How to put a QR code on your business card that saves your contact details

A business card gets a few seconds of attention before it goes into a pocket. If the person has to type your details into their phone by hand, most of them never make it into their contacts. A contact QR code turns that into one scan: the phone reads the code and offers to save you as a new contact, fields already filled in.

This guide covers what goes into such a code, how to create it, how to print it on a card a few centimetres wide and where its limits are.

What a contact QR code actually contains

A contact QR code carries a vCard, the plain-text format phones use when you share a contact in a message, with name, phone number, email address and company on separate lines. A phone that scans it offers to create a contact instead of opening a web page.

Everything is stored in the pattern itself, so the code works offline with no service in between. But every extra character makes the pattern denser, with more and smaller squares, which matters on a small card.

Decide what goes on it

• Your name as you introduce yourself, because that is what the contact will be saved under.
• A phone number in international format. Start with the country code, for example +44 or +90, so the number also works for people who save it abroad.
• An email address that will outlast the card, such as a shared hello@ or sales@ address.
• The company name exactly as printed, so people remember where they met you.
• Only what you are happy to hand out. Anyone who scans the code can read every field, so leave out anything you would not print on the card itself.

Create the code in QR Studio

1. Open Create, choose QR code and then Contact card. Fill in Full name, which is required, and add Phone, Email and Company as needed.
2. Name the code, for example "Business card 2026". Under Appearance you can pick one of the dark ink colours, all of which keep a strong contrast on a white card.
3. Create the code and scan it on its detail screen with a second phone. Most recent iPhone and Android cameras offer to add the contact straight away; otherwise a scanner app shows the details.
4. Export it as SVG or PDF for the printer, so the code stays sharp at any size, and as PNG if you also want it in an email signature or a presentation.
5. If you want your logo in the middle, choose Design QR with logo. QR Studio checks on its server that the result still scans and gives you a PNG. Test it again at the final print size, because a logo always covers part of the pattern.

Print it so it scans from a small card

• Give it enough room. A card is held close, but a contact code is denser than a short link. Around 2 to 2.5 cm wide is a sensible minimum.
• Keep the quiet zone. Leave a clear margin of at least four of the code's small squares on every side, and keep the code away from the trimmed edge, where cutting tolerances can clip it.
• Avoid shiny finishes. Foil, spot gloss and metallic inks reflect light into the camera; print the code in plain dark ink on a matte area.
• Scan the printer's proof, not only the file on your screen, with at least two different phones.

Beyond the printed card

The same code works without paper. Open it in your QR Studio library and tap Full screen so someone can scan it from your phone, or use Share contact card to send your details as a contact file.

Limits worth knowing

A contact code is static: when your number or email address changes, the code has to be created and printed again. If your details change often, an alternative is a QR code that opens a profile page on your own website, which you can update at any time; with a dynamic QR code even its address can change later. The person scanning then lands on a web page instead of getting a ready-made contact.

QR Studio's contact card covers name, phone, email and company. Saving and exporting codes needs an internet connection. How many codes you can save and how many dynamic QR codes you can create depends on your plan: QR Studio Pro, an optional subscription, raises those limits, and Tools → Account & team → Plan & usage shows what your plan includes.