I'm trying to use phones to unlock my house door, and was thinking NFC would be the way to go. But reading this thread I see the phone sends a different UID every time it's scanned:
The solution proposed in that thread involves an extra step (user scans phone then enters a code on the phone) that I'd like to avoid if possible. I'd like to simply hold the phone to a reader and have the door unlock.
I don't imagine anyone has any ideas about this? Maybe using a bluetooth mac address? We're not Fort Knox so I'm not that worried about people spoofing our mac address and things like that.
It shouldn't detect phones from a distance though, since that could unlock the door if someone inside the house is near the door. It should require putting a phone on or near a reader.
And any suggestions for a reader that works well with an Arduino or ESP32?
Lot of people have a digitized/tokenized credit or debit card on their smartphone now. You can call it ApplePay, GooglePay, SamsungPay, GarminPay...
You can read the PAN (primary account number) of your card token and some data which might also be stored on your phone with a PN532.
So the usecase would be to just swipe the phone at your reader like you do it at a POS terminal in a shop.
use a PN532. Don't buy cheap chinese fakes.
I can recommend to buy from this vendor: Elechouse.
If you pay less at a different vendor you might get a fake chip which is not working with banking cards. Don't ask me why I learned this the hard way (I have several counterfeight chips here...).
The PN532 can read well card data - from phones also. The necessary steps are not easy, but no rocket science. You will find some information in www.
It came to $30 shipped versus the $8 to $10 shipped versions of it on Amazon, but reading the consumer reviews for those versions every one of them had someone pointing out that they were fakes. And a couple of those people recommended Elechouse. So thanks again for saving me from wasting lots of time with the fakes.
The stuff in your house is easier to sell than bars from Fort Knox.
Do you have insurance against break ins? If yes, you may save yourself some money and stop paying for it. Your insurance may claim you did not know what you were doing when you build the lock and therefore not pay in case of a break in.
As much fun as that kind of project might be, I would be careful about using a self-build locking system for your house.
All modern smartphones randomize Bluetooth/BLE MAC address to protect you from someone tracing you. The process is proprietary, random and can be changed by the OS vendor at any time they suspect a security thread.
That may be the case but sometimes it is not about facts but about documents, certificates and liabilities.
This is a forum for students and electronics beginners, if you are security expert do not ask for our thoughts and then feel offended when we give you advice for beginners.
If you do not want to use the security features of your smartphone e.g., identifying you by PIN, face or fingerprint, I do not see the advantage of using the phone in the first place. I would rather look for a solution that would not require to have any object with me.
No, it's a forum for people building things with Arduinos. And I wasn't offended, sorry if I came off that way.
Because it's faster and more convenient than inserting and turning a key of course. And I and everyone in my house always have our phones with us, for better or worse.
That is why I said "no object" aka key. How about using your face or other bio metrics like voice. Looks like an opportunity to look into camera and AI.
You could ask everyone to learn a magic dance move to open the door.
