I have repeated my steps without a case, which go something like:

1. Remove case.
2. Make sure NFC is enabled.
3. Open Control app and open the read feature.
4. Use loose tag to test sweet spot. Put fingers to mark off the area but not cover.
5. Tap ring. If fail, roll ring.

What am I doing wrong that it (is now) almost always failing at the last step? I have tried different orientations, different sides of the ring (so that it's not reading the same tag), slowly moving it around the sweet spot.

As an experiment, I put a finger between the smallest empty tag and the phone and flipped it so that the paper backing is facing the phone and bent it so that only half an inch of it is near the phone, and it is definitely being read! Then I tried with two fingers, which doesn't read.

What am I doing wrong to cause the ring reads to fail? I've just tried the alpha and normal rings about 10 times each this morning and none of them are being read.

I am going to recognize that there is an issue with NFC and the Nexus 7 2013. Apparently some N7 2013's have an issue reading NFC properly. I'm going to post my troubleshooting steps over in the Note 2 thread since that has no issues reading NFC devices or the empty tags whatsoever.

I really appreciate the help.

I apologize for not being clear.

I have repeatedly my steps many times without a case (I'm not even troubleshooting with one), which go something like:

1. Remove case.
2. Make sure NFC is enabled.
3. Open Control app and open the read feature.
4. Use loose tag to test sweet spot. Put fingers to mark off the area but not cover.
5. Tap ring. If fail, roll ring.

What am I doing wrong that it (is now) almost always failing at the last step?

Also, thanks for noticing that I posted two threads with the same issue. I saw in other threads that you wanted separate threads for different devices so I wasn't sure if that applied in this situation.

Like I mentioned in the first post, even WITHOUT a case, about 90% of the time the rings aren't read.

And even when the ring is read, if I try again, it won't be read. You can imagine how frustrating this is.

My Nexus 7 can't read any rings through the case.

Sometimes the rings can't be read at all, case or no case. I have two normal rings and an alpha ring.

Yes, I have NFC enabled.

Edit: So I just tested all my rings. NONE of them are being read but the NFC sticker tag sort of is (the control app vibrates the phone when I test in read mode).

My Note 2 can't read any rings through the case. The Note 2 has an Otterbox Defender.

Sometimes the rings can't be read at all, case or no case. I have two normal rings and an alpha ring.

Yes, I have NFC enabled.

Edit: So I just tested all my rings. NONE of them are being read but the NFC sticker tag sort of is (the control app vibrates the phone when I test in read mode).

So the alpha ring I received is black/white but it's supposed to be black/wood...

It works more or less on my Note 2 and Nexus 7 but occasionally it can't be read.