LoggerFlex NFC App: Activate, Scan and Upload

Set up the free LoggerFlex NFC app for iOS and Android: activate a Microthermo logger, scan it without a login and upload the trip to LF Cloud.

The LoggerFlex NFC app is the free official app for iPhone and Android that reads Microthermo single-use NFC temperature loggers and uploads their data to LF Cloud. Activate the tag with its button, set the app up once with an email address, hold the phone over the tag, then upload the data and pull reports.

1. Activate the NFC temperature logger

Activation is a button press and nothing else, so the tag can be started just before it ships.

  • Press the power button 3 times within 2 seconds.
  • A red flash lasting 3 seconds confirms the tag is activated.
  • The tag waits 10 minutes before its first reading, which gives you time to place it in its final location, such as refrigerated transport.
  • It then records temperature every 10 minutes and holds 4,000 records, about four weeks of data; when full, it overwrites the oldest records. Battery life is 2 to 3 months from activation.

2. Set up the free app the first time

Download the LoggerFlex NFC app from the App Store or Google Play. On first launch, choose your language and a dark or light theme, then enter an email address that is already registered to a free LF Cloud account. There is no login or password in the mobile app: the email simply routes scanned data to that cloud account, so the person scanning does not need to be the account owner.

3. Scan the tag on iPhone or Android

Lay the tag landscape on a flat surface such as a table, then follow the steps for your phone.

  • iPhone: place the top edge of the iPhone over the tag with a few centimetres of overlap, then press Start Scanning.
  • Android: the app enters scan mode automatically. Place the top half of the phone over the tag, ideally with the tag about 2 cm (1 inch) below the top of the phone.
  • Do not move the phone or the tag while the progress bar shows the percentage of logs extracted. If the read is interrupted, repeat it from the start.

4. Upload to LF Cloud and get reports

Once the read reaches 100%, give the sensor an optional name and press Upload, with the phone connected to the internet. To view the data, the account owner signs in at app.loggerflex.com, opens the sensor card and goes to Advanced Reports to extract PDF or Excel reports for transportation, vaccine safety or daily averages over any time interval. Readings are stored in LF Cloud, hosted in Canada, with Canadian data residency.

Who sees the data, and when to choose another logger

Role-based access in LF Cloud lets you prevent the person who taps the tag from reading the temperature history, so a courier or receiving clerk can pull a trip off a tag without opening the record. The tag is fully submersible, so it works in wet ice, against gel packs and in humid containers. Because a single-use tag only hands over its data at the end of the trip, use an EDGE cellular logger instead when you need alarms while the load is still moving.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Microthermo NFC logger, and when should I use one?

Microthermo (part nfcmic) is a single-use NFC temperature logger you drop into a parcel, cooler or pallet before it ships. It runs on its own with no gateway, no Wi-Fi and no SIM. At the destination someone with the free LoggerFlex NFC app taps a phone to the tag and the full trip history uploads to LF Cloud, where the shipment report is built. Use it when you need per-shipment proof of cold-chain condition on parcels you do not get back, rather than continuous live monitoring of a fixed room.

How do I start a tag before it ships?

Press the tag's power button three times within two seconds. A red flash lasting three seconds confirms it is running. The tag then waits 10 minutes before its first reading, which gives you time to pack it and get it into the refrigerated space before logging starts. After that it records on its own with no further handling. There is no pairing, no hotspot, no serial number to register and no Wi-Fi step anywhere in this flow — activation is the button press and nothing else.

How long does one tag log, and what happens when it fills up?

The tag captures a reading every 10 minutes and holds 4000 records, about four weeks of continuous logging. When memory is full it overwrites the oldest records, so the tag keeps running but the start of the trip is lost. Battery life is 2 to 3 months from activation. For journeys longer than four weeks, or where the earliest hours are the part you have to prove, use a reusable EDGE cellular logger that syncs as it travels rather than a single tag.

What app reads the tags, and does the person scanning need an account?

The free official LoggerFlex NFC app, on the Apple App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android. On first launch you choose a language and theme, then enter an email address that is already registered on a free LoggerFlex cloud account. There is no login or password in the app itself. The email only routes scanned data to that account, so the person scanning — a driver, a receiver, a warehouse clerk — does not have to be the account owner or hold any LoggerFlex credentials of their own.

How do I scan a tag? My phone keeps losing the read.

Lay the tag landscape on a flat surface first. On iPhone, overlap the phone's top edge over the tag by a few centimetres and press Start Scanning. On Android the app enters scan mode by itself; hold the top half of the phone over the tag, with the tag about 2 cm (1 inch) below the top of the phone. Do not move the phone or the tag while the progress bar runs. If the read is interrupted you have to start it again from the beginning.

Where does the data go, and how do I get a report out of it?

Once the read reaches 100% you can name the sensor and press Upload; make sure the phone is connected to the internet at that point. The data lands in LF Cloud, hosted in Canada, with Canadian data residency. The account owner then signs in at app.loggerflex.com, opens that sensor card and goes to Advanced Reports to extract PDF or Excel reports for transportation, vaccine safety or daily averages over any interval. A free LoggerFlex cloud account is all that is needed to receive the scan.

Can the person who scans the tag also read the temperature data?

Only if you let them. Role-based access in LF Cloud lets the person who taps to extract the data be blocked from reading it, so a courier or receiving clerk can pull a trip off a tag without opening the record. Device sharing uses five roles — Owner, Editor, Viewer, Silent Viewer and Service and Maintenance — granted per device by email invitation; adding new people requires Premium Access, which every device includes for its first year. Only the cloud users you authorize see the temperature history and the reports built from it.

Will a tag survive wet ice, gel packs and humid containers?

Yes. The tag is fully submersible, so it can travel in wet ice, sit against gel packs or ride inside a humid container where a USB stick cannot go. It is flat and light, about 9 g at 72 x 49 x 5 mm, so it lies against the product instead of taking up payload space. The measuring range is -20 °C to +70 °C (-4 °F to +158 °F). For accuracy and the remaining environmental limits, use the Microthermo datasheet on the datasheets page or ask your distributor for the current sheet.

Should I use single-use NFC tags or a reusable cellular logger for shipments?

Use Microthermo when the proof only has to exist at the end of the trip — it is built to stay with a parcel you never get back. Use a reusable cellular logger when you need alarms while the load is still moving: EDGE Thermo Cellular covers -55 C to +125 C on a built-in eSIM that works in over 170 countries. EDGE GEO adds battery-efficient, non-real-time geo-location to that temperature record and uploads trip reports for the route. Many customers run both — tags on outbound parcels, cellular loggers on their own vehicles.

How do I order more tags, and how long do they keep in the stockroom?

Microthermo is supplied through your authorized LoggerFlex distributor, who quotes quantities, lead time and local stock for your region. LoggerFlex is a B2B manufacturer and does not sell hardware direct or publish list prices, so start on the distributors page to find your partner, or use the contact form to be routed to one and to talk to an engineer about volumes. Unused tags carry a published one-year shelf life, so order against the shipping volume you expect in a year rather than stockpiling further ahead.

LoggerFlex Smart Devices Ltd. is a monitoring-device manufacturer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, that sells through distributors and resellers. The range covers WiFi and cellular data loggers and alarms (the EDGE and BLOCK families) that report to LF Cloud without a gateway, and whose patented power management (US Patent US11455877B2) runs EDGE and BLOCK loggers for up to 3 years on 4 AA batteries; single-use NFC temperature loggers for shipments; cellular and WiFi water meters; and remote water quality monitoring.