I am currently working on an NFC communication between an Apple iPhone 12 and a NXP NTAG 5 boost device (in active mode).
I am doing range tests between these two devices and I would like to have more explanation on this behavior.
When my iPhone is simply unlocked, the range is only 2 centimeters (I evaluate this range by gradually approaching my iPhone until it detects the tag) while when I use the NFC Tools application, I easily reach 5 centimeters.
Can you explain me precisely what is the reason for this?
Does the application activate a feature that increases the sensitivity of the iPhone?
Is there a feature to activate on the iPhone to improve its NFC range without using an application?
I don't know iPhone but I seem to remember a post here about Android and about the RF field on time analysis with proper measurement kit and it was concluded that the time that the RF field was on was increased and the frequency of the polling was increased and this increased the detection range when an App was actively asking the system to detect a tag.
It was concluded that this was a power saving feature when there was no App actively asking the system to detect tags.
I'm sure this is probably the case with the iPhone as well as it is a sensible power saving feature to reduce power used when there is a lower chance of a tag needing to be detected when there is no Active App asking for Tag detection.