Assigning 3rd Party NFC Cards with Android Devices

With Kisi, you can unlock doors with Kisi cards (Kisi Pass), third-party NFC cards, tags or fobs. In this article, we will focus on third-party NFC cards, including public transportation and credit cards. If you have bought cards from Kisi (Kisi Passes), we recommend reading the article Adding Cards for Members.

Assigning third-party NFC cards can only be done on the Kisi Android app. You must be logged into the Android device with the login credentials belonging to an Administrator of your place.

Not all cards are compatible with the Kisi system. Please check that your card specs are compatible. Currently, 125khz cards are not supported.

If the card is not a native Kisi card but is still an NFC card, it can most likely be assigned to work with Kisi (although there are some NFC cards that don't have the necessary encryption to be compatible with the Kisi system). When using a third-party card Kisi only reads the card's UID and does not utilize any cryptographic features. To activate third-party cards, they will need to be scanned and activated by an Android device having a NFC scanner app installed.

 

Android Devices with NFC

To do this, you will need to open your Kisi app, select your place and click your company's logo in the upper right-hand corner (Pictured as Kisi's logo in the below screenshot).

 

 

It will then take you to this screen.  Click Assign Card

 

 

Make sure NFC is turned on and you will see this screen:

 

 

Bring your card to your phone so that the NFC antenna in your device can read your card. Once it's in range, you'll see this screen:

 

 

 

Enter your email address and click Assign. 

 

 

Check your email for a message from Kisi asking you to activate your card.  Click the link to activate your card.

 

Once your card is properly activated, you should see this screen:

 

 

Now you can use your Kisi card/tag/fob!

You can also de-assign your card from this screen, as well.

 

Android Devices without NFC

If your device does not have NFC, you'll see this screen:

 

 

You can enter the token manually:

 

 

You can also use your camera to scan the QR code on the front of the card:

 

 

After checking your card should appear:

 

 

Enter your email address associated with your Kisi account. Then check your email for a message from Kisi asking you to activate your card.  Click the link to activate your card.

Once your card is properly activated, you should see this screen:

 

Now you can use your Kisi card/tag/fob! 

 You can also deassign your card from this screen, as well.

 

Errors with Assigning Cards

 

 Occasionally, you may run into an error when assigning cards.  Here are a few messages you may see:

  

 

If your card is assigned to you, but your place owner did not associate it with your place, you will see this message.  You'll need to contact your place admin:

 

 

If your card cannot be assigned to you, and you see this screen, contact your place admin:

 

 

If you have this failure message when trying to de-assign your card and see this screen, contact your place admin: