Automate Sony Wifi Cameras When Your Phone Does Not Support One-Touch NFC

Sony One Touch Marketing

When Sony introduced the One-Touch feature on its devices, it was a smart way to make use of NFC. What better way to seamlessly connect with other devices than to let the NFC chips do the talking. As good and cool as it may seem, not all devices can talk to each other this way. First both devices must have NFC chips inside, and the 'other' device you want to communicate with must allow this. All great and easy when you are tied up to one device manufacturer, like Sony and Samsung does (and like Apple does in general). But in reality, this is not the case.

However, there are ways to get around this and as always, the beauty of Android is that by default the ecosystem allows you to do so. Enter AutomateIt, from Google Play. This wonderful app allows you to 'automate' or 'program' what you want to do with your Android device. 

AutomateIt from Google Play Store

Now with AutomateIt, it is possible to somehow emulate what happens when the NFC handshaking is established and the expected applications are automatically launched. 

How? By making a rule which detects the devices (through Wifi for example) and selecting the application you want to launch when this happens.

Example case is the Sony DSC-WX80 Wifi camera. When such an AutomateIt Rule is set up, as soon as AutomateIt detects that the phone has connected to the camera's wifi access point, it launches the Sony PlayMemories application, and in an instant you can start shooting photos or videos.

It may not however be 100% the same as One-Touch, but it's much much simpler!

See the example rule below:

AutomateIt Start Screen

AutomateIt Sony Play Memories Rule. 

Do not forget to Save after you create this.