Japan NFC Reader vs NFC Commander
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Japan NFC Reader
Easily check the balance and usage history of various Japanese transit and e-money cards directly on your iPhone. Supports a wide range of IC cards and payment services for convenient financial tracking.
- Check e-money balance
- View usage history
- Supports Transit IC cards
- Supports Rakuten Edy, nanaco, WAON
- Supports Hong Kong Octopus card
- iPhone compatibility
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You can check Japanese e-money balance and usage history on your iPhone. Support: ・Transit IC（Suica, PASMO, ICOCA, SUGOCA, TOICA, Kitaca, manaca, nimoca, はやかけん(Hayakaken)） ・IruCa ・PASPY ・SAPICA ・icsca ・OKICA ・Ryuto ・Region Affiliate Transit IC（totra, Iwate Green Pass, iGUCA, HACHICA, AOPASS, nolbé, Shuhoku Orange Pass, AkiCA, Towada SkyBlue Pass, cherica, MegoICa, …and more!） ・Rakuten Edy ・nanaco ・WAON ・Japan Univ. Co-op IC Prepaid ・八達通 (Octopus) (Hong Kong) Devices that support card scanning: WITH iOS 13.0 OR LATER iPhone 14 Pro iPhone 14 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhone 14 Plus iPhone SE (3rd generation) iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 13 Pro Max iPhone 13 iPhone 13 mini iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12 Pro Max iPhone 12 iPhone 12 mini iPhone SE (2nd generation) iPhone 11 Pro iPhone 11 Pro Max iPhone 11 iPhone XS iPhone XS Max iPhone XR iPhone X iPhone 8 iPhone 8 Plus iPhone 7 (sold in Japan) iPhone 7 Plus (sold in Japan)
NFC Commander
This utility app allows you to read and write data to NFC cards. It supports multiple data reads and writes, various data types, and specific formats for auto-recognition on newer iPhones. An advanced version offers additional features.
- Read NFC card data
- Write data to NFC cards
- Multiple data reads/writes
- Support for multiple data types
- Specific format writing for auto-recognition
- Dark mode support
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NFCommander identifies NFC tags on iPhone, then reads and writes NDEF when the tag has it. Hold a sticker or card to see UID, technology, and capacity. Write a link, text, or vCard, clone a scan onto another sticker, or permanently lock the next tag you hold. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Identify MIFARE, ISO 15693, FeliCa, and ISO 7816 tags (iPhone 7 and later) • See UID, maker, capacity, and whether a tag is writable or locked • Read NDEF records: links, text, vCard, Smart Poster, and more • Write templates: link, text, email, phone, message, maps, vCard, or a custom NDEF record • Copy a scanned tag and write it to another writable sticker • Permanently lock a physical tag with the system writeLock API • Keep scan history on your iPhone, including UID COMPATIBILITY • Bank cards, secure ID documents, and dynamic-ID transit cards are handled by Apple Pay and cannot be read here • iOS restricts third-party apps from using MIFARE Classic or reading tags in the background • NFC is available on supported iPhones only • Locking a tag cannot be undone PRIVACY FIRST • Identify, read, write, and lock happen on your iPhone • No cloud, no analytics, no tracking, no sign-in • UID and records never leave your iPhone unless you copy or share them FREE AND PREMIUM • Identifying a tag and viewing UID, technology, and capacity is free • Premium unlocks writing, cloning, locking, and every NDEF record on a multi-record tag
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: NFC Commander at none against Japan NFC Reader's shown. NFC Commander also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 67%). Japan NFC Reader's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 34 months) and ratings volume (31 vs 6). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Japan NFC Reader sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and NFC Commander sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Japan NFC Reader against 4.8 for NFC Commander. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Japan NFC Reader has 31 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Japan NFC Reader's written reviews are positive against 100% of NFC Commander's.
Japan NFC Reader ships an update every 6 days, NFC Commander every 34 months. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.
| Parameter | Japan NFC Reader | NFC Commander |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (31 ratings) — better | 4.8 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 31 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Every 34 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ryoga Tanaka | 袁杰 张 |
Customer experience
Japan NFC Reader
NFC Commander
In-app purchases
Japan NFC Reader
- Hide Ads (General)$1.99
- Hide Ads (Advanced Features)$4.99
NFC Commander
- Premium Edition$0.99
Questions
Is Japan NFC Reader free?
Is NFC Commander free?
Which has better reviews, Japan NFC Reader or NFC Commander?
Do Japan NFC Reader or NFC Commander have ads?
Which is updated more often, Japan NFC Reader or NFC Commander?
Other comparisons
