When a consumer taps their phone on a ForgeStop-protected product, what happens next? This article walks through the end-to-end experience so you know exactly what your customers see.

The Four Screens

A consumer scan goes through up to four screens, all rendered in the phone's default browser — no app required.

Screen	When It Appears	What's On It
Verify	Immediately after the tap, before the product is authenticated	Brand logo, heading, Verify button
Authenticated	After a successful tap + verification	Brand logo, product image, product name, lot info, "Show More" toggle
Show More	When the consumer expands the toggle on the Authenticated screen	Your custom HTML content — regulatory info, video, coupons, loyalty forms, anything
Retry	When the tap didn't read cleanly (consumer moved phone too fast)	Retry prompt, message, optional contact link

If authentication fails cryptographically (counterfeit tag), the consumer sees a counterfeit screen instead of the Authenticated screen.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Step 1 — The Tap

The consumer holds the top of their phone (where the NFC antenna lives) against the product tag for about one second. The phone buzzes once to confirm it read the tag. On iOS the OS shows a small NFC banner. On Android the browser opens directly.

Step 2 — The Verify Screen

The phone's browser opens your branded authentication URL. The first screen is Verify — a blurred or grayscale product image with a prominent button labeled Verify (or whatever custom label you configured in your theme template).

This screen gives the consumer a moment to confirm they are authenticating the right product before the cryptographic check completes. It also lets the server finish its signature verification in the background.

Step 3 — The Authenticated Screen

After the consumer taps Verify (or after a brief auto-delay), the product image sharpens into full color and the screen changes to Authenticated. They see:

Your brand logo at the top
The product image in full color
The product name, lot number, production date, and expiration date
Any custom metafields you have configured to display
A Show More button, if enabled

Step 4 — Show More (Optional)

If the consumer taps Show More, the accordion expands to reveal whatever content you have configured for that product (or for that specific batch, if you have per-batch Show More set up). This is your chance to deepen the engagement — videos, coupons, loyalty signup, ingredient lists, tasting notes, regulatory docs, whatever fits your brand.

Step 5 — Retry (If Needed)

If the phone's NFC read was incomplete, the consumer sees the Retry screen with a friendly message and a button to try again. This is common when the phone is moved too quickly or the tag is behind a particularly thick material.

How It Looks on Different Brands

Because each brand configures its own theme template, the look-and-feel varies wildly. A luxury wine brand might have an ivory card on a deep navy background with serif headings. A pharma brand might have a clean white card with clinical sans-serif typography and regulatory information panels. Both go through the same four-screen flow.

If you are a brand designer, see Product Templates: Customizing the Authentication Screens for how to build the template, and Customizing Templates with Advanced Custom CSS for finer control over every element.