Digital contact card: what the phrase covers.
A digital contact card is your contact details in a form another phone can save in one step: a vCard file, a QR code holding one, or a card page with a Save button. On iPhone, “contact card” also means My Card, your own entry in Contacts, which Share Contact and NameDrop send.
Make your free cardA free Apple Wallet business card, in about a minute
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
FN:Jordan Hale
ORG:Hale Studio
TEL;TYPE=CELL:+1 415 555 0134
EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET:jordan@example.com
END:VCARD- On iPhone
- “iPhone uses your Apple Account to create your contact card, called My Card, in the Contacts app,” in Apple’s words.
- The format
- Whatever the wrapper, the thing saved is a vCard.
- Versus a business card
- A contact card is the data. A digital business card is a designed card that hands over that data.
The same contact, four wrappers.
Each puts the same fields into someone’s Contacts. They differ in what the other person needs and whether your details can change later.
| Form | How it is shared | Can you change it later? |
|---|---|---|
| A .vcf file | Attached to an email or message | No: each copy is fixed |
| A vCard QR code | Scanned from paper or a screen | No: the details are inside the code |
| iPhone’s My Card | Share Contact, or NameDrop to another iPhone | Only for people you share it with again |
| A card page with a Save button | A link or a QR code to the page | Yes: the page is the latest version |
Sharing your iPhone contact card.
Apple’s own route needs no app, and it is worth knowing before you pay for anything.
Open Contacts and tap your name at the top: that is My Card. Fill in what you want people to have. To send it, open a contact, tap Share Contact, choose which fields go, and pick Messages or Mail. To swap with another iPhone in person, hold the phones close for NameDrop.
The limits are where a card page takes over. Share Contact needs you to have their number or email first, and NameDrop needs an iPhone, with an iPhone or recent Apple Watch on the other side. A QR code opens on any phone with a camera, and the person you meet can save you without either of you typing a thing. Our guide to the iPhone contact QR code covers turning My Card into one.
-
Share Contact
- My Card
- Share Contact
- Needs their number
-
NameDrop
- Phones held close
- Apple only
-
QR to a card
- Any camera
- Your card
- Save
What actually gets saved.
This is the vCard behind a digital contact card, for an example person. The phone reads these lines and fills in a new contact.
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
FN:Jordan Hale
ORG:Hale Studio
TEL;TYPE=CELL:+1 415 555 0134
EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET:jordan@example.com
END:VCARD- FN and ORG name, company
- TEL tap to call
- EMAIL tap to write
Where these facts come from.
Primary documents only: the standard, the platform’s own documentation or the chip maker’s datasheet. Each was read on October 29, 2026.
- Apple iPhone User Guide: Add or edit your contact info and photo: “iPhone uses your Apple Account to create your contact card, called My Card, in the Contacts app.”
support.apple.com/en-us/guide/iphone/iph18b749db1/iosRead October 29, 2026 - Apple iPhone User Guide: Add and use contact information: Share Contact, choosing the fields to send
support.apple.com/en-us/guide/iphone/iph3e0ca2db/iosRead October 29, 2026 - IETF RFC 6350, vCard Format Specification (vCard 4.0, August 2011): FN and VERSION required, UTF-8 only, lines folded at 75 octets, file extensions .vcf and .vcard, media type text/vcard
www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6350Read October 29, 2026
Common questions.
What is a digital contact card on iPhone?
Usually My Card: the entry in Contacts that iPhone creates from your Apple Account, with your name, numbers, email and Contact Poster. Share Contact and NameDrop send from it.
How do I send my contact card to someone?
On iPhone, open the contact, tap Share Contact, choose the fields and send it by Messages or Mail. To someone you are standing with, show a QR code that opens your card, or use NameDrop if they have an iPhone.
Is a digital contact card the same as a digital business card?
They overlap. A contact card is the data a phone saves. A digital business card is a designed card, usually a page, that presents you and hands over that data with a Save button.
Can a digital contact card update itself?
A saved contact cannot. If you want people to see your latest details, share a link to a page you can edit and let them save from there.
A contact card anyone can save.
Your Cardr card opens on any phone from one scan, and Save puts you in their contacts. Then they can send theirs back. Free forever.