Put your contact card behind a single scan
A vCard code carries your name, number, email and company inside the image itself. Someone scans it, taps 'Add contact', and you're in their phone — no typing, no misspelled email, no 'text me your number so I have it'.
The catch that ruins most vCard codes is density. Every extra field adds data, the pattern gets finer, and a printed code that looked fine on screen becomes unscannable on a business card. The trick is knowing what to leave out.
Keep it lean or it won't scan on paper
On a phone screen a dense code scans from a few centimetres away. Printed at business-card size — roughly 2 cm square — a camera has to resolve much finer detail, and a vCard stuffed with two addresses, a fax number and a photo simply won't read.
For print, include four fields at most: full name, one phone number, email, and company. Everything else belongs on the card as text anyway, where it's readable without a scan.
- Always include: name, mobile, email.
- Usually worth it: company, job title.
- Cut for print: second phone, postal address, website, notes.
iOS and Android read vCards differently
iPhones open the vCard in the Contacts preview and add every field cleanly. Android splits across scanner apps: Google Lens recognises the format and offers 'Add to contacts', but some third-party scanners show the raw text instead.
Both platforms respect the structured name field, so always fill first and last name separately rather than dumping everything into one box — otherwise the contact sorts under the wrong letter.
vCard or a link to a contact page?
A vCard works offline and forever — the data lives in the code. A link to an online contact page can be updated later but breaks if the page moves and needs a working connection at scan time. For a printed card that outlives your current job title, a link you control is more flexible; for a conference badge, the offline vCard is more reliable.
How to build your vCard code
- Split your name. Enter first and last name in separate fields so the phone files you under the correct letter.
- Add one number and email. Use the number you actually answer. A single mobile scans far more reliably than three lines of phone numbers.
- Add company and title if they fit. Preview the density — if the pattern looks like fine noise at print size, drop the title.
- Export as vector. Download SVG so your print shop can scale it to the card without the edges blurring.
Technical details
- Maximum characters: 4296
- Recommended error correction: Q (quartile) — a printed card gets scuffed in wallets, so the extra recovery is worth the slightly denser pattern.
- Uses the VCARD 3.0 format with a structured N field plus a display FN field.
- Fewer fields means a coarser, more forgiving pattern — density, not length, is what breaks print scans.
Frequently asked questions
- Can people edit the contact after adding it?
- Yes. Once it's saved, it's a normal contact on their phone — they can change or delete anything. The code is just the initial hand-off.
- Does a photo fit inside the code?
- Technically the format allows it, but a photo balloons the data and makes the code far too dense to scan in print. Leave photos out and let the person add one themselves.
- What's the difference between vCard and MeCard?
- MeCard is a shorter, simpler format that older Japanese phones and some scanners prefer. It carries fewer fields but produces a lighter, easier-to-scan code. Use vCard for full detail, MeCard when you only need name, phone and email.
- Why did my email import with a broken character?
- Special characters in a name or note need encoding. This tool handles standard accents, but avoid unusual symbols in fields that will be scanned across many devices.
- Will it work without internet?
- Yes. Everything is inside the code, so scanning and adding the contact works with the phone in airplane mode.
- How big should I print it?
- For a code with four fields, print at least 2 cm square. Add a few millimetres of white margin so the scanner can find the edges.