vCard QR Code Generator
One scan, and your name, phone, and email land in their contacts. Make it free, right here.
Make your vCard QR code, free
Fill in the details and the preview updates as you type. No sign-up, no email, no watermark - and the contact details live inside the code, so it never expires.
Free forever · No watermark · Never expires
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Center logos use 30% error correction so the code still scans.
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Make it dynamic →A vCard QR code encodes a contact card - the same VCARD format your phone already speaks - directly into the pattern. Scanning it opens the native "add contact" sheet with your name, phone, email, company and website prefilled, with no app and no landing page in between. That makes it the single most useful thing to put on a business card, an email signature, or a conference badge. The generator below is free, runs entirely in your browser, adds no watermark, and the code never expires.
What you get
Saves to the phone, not a web page
The contact details are inside the code itself, so the scan opens the contact sheet directly. It works with no signal and keeps working forever, because nothing has to be hosted.
Everything a contact card holds
Name, phone, email, company, job title and website - all encoded in one code, filled in on their phone exactly as you typed it.
Free, and it never expires
No account, no watermark, no trial clock. Download a PNG for screens or an SVG for a business card that has to print sharp.
How it works
- 1
Fill in your contact details below - at minimum a name, and whichever of phone, email and website you want to share.
- 2
Check the live preview with your own phone camera before you send anything to print.
- 3
Download the SVG for print or the PNG for screens, and put it on the card, the badge, or your signature.
Which fields to include (and which to leave out)
Every character you add goes into the pattern, and a denser pattern needs a bigger print and a steadier hand to scan. A vCard code is one of the few QR types where editing your content down measurably improves how well it works, so it is worth being deliberate.
| Field | Worth it? |
|---|---|
| Full name | The only field that is genuinely required. Put it in as you want it saved - phones use it verbatim for sorting and search. |
| Phone | Include the country code in full international form (+1..., +44...). A local-format number saved by someone abroad will not dial. |
| The field most people actually use afterwards. Worth including even if you lead with the phone number. | |
| Company and job title | Cheap in characters and genuinely useful six months later, when the name alone means nothing to them. |
| Website | One URL, kept short. This is also where a link to your headshot or full profile page goes. |
| Address | Skip it unless people need to physically visit you. It is one of the longest fields and it makes the pattern noticeably denser. |
As a rule of thumb, a name, phone, email, company and website comes to roughly 150 characters and produces a comfortably scannable code at business-card size. Add a full postal address and a long title and you can double that, which is where people start reporting that “the code does not scan” - it does, just not from 30 cm away on a card printed at 2 cm.
vCard or MeCard?
You may see MeCard offered as an alternative. It encodes the same information in a more compact format, which produces a slightly sparser pattern, and it originated on Japanese feature phones. VCARD is the safer default today: it is the format desktop contact managers and CRMs import cleanly, and every modern phone camera handles it. Reach for MeCard only if you are squeezing a code onto something genuinely tiny.
Why the code does not need the internet
Because the contact details are inside the pattern rather than on a server, a vCard code works in an aeroplane, in a basement conference hall, and ten years from now if this site no longer exists. That independence is the whole appeal - and it is also precisely why the details cannot be edited afterwards. The two properties are the same property.
Can a vCard QR code include a photo?
A photo makes a saved contact far easier to recognise months later, and it is the one field people ask about most. The photo cannot live inside the QR code itself: a headshot is tens of kilobytes, while a QR code tops out around 3KB of text, and anything close to that limit produces a dense pattern that phones struggle to read.
There are two ways to get the photo in front of the person scanning:
- Link the image (works everywhere). Host the headshot at a public URL and put it in the vCard’s website or photo field. The contact card stays small and scannable, and the image loads when the contact is saved.
- Point the code at a contact page (recommended for print). Use a dynamic code aimed at a small page holding your photo, bio, and a “Save contact” button. You get the photo at full quality, an always-current phone number, and scan analytics - on a code already printed on 5,000 business cards.
Example: a printed card carries one dynamic code. Change jobs, and the same card now shows your new title, new email, and the same photo - because you edited the destination, not the card.
Printing and sizing: business cards and badges
Most QR codes that fail in the wild fail for one of three reasons: printed too small, printed with no quiet zone, or printed with too little contrast. All three are decided before the file reaches the printer.
How big does it need to be?
The working rule is ten to one: a code scans reliably from roughly ten times its own width. A 3 cm code is comfortable at 30 cm - arm’s length. A code on a window meant to be scanned from across the pavement, say 3 metres, needs to be about 30 cm wide. For business cards and badges, 2 cm square is the practical floor. A vCard holds far more data than a URL, so the pattern is denser and less forgiving at small sizes - if you can spare 2.5 cm, take it, and drop any field you do not really need.
Leave the quiet zone alone
The blank margin around the pattern is not whitespace a designer can reclaim - it is part of the specification. Scanners need at least four modules’ worth of clear space (a module is one of the small squares) to find the code’s edges. Codes downloaded here already include it; the failure mode is a layout that crops it, or artwork that runs right up to the pattern.
Contrast and colour
Dark pattern on a light background, always - inverted codes (light on dark) are read by far fewer scanners. Keep a strong tonal difference rather than merely a colour difference: a mid-grey code on a pale-yellow background can look high-contrast to the eye and near-invisible to a camera. If you brand the code, test the printed proof, not the screen.
File format
Download the SVG for anything going to professional print. It is vector, so it stays perfectly sharp whether it prints at 2 cm or 2 metres, and it will not pick up the soft edges that make a raster code harder to read. PNG is fine for screens, documents, and office printers.
Test the proof, not the file
Before a print run of any size, scan the actual printed proof - in the light the code will live in, from the distance people will stand at, with an older phone if you have one. Laminate and gloss finishes add glare that a PDF preview will never show you.
If the destination might ever change after this goes to print, make it a dynamic code so you can repoint it without reprinting.
FAQ
What is a vCard QR code?
A QR code that encodes a VCARD contact record rather than a link. Phone cameras recognise the format natively and offer to save the contact, so no website or app is involved at any point.
Is the vCard QR code generator free?
Yes. Unlimited vCard codes, no signup, no watermark, and no expiry - the contact details live inside the pattern, so there is nothing for us to host or meter.
Can I change my details after printing the code?
Not on a vCard code - the details are encoded permanently in the pattern, which is exactly why it works offline and never expires. If your details change often, encode a link to a contact page as a dynamic code instead, and re-point it whenever you like.
How much information fits in a vCard QR code?
Plenty for a normal contact card, but every extra field makes the pattern denser and harder to scan at small sizes. Name, phone, email, company and website is a comfortable set. If you need a photo or a long bio, link to a page instead.
Will it work on both iPhone and Android?
Yes. VCARD is a long-standing standard that both iOS and Android cameras read natively - the phone offers to create the contact without any app installed.
What size should a vCard QR code be on a business card?
Around 2 cm square is the practical minimum for a dense vCard, and bigger is safer. Download the SVG so it stays crisp, and always test-scan the printed proof before you order a full run.
Create your first code in under a minute
Free to start, no card required. Your first dynamic code is free forever.
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