Extremely Useful NFC Home Automation Ideas!

I put NFC tags all over my house! These NFC home automation ideas will make your life easier... and make you want WAY more NFC tags everywhere.

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NFC tags I use
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0:00 Intro
0:25 Recycling Bin Reminder
1:13 NFCs in the car?!
2:15 Washer and dryer timer
2:56 Toilet paper announcement
3:12 Away mode
3:33 Night stand automations
4:11 Hidden tags in family room
4:41 New favorite wallets
6:00 More hidden tags!
6:17 Wall plate ideas
6:40 Bedtime routine
6:57 Chore tracking
7:24 Storage bins
7:43 Override lights
8:00 Pass off music
8:14 Pause doorbell alerts
8:39 Important to know!
9:40 Fastest chores ever

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MUSIC
Doctor Momentum by Slynk
The End by EVA

[SmartHomeSolver]

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My favorite NFC tags linked in the description! A few other links you may want to check out:

[GeraldMcAlister]

Wow, really surprised you didn’t mention one of the greatest uses of NFC ever: Guest Wifi information! Android supports the ability to auto-connect to wifi via NFC tags, and with an iPhone you can still send them a webpage with the guest wifi information included. Incredibly helpful when having many guests over at once! There’s a product called WiFi Porter that I love for this functionality, but can also be done with NFC tags like in your video.

[JanJeronimus]

For the storage bins, you can show a picture of the inside of the bin when scanning the tag.
Also you can configure a counter in some type of tags so you know how often it is used.

[PaulFletter]

Thanks for sharing all those ideas. I love your creativity. When I design my systems, I really drill down on the WHY and HOW of smart home magic, and NFC hasn't gripped me strongly yet... often you see people designing just a new, and often less convenient, "switch". For example, the bedside NFC tag is less convenient than a button (because you don't need your phone in hand and powered on); the tag on the washing machine is good only if you have your phone with you while you're moving laundry loads; same for the recycling bin, i could imagine me moving that out in the middle of the night wearing only skivvies, i.e. no phone ;). The benefit of NFC is that the physical device must be in physical proximity... so it works well for cases like a Security Guards making their rounds (physically checking in at the various locations on their route. I'm still not sold, but I keep hoping to find more valid uses. Either way, your video is a great overview for helping make those decisions. Fantastic job from your whole family, they're great sports! Keep it up!

[drifach]

Although it’s not an exact replacement, the Home Assistant mobile app supports generated QR codes for automation. Print them out with a label maker and Home Assistant will run an automation or scene when you scan them. Best of all, compared to NFC tags, QR codes are virtually free.

[Joemama-kmnp]

Dude, you have to remember what 100 NFC tags around your house are for but you forget when the trash cans have to go out!? LoL.

[RiceChrispy]

I like the storage idea, I think I'd find a way to have a picture of each item, to make it easier to know what's in there. Maybe using some kind of inventory software. Maybe just have a prompt when you scan the tag, to add or remove something from the container. And if you're adding something, you can take a photo to add it to inventory or pick from a list of things already in the system. Have a container tag for each room, and one for outside stuff. That way when you are putting winter stuff in storage and pulling out summer stuff, you can reassign things to the place they're going to be.
Basically a wet dream for anyone obsessed with organizing things. Lol

Plus I think having a photo log of all of your belongings could be a good thing in case you need to make an insurance claim or something.

[JevVan]

Reed, you have some of the best automations idea on the Tube. But I have some improvements for your laundry. I use a smart plug on the clothes washer to monitor the power draw to tell me when the load is done. Then I have a temp probe wrapped into a fold of the dryer exhaust hose. When the temp starts dropping fast, the load is done. I actually did these before I started using NFC tags. They work well and have high WAF because she doesn't carry her phone with her everywhere like some folks do. Thanks as aways and keep coming with the awesome ideas!

[giga-chicken]

Some of these are good ideas, but others I think could have better triggers. For instance on the laundry I prefer to use a current sensor and an automation that detects when power draw on the washer or dryer drops to zero. For setting the house to away mode I prefer to use the alarm panel to set the alarm when leaving, and that sets everything else to away mode.

[MatthewNOHU]

For those that are asking how you create (more correctly write) the tags, it's done right in the Home Assistant app on either Android or iOS.

[Saturn]

None of this is selling me on NFC tags, but I do like the effort you put into using them and finding out why people might like them!

[nateb_inovelli]

Another great video! Love the use of NFC tags behind light switch covers!

[MeHeidiE]

We have them all over our house (under coasters too..lol) and in our cars. We love them for home automation! Now since I've watched your video, I need to add an "unlock door" one to each car.

[StvPaterek]

I love how you illustrate some of the pitfalls of a given automation with the little skits like at the end of this video. Great job as always.

[senil]

A complete tutorial would be useful, in which we can see how we can program an nfc on android, what programs we need, etc. Thanks !

[ejbc]

NFC tags are the best!!!, I have it all over my home too. In my living room I hide the tags in the back of the controls to start TV, Movie or Game mode routines depending of the control I scan, I love it!

[SirJasperofOZ]

Whenver i run out of toilet paper, i find screaming generally works...😂😂😂

[freestylefreak]

“Spare a square” with the Seinfeld clip!!!! LOVE

[beau]

The NFC garage door opener is cool, but you should look into getting a Tailwind iQ3 garage controller. It automatically opens and closes your door when you approach or leave your home, as long as your phone is connected to your car's Bluetooth. It's inexpensive and it's worked flawlessly for me over the years.

Edit: My Google Pixel 6 running Android 13 has an option in settings called "Require device unlock for NFC". You can toggle it off.

[guygalloway]

Another great video, thank you 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 One thing I would love to see is a series of videos showing how you actually build these automations in Apple’s Shortcuts app - it’s really fun coming up with and seeing cool home automation ideas but the biggest hurdle (for me at least) is actually building them. There are very few videos on YouTube showing how to do this. Seeing how you Pro’s do it would really be so helpful. Keep up the good work!