FloJack BZR doesnt work

[MartinParticipant]

Hello,
today I have received FloJack BZR and the device doent work at all – not recognizing anything. Trying to update firmware: Connection success, but than the update aborted at the step 134. Any hint please?
Thx & best regards,
Martin

PS: Order #57036

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Martin, I’m not sure I follow your issue. Which step is “134”??

I shared our internal Test application with you via TestFlight… Please install and verify that your reader is reading tags as a sanity check.

best,
Richard

[MartinParticipant]

Hi Richard,

what is TestFlight pls?

BR,
Martin

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Martin, TestFlight is a app sharing platform from Apple. It allows us to send you applications privately directly to customers. I added you to the program so you should have received an email from itunesconnect.apple.com with details on how to install the Flomio Test app.

best,
Richard

[MartinParticipant]

Hi Richard,
TestFlight app installed. But I have not received any email with any details from itunesconnect.apple.com. App requires invitation code. May you send me the code pls?
Thx & br,
Martin

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Martin, I sent it to your registered email address. I checked and the system shows you have not activated your account. Please check your spam and junk folders in case it got filtered out.

best,
Richard

[MartinParticipant]

Hi Richard,

I have found all your emails (hold in junk folder), bu I have not found any other mail from itunesconnect.apple.com or having anything flojack or Test flight in text. May you send it once more? What about to try another adress? You can use the same as related to the order, just with suffix @seznam.cz

Thank you.
Best,
Martin

[RichardKeymaster]

Ok, I have deleted the original entry and recreated as well as sent to the same email but with the @seznam.cz suffix… let me know if you still don’t see it.

It may be necessary that you create an AppleID account under the emails in question in order to get the invitations. I’m not certain about that but worth mentioning in the case that you haven’t registered those emails with Apple yet.

best,
Richard

[MartinParticipant]

Hi Richard,

I finally get all the emails and installed TestFlight and Test apps. I am using iPhone 6S with iOS 10.1.1. The Flojack BZR is not working both with the NFC Action and Testgflight apps – see the video here:

Any idea what might be wrong?

Thx & br,
Martin

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Martin, please remove the NFC Actions app from your device. It’s out of date and no longer supported. We’ve actually removed it from the app store altogether recently. Make sure that when you run the Flomio Test App there are no other apps running in the background that may interfere with the audio exchange between the iPhone and the reader. Here’s a quick video I recorded showing the expected behavior:

best,
Richard

[MartinParticipant]

Hi Richard,

– NFC actions app removed
– all other apps running on background removed
– process see your video done 1:1

Results: the Flojack just beeps being putted in, but than the Test app felt down as before :-(. I can make video morning as soon I have second phone available, but it will be basically the same as before except tryibg NFC actions app.

Questions:
– what is the basic app for Flojack when NFC actions is discontinued?
– shall I try on another phone? I have done at the beginning with 2 other phones, when not working, but with NFC actions app. Maybe w another it works?
– what to try next?

Best regards,
Martin

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Martin, thanks for your patience even though things aren’t working for you. Some answers to your questions:

– what is the basic app for Flojack when NFC actions is discontinued?

We learned we are not good at making pretty apps so we will focus on making a functional app that works to prove all the functions of our readers but perhaps doesn’t look so pretty. That is what the Flomio Test App is design to do and that is the basic app we will be promoting going forward.

– shall I try on another phone? I have done at the beginning with 2 other phones, when not working, but with NFC actions app. Maybe w another it works?

Yes, it’s worth trying on another phone. iOS version, audio jack being damaged, volume not set to the max are all issues that could prevent the BZR from working properly.

– what to try next?

I would make sure the FloJack BZR is full charged. I would confirm that the iPhone audio jack is working by plugging in some headphones and using the Voice Recorder app on iOS to make sure the microphone records sound and plays back sound. I would also check that the headphone volume is set to the max. Finally, I would try holding off from plugging in the BZR to the phone until after the Test app is launched and the FloJack BZR is selected. Does the app still crash?

[MartinParticipant]

Hi Richard,

trying all advices, result the same 🙁 :

Using another iPhone – model 5S (previous model 6S), iOS 10.1.1. (latest, the same). Speaker jack working well, volume set up to max, all other apps closed. The app is falling down even without Flojack inserted. With Flojack inserted as well. Flojack (hopefully) fully charged, was on charger the whole night. But I dont see any confirmation of being charged like green light – bug or feature?. Always just orange light when charging starts plus couple of next minutes and then no led signalization. Might this be an reason?

Summary: It is exactly the same behavior as on my iPhone = not working at all.

See video: https://youtu.be/-1RUql6eyas

I am already frustrated with this device 🙁

BR,
Martin

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Martin, I think we’ve found the issue. It seems that in iOS 10.1.1 Apple is requiring a microphone access permission to be accepted by users before trying to connect to that interface and it’s causing the app to crash. This access permission was not required in previous versions of iOS and since our test phones already have the app working, upgrades don’t exhibit the problem. We realized this today when testing on a new iPhone. We are working on a fix and will need to submit it through the Apple app approval process which can take 24hrs. Once we’ve gotten that done we will be pushing out the new version to you via TestFlight. You will get an alert once it’s ready but if you don’t see it be tomorrow please follow up on this thread and I’ll check the status for you.

again, thanks for your patience.
Richard

[MartinParticipant]

Hi Richard,

I have received, installed and tried the Test app update. And – finally some progress is there :-). Flojack starts to work – it can read tags finally. Not always – sometimes it needs to disconnect it more times and after plugging in wait few second before start reading, but than it reads. Nevertheless it can read just the UUID. Once I tried to read data, the app crash again and felt down. What to do next?

Further question: how I can use the Flojack to write data? I have tried it with your previous app “NFC actions” and there is still does not work. The test app seems to be just for testing purpose, so how I can use it?

Thx & br,
Martin

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Martin, thanks for your feedback and continued cooperation. We have found the issues reading and writing data blocks on our side as well as are looking to correct them. The “NFC Actions” app has been discontinued and removed from the app store. Please delete it. Moving forward we will be building the Test App to be more functional and introduce features for reading and writing tags across our reader products. You will need to be patient about with us though as we are a small team and have a lot of customers with differing requests.

You are welcome to use the freely available hardware drivers we publish on our GitHub page. These will allow you to not be limited by our Flomio SDK release schedule. Other than that you have the option of buying Flomio Service hours and we will prioritize your specific needs. This is the option most enterprises choose to get critical stuff done within a reasonable amount of time.

best,
Richard

[ScottKeymaster]

Hi Martin,

Here is the latest build of v2.2 beta. This will make your BZR be able to read data from Mifare Ultralight and Mifare Type 4 tags. Please let me know how you get on with this.

Regarding writing data, my recommendation would be to try set the scan period to be quite large (say 3000) while in kReadUuid state, then wait for the beep which means the reader is ‘connected’ to the tag, then send your write data APDUs. It requires well-timed APDUs which I realise is not ideal but we are aware of this and are working to make it easier to send APDUs manually to the Flojack BZR.

Kind Regards,
Scott

[MartinParticipant]

Hi Richard & Scott,

I have bought Flomio Flojack as an accessory for your app NFC Actions to be able read and write NFC tags in an easy way, because I need to solve this problem.

The reason of my purchase was not to take part on an development project as tester. As I am unfortunately no SW developer, Github drivers and advices how to use it within an testing app are not much worth for me. I dont know what is kReadUUid, APDU etc.
If there is no app I can easily use the FloJack, I want to return it.

Best regards,
Martin

[ScottKeymaster]

Hi Martin,

Sorry for that, I assumed you had used the Flomio SDK and were a software developer! My apologies! That is is why I was mentioning APDUs, kReadUUID and other software related stuff.

With the Flomio Test App which was shared to you via TestFlight, you will be able to Read data easily with your Flojack BZR. This will allow you to read UUIDs and also read information stored on the tags.

You will not however be able to write data without writing your own custom software as some customers have tried to do (while also using our Flomio SDK). If you still wish to return, Richard will be on later to facilitate that.

Kind Regards,
Scott

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by  Scott.
• This reply was modified 8 years ago by  Scott.

[MartinParticipant]

Hi Scott,

What I want is to read and write NFC tags, that is all. I have no fun on buying stuff and sending it back and forth.
So, if you can tell me, how I can write in an easy ways the tags even with test app, I will be happy. But I am not sw developer.

Best regards,
Martin

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Martin, you’re more than welcome to ship the unit you purchased back to us. If it’s received within 30days from time of purchase and in working order we can refund your purchase. That being said, the reader we sent you is capable of reading and writing NFC tags, but perhaps not the specific format that you’re interested in. What exactly are you trying to read and write to NFC tags? How will you use this data in your application?

thanks,
Richard

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