NFC doesn't support WIFI syntax
I've been diving into NFC read/write using r/IOS. I have a robust r/qrcode addressing framework and from what I see, there is an analogous relationship between a QR code and an NFC tag. The difference is in how they are recognized: NFC uses a radio frequency, and QR uses an optical scanner (or internal image scanner). The result is usually just text and typically a URL.
Everything was going good until I tried a WIFI setup URL. Using the common WIFI:S:<ssid>;P:<pass> syntax I figured any reader would work as if reading a QR code. Well as noted here and elsewhere, Apple doesn't seem to recognize this syntax as a WIFI setup (but it does with QR codes). It was mentioned that maybe Android does work. I think that's a mistake for Apple, unless they thought of some strange security concern (vs QR code).
Of course a custom NFC reader could do the right thing with that syntax. But that's limiting.
I did come up with an approach where the WIFI syntax is wrapped in a base64 string and then passed as a parameter to a custom web service. That new web service URL is what I can write to the NFC tag. When that NFC tag is read, the resulting web page shows the decoded WIFI syntax (and a corresponding QR code). The user would still have to scan or touch that web page to join the WIFI network. It seems convoluted but it's the best I could come up with.
Has anyone else figured out a work around (aside from using a QR code)?