Contact QR codes

What their code contains

A contact QR code holds a whole contact card: their name, and usually their email, phone number, company and job title. Phones and card printers write it in one of two formats, a vCard (it starts with BEGIN:VCARD) or a MECARD (it starts with MECARD:). met.cards reads both.

So it gives met.cards everything. Nothing is fetched from anywhere: what you get is what’s in the code.

Ask them to show it

The iPhone’s Contacts app doesn’t show a contact as a QR code. Someone with an iPhone can show you their met.cards card instead (see met.cards cards), or a contact QR code from another app.

On an Android phone with Google Contacts:

1. Open Contacts and open their own contact.
2. Tap Share or the menu (⋮), then QR code.

On a Samsung phone, they can open their own profile in Contacts and tap QR code.

Apps move these screens between versions. If the steps don’t match their app, look for a share or QR code option on their own contact. Contact QR codes are also printed on business cards and badges. Scan it from Capture in QR mode.

Last checked: not yet on a phone. These steps follow the app’s own help and may differ in their version.

What met.cards saves

A code with a name is saved straight away, and a message says Saved and their name, with Open to go to the new person. A code without a name opens a Contact card sheet: “This contact card has no name. Add one so you can find them later.” You can also correct the email, phone, company and title there before you select Save.

From the code, met.cards saves:

• their name, email, phone number, company and job title;
• any note in the card, and their address, added to that note;
• each link in the card as a profile under Profiles: LinkedIn, Telegram and the other apps met.cards knows get their own icon and Open in button, and any other link is saved as a website.

A contact card you paste with Paste a link is never saved straight away: you see it first and select Save.

Name and photo

Everything comes from the code; nothing is fetched. A photo in the code isn’t saved.

Troubleshooting

• A long card doesn’t scan. A contact card with a lot in it makes a dense code that some phones struggle with. Move closer, ask them to turn their screen brightness up, or take a photo of the code and pick it with the gallery button in QR mode.
• Nothing happens. Tilt your phone so their screen or the printed card doesn’t reflect the lights.
• You already have them. met.cards compares the email, the profiles, the phone number, and the name with the company, with the people you have. If it finds them, it asks before saving a second person: you can add the card’s links to the person you have (when it has any), open them, or save someone new. See When you already have them.