NFC for Document report

Start here

Recent passports, national identity cards and residence permits contain a chip that can be accessed using Near Field Communication (NFC). The Onfido SDKs provide a set of screens and functionalities to extract this information, verify its authenticity and provide the resulting verification as part of a Document report.

NFC chips contain a cryptographically signed version of the document's information which, when validated using the issuing country's public keys, provides a higher level of fraud protection. NFC scanning also vastly improves the end-user experience, halving the turnaround time of verification and returning a 95% pass rate on successful scans.

NFC is available via Onfido's iOS, Android, React Native and Flutter SDKs, and Onfido highly recommends using NFC for identity verification where possible.

Follow this guide learn how to:

• Configure NFC with Onfido Studio
• Use NFC extraction directly with the Onfido SDKs by creating checks with the Onfido API
• Configure the Onfido SDKs for NFC extraction (together with a Studio or API-based integration)
• Interpret the verification results in a Document report

You can view the list of currently supported documents for NFC.

Please contact your Customer Success manager for additional help with integrating NFC.

Using NFC

Use NFC in Onfido Studio

We recommended that you enable and manage NFC in Onfido Studio.

In Studio, NFC extraction is controlled by configuring the Document Capture task in the Workflow Builder.

In the right hand configuration panel, select one of the following options from the NFC dropdown menu:

• Off: NFC extraction will not be required of end-users
• If possible: NFC extraction will be attempted, if possible
• Required: NFC extraction will be enforced, not allowing end-users to finish the flow without a successful reading

When configured to "If possible":

• Studio will instruct the Onfido SDKs to prompt end-users to scan their document via NFC (if both the document and the device are NFC capable)
• End-users scanning NFC-enabled documents will be permitted up to 3 failed attempts, after which the verification flow will proceed without NFC extraction, falling back to the captured document image
• If an end-user selects a document without NFC, they will continue the flow without a prompt for an NFC scan

When configured to "Required":

• After 3 failed NFC extraction attempts, the end-user will be presented with the option to try again or exit the verification flow
• The verification flow will only display NFC-enabled documents to the end-user

Document report tasks linked to this Document Capture task will automatically generate the issuing_authority breakdown detailing the NFC verification steps. Any subsequent Facial Similarity tasks will use the applicant's picture present in the NFC chip by default for comparison.

Use NFC directly with the Onfido SDKs by creating checks with the Onfido API

While we highly recommend configuring NFC scan using Onfido Studio, you can alternatively use NFC extraction directly with the Onfido SDKs by creating a check for a Document report with NFC using the Onfido API.

You will need to use API v3.2 or later in order to receive the issuing_authority breakdown and sub-breakdowns that contain the details of the NFC verification in the Document report.

• if you are currently using API v2 please see this migration guide
• if you are currently using API v3 please see this migraton guide

NFC is not available in earlier versions of the Onfido API. Please refer to our API versioning policy.

Below is an example check creation for an NFC supported passport:

1curl -X POST https://api.eu.onfido.com/v3.6/checks \
2  -H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
3  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
4  -d '{
5  "applicant_id": "<APPLICANT_ID>",
6  "report_names": ["document"],
7  "document_ids": ["<DOCUMENT_ID_FRONT>", "<NFC_MEDIA_ID>"]
8}'

Note: document_ids is only a required parameter for a Document report with NFC as you need to specify the NFC media ID at check creation. For a standard Document report, document_ids is an optional parameter.

Configuring NFC in the Onfido SDKs

Regardless of whether you are using Onfido Studio or creating a check through the Onfido API, NFC extraction must first be configured using our SDKs.

NFC extraction is enabled by default since the release of the following Onfido SDK versions:

Please refer to the relevant instructions for the detailed steps on how to declare the necessary dependencies and permissions in your application, in particular the required pre-requisites for the iOS SDK.

To activate NFC in SDK versions earlier than those specified in the table above, please refer to the corresponding SDK version's technical reference.

Start the SDK flow

The SDK flow for a Document report with NFC includes both the standard document capture screens and additional NFC scan screens.

All users will first be presented with the document capture screens. The additional NFC screens will then be presented to the user if both the user's device and the document type support NFC. Otherwise, the user will finish the SDK flow after the document capture step and no NFC scan will be completed.

Document IDs

On success, the SDK will return a callback which contains an array of document IDs. The document IDs will include:

• the document front image
• the document back image (if the document has 2 sides, for example an ID card)
• the NFC media ID (if the document is supported for NFC and an NFC scan has completed successfully)

As mentioned in the section above, you will need to extract all the document IDs to use when creating a check on the backend using the Onfido API.

iOS

1func getDocumentIds(fromResults results: [OnfidoResult]) -> [String]? {
2        return results.map({ onfidoResult -> [String] in
3            switch onfidoResult {
4            case .document(let documentResult):
5                guard let nfcMediaId = documentResult.nfcMediaId else {
6                    return []
7                }
8                var ids: [String] = [documentResult.front.id]
9                if let backId = documentResult.back?.id {
10                    ids.append(backId)
11                }
12                ids.append(nfcMediaId)
13                return ids
14            default:
15                return []
16            }
17        }).first
18    }
19
20OnfidoFlow(...)
21    .with(responseHandler: { response in
22        switch response {
23            case .success(let results):
24                if let documentIds = getDocumentIds(fromResults: results) {
25                   // USE DOCUMENT IDS FOR CHECK CREATION
26                }
27            ...
28        }
29    })

1(NSArray<NSString*>*)getDocumentIds:(NSArray *)flowResults {
2    ONFlowResult *flowResult = [flowResults firstObject];
3    if (flowResult.type == ONFlowResultTypeDocument) {
4        ONDocumentResult *documentResult = (ONDocumentResult *)flowResult.result;
5        NSMutableArray *documentIds = [NSMutableArray new];
6        [documentIds addObject:documentResult.front.id];
7        if (documentResult.nfcMediaId != nil) {
8            [documentIds addObject:documentResult.nfcMediaId];
9        }
10        if (documentResult.back != nil) {
11            [documentIds addObject:documentResult.back.id];
12        }
13        return [NSArray arrayWithArray:documentIds];
14    }
15    return @[];
16}
17
18ONFlow *flow = [[ONFlow alloc] initWithFlowConfiguration:config];
19[flow withResponseHandler:^(ONFlowResponse *response) {
20    if (flowResponse.results) {
21        NSArray *documentIds = [self getDocumentIds:flowResponse.results];
22        // Use document IDs for check creation
23    } else if (flowResponse.error) {
24        // Handle Error
25    } else if (flowResponse.userCanceled) {
26        // Handle User Canceled Action
27    }
28}, dismissFlowOnCompletion: /* Dismiss Completion Here */ ];

Android

1override fun userCompleted(captures: Captures) {
2    val documentIds = captures.toJson()
3    // add the document ids to check creation request body
4    add("document_ids", documentIds)
5}
6
7private fun Captures.toJson(): JsonArray {
8    val array = JsonArray()
9    document?.nfcMediaUUID?.let { uuid -> array.add(uuid) }
10    document?.front?.let { frontSide -> array.add(frontSide.id) }
11    document?.back?.let { backSide -> array.add(backSide.id) }
12    return array
13}

1oid userCompleted(@NonNull Captures captures) {
2        JsonArray jsonCaptures = capturesToJson(captures);
3
4        // add the document ids to check creation request body
5        JsonObject requestBody = new JsonObject();
6        requestBody.add("document_ids", jsonCaptures);
7}
8
9JsonArray capturesToJson(@NonNull Captures captures) {
10        JsonArray array = new JsonArray();
11        if (captures != null) {
12            Document document = captures.getDocument();
13            if (document != null) {
14                String nfcMediaUUID = document.getNfcMediaUUID();
15                if (nfcMediaUUID != null) {
16                    array.add(nfcMediaUUID);
17                }
18                DocumentSide frontSide = document.getFront();
19                if (frontSide != null) {
20                    array.add(frontSide.getId());
21                }
22                DocumentSide backSide = document.getFront();
23                if (backSide != null) {
24                    array.add(backSide.getId());
25                }
26            }
27        }
28        return array;
29}

React Native

1Onfido.start({
2          sdkToken: 'sdkTokenFromOnfidoServer',
3          flowSteps: {
4            welcome: true,
5            captureFace: {
6              type: OnfidoCaptureType.VIDEO,
7            },
8            captureDocument: {
9              docType: OnfidoDocumentType.DRIVING_LICENCE,
10              countryCode: OnfidoCountryCode.USA,
11            }
12          },
13        })
14          .then(res =>
15            const result = JSON.stringify(res);
16            const nfcMediaId = result.document.nfcMediaId ?? result.document.nfcMediaUUID;
17            const frontId = result.document.front.id;
18            const backId = result.document.back.id;
19
20          )
21          .catch(err => console.warn('OnfidoSDK: Error:', err.code, err.message));

Flutter

1private var result: MethodChannel.Result? = null
2
3override fun userCompleted(captures: Captures) {
4    // deserialize the received captures as per your needs, for example:
5    result?.success(captures.toFlutterResult())
6    result = null
7}
8
9internal fun Captures.toFlutterResult(): Any {
10    val elements = mutableMapOf<String, Any>()
11    this.document?.let {
12        elements["document"] = it.deserialize()
13    }
14    this.face?.let {
15        elements["face"] = it.deserialize()
16    }
17    return listOf(elements)
18}
19
20private fun Face.deserialize(): Map<*, *> {
21    return mapOf("id" to id, "variant" to this.variant.ordinal)
22}
23
24private fun Document.deserialize(): Map<*, *> {
25    val map = mutableMapOf<String, Any>()
26    map["typeSelected"] = this.type.toString().lowercase()
27    map["nfcMediaId"] = this.nfcMediaUUID.toString()
28    front?.let {
29        map["front"] = mapOf("id" to it.id)
30    }
31    back?.let {
32        map["back"] = mapOf("id" to it.id)
33    }
34    return map
35}

NFC results in the Document Report

Result handling

Report breakdown

The issuing_authority breakdown captures the result of the NFC scan. It asserts whether data on the document matches the issuing authority data and uses the following sub-breakdowns:

• nfc_passive_authentication - asserts the data integrity of the NFC data
• nfc_active_authentication - asserts whether the document NFC chip is original or cloned

Result logic

Passive Authentication and Active Authentication are checked whenever supported by the underlying document. Each check can return a result of clear, consider or null as below:

The individual results are then combined in the issuing_authority breakdown into a single result:

The overall document verification result is influenced by the issuing_authority breakdown as follows. Note that if fallback to Visual checks is disabled, the Issuing Authority section would be the main driver to the overall result.

Note that if the document's NFC data contains the applicant's photograph, this photograph will be used in any subsequent facial similarity checks, if configured.

Configuration options

In addition to the NFC verification described in this document, you can configure your account to also trigger Visual Document Verification whatever the issuing_authority breakdown result (clear, consider or null). In those cases, the visual authentication, image integrity and data consistency checks will be performed and the results returned in the respective report breakdowns.

Please contact your Customer Success manager to enable this.

Properties

In the Document check properties an nfc object is returned which includes the NFC extracted document data.

If NFC is not available, no data will be extracted and the nfc object will not be returned.

Addendum

Disabling NFC and Removing SDK dependencies

As NFC is enabled by default and library dependencies are included in the build automatically, the following section details the steps required to disable NFC and remove any libraries from the build process.

iOS

• Disable Near Field Communication Tag Reading capability in your app target. You can follow the steps in Apple's documentation
• Remove any entries relating to the NFC setup from your app target's Info.plist file (please refer to the iOS SDK documentation)
• Pass the following method to disable NFC in the iOS SDK.

1let config = try! OnfidoConfig.builder()
2    .withSDKToken("<YOUR_SDK_TOKEN_HERE>")
3    .withDocumentStep()
4    .disableNFC()
5    .build()

1ONFlowConfigBuilder *configBuilder = [ONFlowConfig builder];
2
3[configBuilder withSdkToken:@"YOUR_SDK_TOKEN_HERE"];
4[configBuilder withDocumentStep];
5[configBuilder disableNFC];
6
7NSError *configError = NULL;
8ONFlowConfig *config = [configBuilder buildAndReturnError:&configError];

Android

• Remove any dependencies (with the specified versions) relating to NFC from your build script. Please refer to the Android SDK documentation
• Pass the following method to remove the NFC document extraction step from the Android SDK flow.

1val config = OnfidoConfig.Builder(this@MainActivity)
2   .withSDKToken(“<YOUR_SDK_TOKEN_HERE>”)
3   .withNFC(NFCOptions.Disabled)
4   .withCustomFlow(flowSteps)
5   .build()

1OnfidoConfig config = new OnfidoConfig.Builder(context)
2    .withSDKToken(“<YOUR_SDK_TOKEN_HERE>”)
3    .withNFC(NFCOptions.Disabled.INSTANCE)
4    .withCustomFlow(flowSteps)
5    .build()

React Native

• Remove any dependencies relating to NFC. Please refer to the relevant section of the React Native SDK Reference
• Include the following initialisation option to remove the NFC document extraction step from the React Native SDK flow.

1config = {
2  sdkToken: “<YOUR_SDK_TOKEN_HERE>”,
3  flowSteps: {
4    <YOUR_FLOW_STEPS_CONFIGURATION_HERE>
5  },
6  disableNFC: true
7}

Flutter

• Remove any dependencies relating to NFC. Please refer to the relevant section of the Flutter Reference
• Include the following initialisation option to remove the NFC document extraction step from the Flutter SDK flow.

1config = {
2  sdkToken: “<YOUR_SDK_TOKEN_HERE>”,
3  flowSteps: {
4    <YOUR_FLOW_STEPS_CONFIGURATION_HERE>
5  },
6  disableNFC: true
7}