NFC vs digital business card.
NFC and a digital business card are two halves of one tap. An NFC card is a physical card with a chip that usually holds one web address; tapping it on a phone opens that address. A digital business card is what the address opens: a page with your details and a Save button.
Make your free cardA free Apple Wallet business card, in about a minute
03 16 D1 01 12 55 04 63 61 72 64 72 2E 63 6F 2F 79 6F 75 72 6E 61 6D 65 FE
- The chip holds
- Usually just a web address, because iPhone’s no-app tag reading acts on web addresses: 25 bytes for a cardr.co address, on a chip that holds 144 or more.
- The tap needs
- An NFC phone in use (on Android, NFC switched on). On iPhone, an iPhone XS or later reads tags with no app.
- Where NFC wins
- A tap is quick, needs no aiming, and does not care about light.
A key against the door it opens.
| NFC business card | Digital business card | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A plastic, metal or wooden card with a chip | A web page, often with a Wallet pass |
| Holds your details? | Usually not: it holds the address of a page that does | Yes |
| Shared by | A tap from about 2 cm | A QR code, link, tap or Wallet pass |
| Their phone needs | An NFC phone in use (on Android, NFC switched on) | A camera or a browser |
| You need to carry | The card | Your phone, which you carry anyway |
| Cost | A one-off purchase | Free on several services, including Cardr |
| Works without the other | No: the chip opens a page | Yes: a QR or a link opens it |
Range from the NFC Forum, iPhone tag reading from Apple’s Core NFC documentation, chip memory from NXP. All read October 29, 2026.
-
With an NFC card
- Tap
- Chip gives an address
- Your card
-
Without one
- Scan or link
- Your card
All a tap card carries.
The whole message on an NFC card that opens cardr.co/yourname is 25 bytes. Rewrite those bytes and the same card opens a different digital card.
That is why the two are not rivals. The chip is a pointer; the digital card is where the details, the photo and the Save button live. It also means an NFC card you already own keeps its value when you change services: any free NFC writer app can point it at a new address. The bytes, decoded, are on the NFC tag page.
- StartNDEF follows
- Length22 bytes
- Record headerOne short record
- SizesPayload 18
- TypeU: a web address
- Prefixhttps://
- The addresscardr.co/yourname
- EndStop
When a tap is worth buying.
Start with the digital card; add a chip if the tap suits you.
- You like handing over an object, or work somewhere dim Add an NFC card The tap is a good moment, needs no aiming and works with the lights low. Point it at your digital card.
- You meet people with your phone in your hand A digital card with a QR on your phone Nothing extra to carry or buy, and every phone with a camera can scan it.
- You meet a lot of Android users with NFC off Lead with the QR code A camera is always on; NFC is a setting some people have switched off.
- Your QR and any camera phoneOpens
- Your chip and iPhone XS or laterOpens
- Your chip and Android, NFC onOpens
- Your chip and Android, NFC offNothing
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.
- NFC Forum: NFC Technology: five NFC Forum tag types that store NDEF messages; a “typical range of up to 2cm”
nfc-forum.org/learn/nfc-technology/Read October 29, 2026 - Apple Developer: Adding Support for Background Tag Reading: “iPhone XS and later support background tag reading,” only while the iPhone is in use, using the first URI record on the tag
developer.apple.com/documentation/corenfc/adding-support-for-background-tag-readingRead October 29, 2026 - NXP: NTAG213/215/216 product data sheet, Rev. 3.2, June 2, 2015: NFC Forum Type 2 Tag ICs with 144, 504 and 888 bytes of user memory; business cards named as a target use
www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/NTAG213_215_216.pdfRead October 29, 2026
Common questions.
Is an NFC card better than a digital business card?
They do different jobs. The NFC card is a way to open a digital card with a tap; the digital card is what holds your details. Most people with an NFC card also show a QR code for phones that do not read the tap.
Do I need an NFC card to have a digital business card?
No. A QR code, a link or a Wallet pass shares a digital card with no hardware.
Can I use my old NFC card with a new digital card?
Usually. Most NFC cards are rewritable: a free NFC writer app on your phone can point the chip at your new card’s address.
Does Cardr sell NFC cards?
No. Cardr’s card is free and digital, and any NFC card or tag you own can point at it. Cardr Metal cards, sold in the UK, carry an engraved QR code.
The card your tap should open.
Make your Cardr card free, show its QR from your iPhone, and point any NFC card you own at it. Free forever.