How to create digital business cards in Apple Wallet

The standard format for digital business cards is vCard, also known as a .vcf file.

The easiest way to get a solid template for your personal vCard is to simply export your own contact details from your smartphone (iPhone or Android).

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
N:Parker;Peter;;Mr.;
FN:Peter Parker
EMAIL:peter.parker@example.com
TEL:+491729925904
ORG:Parker Corporation
URL:https://www.example.com
END:VCARD

The RFC 6350 specification defines over 30 different data fields, ranging from name and phone number to personal hobbies: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6350

This document defines the vCard data format for representing and exchanging a variety of information about individuals and other entities (e.g., formatted and structured name and delivery addresses, email address, multiple telephone numbers, photograph, logo, audio clips, etc.).

We recommend using vCard version 3.0 for Apple Wallet. It is reliably recognized by all smartphones and can be saved as a contact in the address book. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard

Digital Business Cards in Apple Wallet

The vCard will be represented as a QR code on the Apple Wallet pass. The recipient can scan the QR code using their smartphone camera and save the contact details to their address book.

Without Passmeister, things get complicated from here: Convert the vCard into a JSON string, replacing for example all line breaks with \n. In the pass.json file of the Apple Wallet pass, set the barcode format to PKBarcodeFormatQR and use the vCard string as the message.

"barcodes": [
    {
        "format": "PKBarcodeFormatQR",
        "message": "BEGIN:VCARD\nVERSION:3.0\nN:Parker;Peter;;Mr.;\nFN:Peter Parker\nEMAIL:peter.parker@example.com\nTEL:+491729925904\nURL:https://www.example.com\nEND:VCARD"
    }
],

Digital Business Cards in Google Wallet

Similar to Apple Wallet, use the QR_CODE type for the barcode in the Google Wallet pass object and provide the vCard as the value.

"barcode": {
    "type": "QR_CODE",
    "value": "BEGIN:VCARD\nVERSION:3.0\nN:Parker;Peter;;Mr.;\nFN:Peter Parker\nEMAIL:peter.parker@example.com\nTEL:+491729925904\nURL:https://www.example.com\nEND:VCARD"
},

With Passmeister

Passmeister makes everything easier: With the Passmeister API, you can manage digital business cards for example for your entire team. Just like any other barcode, you simply send the vCard content to the Passmeister API.

The API also allows you to update contact details at any time, ensuring that the digital business cards installed on your employees' smartphones are always up to date.

Digital Business Cards and NFC

NFC passes in both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet are encrypted. They can only be read if the recipient already has the corresponding private key for that pass. (See also: How to create Apple Wallet passes with NFC support?)

While this encryption is important for loyalty cards or tickets, it makes NFC-based digital business cards in both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet impossible: To read the digital business card with NFC, you would first have to store the private key of your pass on the recipient's smartphone.

updated on: 15 December 2024