# Add a Business Card to iPhone Wallet: 5 Steps (2026) > Apple Wallet only takes signed passes, so you need a card issued as one. Five steps to add your business card to iPhone Wallet, share it, and fix it. Canonical: https://cardr.co/blog/how-to-add-business-card-to-apple-wallet-iphone Author: Kai, Founder of Cardr. Published 2026-09-22; last updated 2026-09-22. Part of: [Apple Wallet business cards](https://cardr.co/apple-wallet-business-card) ## Short answer **To add a business card to Apple Wallet on iPhone, you need the card as a signed Apple Wallet pass (a .pkpass file); open it on your iPhone and tap Add.** Wallet does not accept photos, PDFs or contact cards, so a paper card cannot be scanned in directly. Services that issue business cards as passes, including Cardr’s free plan, give you a Wallet button that does the rest. Once added, the card sits in Wallet, opens with no signal, and can update itself when your details change. ## Why Wallet needs a signed pass. Apple Wallet only holds passes: small signed archives in Apple’s .pkpass format. It will not import a photo, a PDF or a vCard, which is why a business card has to be issued as a pass first. A pass is the same format as a boarding pass or a coffee-shop loyalty card. It contains the text, the images, a barcode and a signature made with a certificate Apple issued to the company that made it. The signature is what lets Wallet trust it, and it is why you cannot make one in a text editor. If you want the detail, our [guide to the .pkpass file](https://cardr.co/pkpass-file) opens one up, and the [Apple Wallet pass guide](https://cardr.co/apple-wallet-pass-guide) covers the rules for developers. So there are two routes: use a service that issues business cards as passes, or build and sign one yourself with an Apple developer account. For almost everyone, the first. ## Five steps, about two minutes. Make the card, open it on your iPhone, tap Wallet, tap Add, and share it from Wallet. Here they are with the detail. 1. **Make a card that is issued as a Wallet pass** — Apple Wallet only accepts signed passes, so the card has to come from a service that issues one. On Cardr that is the free plan: your name, role, links and a design, in about a minute at cardr.co. 2. **Open it on your iPhone, in Safari** — Wallet passes are added on the device that will carry them. Sign in on your iPhone with the email link and open your dashboard. 3. **Tap Wallet** — The Wallet button downloads your signed .pkpass. iOS recognises the file type and shows the pass with an Add button, rather than saving a file. 4. **Tap Add** — The pass moves into the Wallet app, next to your boarding passes and loyalty cards. If you have an Apple Watch paired, it usually appears there too. 5. **Share it from Wallet** — Open Wallet, or double-click the side button if you have that shortcut turned on, and tap your card. The QR code on it opens your page on their phone, and their details come back to you. Step three on a real dashboard looks like this. The card at the top of the page is yours; the button on the right is the one that hands the pass to Wallet. The real dashboard on a demo account, 22 September 2026. Tap **Wallet**; iOS takes it from there. ## What you end up carrying. A pass in Wallet with your name, role, company and a QR code that opens your page. It works with no signal and updates itself when you edit the card. This is a real pass front, drawn by the same code that builds the signed file, in Oxford, which is on the free plan. The QR is a real, scannable code. Cardr Updated**Today** Role **Founder** Company **Novrex** cardr.co/kai Scan or tap to save *i* The Oxford design, which is on the free plan, rendered by Cardr’s pass generator. The strip and colours are the ones in the signed pass; Wallet draws its own frame around them. Three things make a Wallet card better than a PDF or a photo on your camera roll: - **It opens with no signal.** The pass is stored on the phone. A basement venue with no reception does not matter. - **It updates itself.** Change your job title or number and the pass in your Wallet updates, and so does your page. - **It is where your phone already looks.** Wallet is one double-click away, next to your train ticket. ## Sharing it with someone else. Show them the QR code on your pass. They scan it with their camera, your page opens, and they can save you to their contacts and send their details back. Worth being exact about who gets what, because it trips people up. **The Wallet pass is yours.** The person you meet does not get a pass; they get your page at cardr.co/yourname, where they can save your contact in one tap and send you theirs. That works on any phone, iPhone or Android, with nothing to install. There is more on the Android side in [what works on Android](https://cardr.co/blog/digital-business-cards-android). You can also share the link directly: text it, put it in your email signature, or print the QR on a paper card. It is the same page either way. ## Questions people ask before they try it. You do not need an app, a Google account or a paid Apple developer account to add a pass. You need an iPhone and a pass that someone has already signed. - **No app to install.** Wallet is built into iOS and cannot be deleted. The pass is added from Safari. - **No Apple Pay.** A business card pass has nothing to do with payment cards. You do not need a bank card in Wallet for it to work. - **It is not public.** Adding a pass to your own Wallet shares nothing. People only see your details when you show them the QR code or send them the link. - **It does not use data to open.** The pass is stored on the phone, so it opens underground or on a plane. Loading your page on *their* phone after they scan does need a connection. - **You can remove it any time.** Open the pass, tap the menu, and remove it. Your card still exists; you can add it again from the dashboard. - **It works on iPad.** Wallet on iPad holds passes too, though a card you show people is more useful on the phone in your pocket. ## When it will not add. Almost always one of three things: it was opened on a computer instead of the iPhone, the browser saved it as a file, or the pass itself is broken. - **You opened it on a Mac or PC.** Wallet lives on the iPhone. Open the link on the phone, or on a Mac double-click the file to open Pass Viewer and send it to your iPhone. - **It saved to Files as a download.** Usually a browser other than Safari, or the server sending the wrong content type. Try Safari; if it still happens, the fault is at the issuer’s end. - **Wallet says the pass is invalid.** The signature does not validate: it was changed after signing, or the signing certificate expired. Only the issuer can fix it. Our free [.pkpass viewer](https://cardr.co/tools/pkpass-viewer) will show you what is inside the file without uploading it. The full list of failure modes, and which end each one is at, is in [why a .pkpass will not open](https://cardr.co/pkpass-file#failures). ## Questions, answered ### Can I add a business card to Apple Wallet? Yes, if the card is issued as a signed Apple Wallet pass. Open the pass on your iPhone and tap Add. Wallet does not accept photos, PDFs or contact cards. ### Can I scan a paper business card into Apple Wallet? Not directly. Wallet only holds signed passes, and scanning a paper card does not produce one. You can make your own card as a pass with a service that issues them, and scan other people's paper cards into your contacts instead. ### Is it free to add a business card to Apple Wallet? Adding a pass to Wallet is always free. Whether making the pass is free depends on who issues it. Cardr's free plan includes the signed Wallet pass, with no expiry and no card details taken. ### Does it work on Android or Google Wallet? Yes. On an Android phone that runs Google Wallet (Android 9 or later), open your dashboard and tap Add to Google Wallet: the card goes into Google Wallet, free, with the same QR code, and updates itself when you edit it. The steps are in [how to add a business card to Google Wallet](https://cardr.co/blog/how-to-add-business-card-to-google-wallet). It comes in your design’s colours, with its artwork as a picture on designs that have one, such as Intaglio and Aurora. Android users you meet open your page from the QR code, save your contact and send you theirs, as anyone does. ### How do I share my Apple Wallet business card? Open Wallet, tap the card, and let them scan the QR code with their phone camera. Your page opens on their phone, where they can save you and send their details back. ### Will the card update if I change my details? With Cardr, yes. Editing your card updates the pass in your Wallet and every page link you have shared. Passes from services without an update server stay as they were when added. --- Written by Kai for Cardr (https://cardr.co), a UK digital business card issued as a signed Apple Wallet pass. The card is free; Pro is £12/month, or £9/month billed annually (£108 a year). Prices and plans: https://cardr.co/pricing.md