How to add a contact from a QR code on iPhone and Android

The two kinds of contact QR code

A QR code only holds text. What your phone does with it depends on what that text is.

The vCard kind is quicker for the person scanning. The link kind carries more, and is the one most digital business cards use.

On an iPhone

1. Open the Camera app and point it at the code. Hold steady; there’s no need to take a photo.
2. A yellow button appears with what the code holds. Tap it.
3. For a vCard code, the contact opens with its details filled in. Tap Create New Contact, or add the details to someone already in your contacts.
4. For a link, the page opens in Safari. Tap its Save contact button, then add the contact that opens.

If nothing happens, check that Scan QR Codes is turned on in Settings › Camera. You can also add the Code Scanner to Control Centre and scan from there.

On Android

1. Open the Camera app and point it at the code. Most recent phones show a prompt or a link at the bottom of the screen; tap it.
2. If your camera doesn’t react, use Google Lens: it’s in the Google app’s search bar, and on many phones it’s a button in the camera too. Some phones also have a Scan QR code tile in Quick Settings.
3. For a vCard code, choose your contacts app and save.
4. For a link, the page opens in your browser. Tap Save contact, open the file that downloads and choose your contacts app.

Phone makers name these menus differently, so on a Samsung, for example, look for a QR code setting in the camera’s settings.

When it won’t scan

• Too much in the code. Every field adds tiny squares. A vCard code with a full address, two numbers and a long note gets dense and slow to read. Fewer fields, or a link code, scan faster.
• Too small when printed. On a card, keep the code at least 2 cm across, and bigger if people will scan it from further away.
• No white border. A QR code needs a clear light margin round it, four of its squares wide. Text or a coloured edge touching the code confuses scanners.
• Low light or glare. Move out of shadow, tilt a shiny card away from the light, or turn up the brightness when the code is on a screen.
• Too close. Pull the phone back until the whole code fits comfortably in the frame, then let it focus.
• Light code on dark. Dark squares on a light background are the safe choice; not every scanner reads inverted codes.

Make your own

Business Card gives you both kinds from one card. Its QR code opens your card, where people tap Save contact and get your photo, links and socials as well. Switch the code to Contact only and it holds a vCard instead, for places with poor signal. If your card’s link is too long for an easy scan, the app chooses the contact QR for you.

Show the QR code fills your screen with it and keeps the screen awake where the browser allows, for scanning across a table. You can also save it as a picture, or print cards with the code on the back.

If all you need is the code, the vCard QR code generator makes one on its own.

Sources

• Scan a QR code with iPhone, iPhone User Guide, Apple Support.
• Google Lens, Google.
• Dawson, F. and Howes, T. (1998). RFC 2426: vCard MIME Directory Profile (vCard 3.0). IETF.
• ISO/IEC 18004, QR Code bar code symbology specification (the quiet zone of four modules round the code).