proves the chip holds a private key it never reveals.
• Issued by the country: always unanswerable, because it needs the national root certificate (CSCA), which is not public.

MULTI-CARD SESSION
Read several cards in a row (front desk, check-in), see who was read twice and which cards have expired, then export a masked CSV. Free sessions hold 3 cards. Kept in memory only, never saved.

FOR OTHER APPS
Another app can ask for a read. You see which app asks and tick each field before anything is sent.

WRITE A TAG
Write a standard NDEF record onto an NFC tag (link, text, Wi-Fi, contact, phone, location, SMS or email), then the app reads it back and compares. A tag is plaintext, so write only what you would let a finder read.

CHECK YOUR PHONE
The free Phone check shows whether the phone has NFC, whether it is on, and which technologies a tapped card supports. Card contents are never read.

FREE WITH ADS, OR PRO
• Reading ID cards and passports is free and never shows an ad. The free version shows one banner on the home screen only. Ads come from Google AdMob and Unity Ads, which use your advertising ID; card data is never passed to them.
• Pro (monthly, 3-month, or yearly with a 3-day free trial) removes the banner and unlocks PDF reports, unlimited sessions with column choice, tag locking, saved templates and batch write. A short optional video opens some tools for 30 minutes.

BEFORE YOU USE IT
Read your own card, or one whose holder has agreed. Vietnamese law (Luật Căn cước 2023, Nghị định 70/2024/NĐ-CP) treats identity data as sensitive personal data and requires consent.

Requires a phone with NFC hardware, Android 7.0 or newer.

Recent changes:
- Age check: chip photo, 18+ yes/no and valid today, everything else hidden. Pro: 16/18/21/custom and age-only sessions.
- Choose which fields to share, export or hand off. Masked by default.
- Offline QR hand-off: chosen fields on screen only, hides after 60 s.
- Long-press a field to copy it; the clipboard clears after 60 s.
- Sessions: add rows from photos (printed zone, chip not read) and per-row notes.