We have updated our popular Real ScanStrength system to ScanStrength+. It's truly our most advanced system yet.
ScanStrength+ uses a completely redesigned and custom built machine to measure the scan distance of an NFC tag with 95% accuracy. The new ScanStrength+ intelligent machine learning software creates a simulation of the average phone scan distance converted to mm - with repeat readings from various angles providing the most accurate measurement. The system is calibrated using the varying scan distance performances of 12 different mobile phones. The intelligent learning system then applies this when performing scan testing.
Additionally, ScanStrength+ now also measures the scan distance with a varying offset from the centre of the tag. This new reading has been carefully designed to replicate a user placing the phone to the side of the tags rather than directly over it. We are calling this the ScanStrength Offset rating which will be presented as a % value - 100% being a very strong rating and 50% or below being a lower rating. A stronger rating allows for more general phone positioning during a scan.
Scan distance is a critical factor in the usability of an NFC tag. It's simply how close you need to hold your phone over the NFC tag for it to read. The further away you can hold your phone, the better the experience, so a tag with a strong ScanStrength is usually very important.
Generally, the bigger the NFC tag the larger the scan distance. This is only up to a certain point and then there is a dead spot in the middle and the longer antenna starts to waste energy – our highest performing tags are usually 48x78mm. The typical scan distance of an NFC tag is between 1-6cm. If you are an iPhone user and you are reading the tag in an app, you can get more of a boost and a slightly larger scan distance. To get the best user experience, try and use the largest tag you can for the space you have available.
As a number of NFC tags are designed to work on metal - 'on-metal' NFC tags - we built ScanStrength+ to also test on-metal performance.
Using metal plates and a recalibrated mechanism, the ScanStrength+ machine measures performance of on-metal tags both on metal and on non-metal materials. As the performance of some on-metal tags can vary between metal and non-metal surfaces, we present this data as three readings : ScanStrength (normal materials), On-Metal ScanStrength (metal materials) and now ScanStrength Offset (off-centre scan performance).
We have added each products ScanStrength ratings to the 'Product Data' information at the bottom of each product page. If you have particular questions and want to discuss what can affect scan performance in more detail, just contact us.
1,806 reviews