Nope, I didnt get one of those.
Placement on the outside of the case is no option: it’s silicon and the sticker wont stick.
The phone (currently with nfc amplifier attached) reads my xmagic in the other hand instantly. Also with the iphone in its case.
Compared to that, reading the flex in my left hand is a lot of work (without the case on).
Now that I think of it: reading it was a lit easier a couple of months ago
Are you able to get your flex to read with other devices?
I have no other devices to test it. I do have a ACR1252, but since my mac doesnt recognize it, I only hear a beep when I scan my flex.
I found an other field detector I got with my xmagic.
I tested my iphone, ajusted the sticker somewhat to the corner and I get a clear signal on the detector.
but still no reading on the flex with the case and sticker attached
and I found another iphone case, made of clear plastic and somewhat thinner than my normal case.
also -with sticker- no reading
The acr1252 should have no problem reading it. Even if your Mac doesn’t understand or know what to do with it, the driver is active and the reader should beep. It looks like the Apex is a truly dead.
I think it is reading it
Oh I missed that… I thought they said scan my next not Flex… so if the Apex Flex is being presented to the reader and the reader’s beeping then it is alive.
Yes the flex does work, but the interaction with the iphone is terrible. Especially compared with my other implant (xmagic):
Flex:
Without case: ~25% success rate (*)
With case: 0% success rate
Without case, with sticker: <25% success rate
With case, with sticker: 0% success rate
Xmagic:
100% success rate in all scenarios
(*) this was higher, it seems to have worsened over time (same phone)
The sticker has been placed on the back, on the top(30%) and the back (70%) on different positions.
The flex is placed on the cutting edge of the left hand. The wound has completaly healed, not sore for months. There has not been an external impact of any significans to the flex like a blow to the hand.
I realise that this result is what it is. For me, the flex doesnt fulfill my use case (daily use to read otp woth my iphone).
I apreciate all the help above, but I’ll have to live with this result.
My post is for those who perform a pre-sale research on the flex.
Knowing all I know now, I think I would still have bought the flex, but would have considered more reseqrxh in the placement of the implant.
let’s experiment a bit with iphone orientation on the apex flex… the iphone’s antenna is very picky. start with the case off so we can zero in on a good method. no sticker should be needed to get a read, but it can help.
fyi, if i’ve not mentione this before, this is considered a “danger zone” for flex implants.
Getting a read from this location with your iphone could be difficult… but still worth a try. The one thing to consider with iphones vs android phones is that with android you hold the flat large back surface of the phone to a tag while the iphone tends to work best if you hold just the top edge of the phone to the implant… so it’s basically 90° up on the z-axis from how you’d do it with android. For example;
I would keep trying different orientations and rotations looking for a good coupling. I haven’t done enough with iphones and flex to give you a good guide off the top of my head, but it’s now on my list to make a short video about it like I did above for x-series
Mine is in position 4 (what I call the cutting edge :-))
it is never flexing in that position, so with my limited knowledge I would expect the same result with a flex that is more positioned to the center, like position 3 or 2.
In my case the positive readings occur within the range of 45-90 degrees in the z-axis. 90 degrees doenst result in more positive readings than 60 degrees for instance.
Most of the positive readings occur when keeping the iphone in a 45-90 degree angle, touching the skin and approaching the implant.
sometimes rotation the phone hen positioned above the flex does the trick.
I did some testing last night with about 200 readings. In the case of a positive reading, I repeated it in exactly the same manner and angle, and none of those attempts resulted in another positive reading.
So my conclusion is: a positive reading is more of a lucky outcome, than a predictable one.
So now I remove the case, try it 4-5 times and most of the times it will result in a positive reading. In the other occasions it will result in a positive reading after more than 5 attempts.
The flex itself works, but the combination with the location and my iPhone probably results in this experience.
I shifted the use case of the flex to being a backup for my yubikey.
ps: I deeply appreciate all the effort and time people spend on this forum to react on posts like mine. Kudos!
FYI
I see. In my case it is the green position, not the red one. Thus: I shouldnt call it the cutting edge 
Good to know: there is also a post regarding the knive edge, where it advises to not install it on the knive edge, but on the position where I have it right now.
I’m planning to move the flex to a new position, not neccesarily in a hand.
What
Might be a goof place for daily use, with an iphone?
Perhaps on top or bottom of my Wrist?
Make sure no tools are used on the implant so the casing does not get compromised.
Don’t let your installer use metal tools on it! No forceps, no tweezers.
Back of the hand is a good spot for me. But I ain’t got an iPhone.
Test out the ergonomics of reading with your iPhone.
Remember the best orientation and let that guide your decision
fwiw, I have my apex flex in my right forearm. About 2 inches or so up from my wrist. I wasn’t able to get a read on my iPhone 14 Pro or my iPhone 16 Pro at all until I put a resonator sticker on, even without a case on. Now I can reliably read my apex (with a case on) in yubico auth for TOTP and elsewhere for passkeys. It’s not 100%, but probably 98%? And when it fails it usually is related to me moving the phone out of range before reading is actually complete.
Before I got it installed, I taped a java smart card to my arm in different spots and scanned it with my phone to see what felt most natural for regular use. That’s how I landed on where I did for placement.
How long did that transition from not being able to read it to reliable reads take?
Once I got the sticker on my phone, it was just a few days to get used to the positioning. Certainly doesn’t help that I sometimes use it on a pixel as well so my muscle memory messes with me sometimes. I didn’t get a sticker on my iPhone until a few weeks after I got the apex installed, I was relying on my pixel to interact with my apex during that time.
Something I forgot to add in my last post: the sticker improved the performance on my iPhone so much that I can even read my apex through most of my sweaters. Comes in real handy when I don’t want to roll up my sleeve.
Nice! Can you post a picture of exactly where your sticker is on your iPhone?
