A writer at How-To Geek used an expired credit card to toggle a bedside lamp from an iPhone, with no special tag and no cost.
An expired credit card in a drawer can work as a free smart home button. Adam Davidson, a writer at How-To Geek, tapped his old card on his iPhone and it switched his bedside lamp on and off. The card has the contactless payment symbol, which means it holds a small chip that phones can read.
Davidson first tried Home Assistant, free smart home software that can read NFC tags. NFC is the short-range wireless tech behind tap-to-pay. Home Assistant needs to write its own ID onto a tag. A credit card chip is built for secure payments and does not offer that kind of writable storage. The Home Assistant app could not even detect the card.
The fix was the iPhone Shortcuts app, which can run an action when it detects a particular tag. Davidson already used it for his other tags, because Home Assistant's own tag feature asks you to tap a notification before anything happens. Shortcuts skips that step. Your phone must be awake for the scan, but it does not need to be unlocked.
The Home Assistant companion app must be installed for those actions to appear. To test the setup first, Davidson added a vibrate action and an alert. The phone buzzed and showed the message when the card was scanned.
Davidson also has an NFC sticker on his nightstand. He says the card is easier, because a sticker needs the phone lined up precisely. A card can simply be tapped on the phone. He had expected the card's chip to be locked down, but it worked fine.
The write-up covers an iPhone with Home Assistant. It does not say whether the trick works on Android phones or with other smart home systems.
On an iPhone with a smart home, an expired contactless card can be set up in Shortcuts as a free tap-to-control button.
Google Home can now check your home Wi-Fi to decide if you are there, which may fix lights and thermostats that misfire when you come and go.
Read more: A Wi-Fi setting makes Google Home know when you're really homeA writer gave Claude control of his rooted LG TV and fixed slow startup, uneven app volume and a dull screensaver. The privacy gains are less certain.
Read more: A writer used Claude to fix his LG TV's slow startup and loud appsNorth Dakota lawmakers are looking at HB 1447, a bill meant to help prevent crypto fraud, and AARP wants residents to speak up.
Read more: North Dakota weighs a bill to curb crypto scams
