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How to Add a QR Code to a Business Card

Add a QR code to your business card that saves your contact or opens your website: what to put in it, front or back, and how to test it before you print.

  • How-to
  • Card Cat
Made for this: Card Cat

A QR code on a business card saves people typing. One scan with a phone camera and they can save your details, or open your website. This guide covers what a card's code can hold, where to put it and how to check it, then how to add one with Card Cat, our business card app for iPhone.

What a business card QR code can do

Most card codes do one of two jobs:

  • Save your contact. The code holds your details as a contact card. When someone scans it, their phone offers to add you to their contacts, with your name, job title, company, phone, email, website and address, whichever you filled in.
  • Open your website. The code holds just your web address. Scanning it opens your site, portfolio or booking page.

A contact code carries more, so it has more little squares in it. A website code holds less, so it stays simpler at the same size.

Front or back?

  • On the back, the code has a side to itself and doesn't crowd your name. It's the usual choice for a clean front.
  • On the front, everything is on one side, which suits a single-sided card. The code shares the space with your details.

Whichever side you pick, keep the code dark on a light background and don't squeeze it into a corner with no white space around it. And always scan it with your own phone before you print a box of cards.

Add a QR code in Card Cat

  1. Pick a design. On the home screen, under Pick a design, tap one of the six free designs: Classic, Band, Split, Minimal, Bold or Centered.
  2. Type your details. On the Details tab, fill in what you want on the card. Every field is optional. For a website code, fill in Website.
  3. Open the Design tab. Tap Design at the top of the editor and scroll to QR code. A new card starts with No code.
  4. Choose what the code does. Pick Save contact ("Scanning adds you to their contacts.") or Website ("Scanning opens your website."). If you pick Website with no website typed in, Card Cat says "Add your website on the Details step to show this code."
  5. Choose the side. Under Place on, pick Front or Back. On a new card the code starts on the back, and the preview turns to the side the code is on.

A code on the back takes the whole back, with a line under it: "Scan to save my contact" for a contact code, or "Scan to visit" and your web address for a website code. A code on the front sits within the design you picked. With the code on the front you can still choose the back under Back side: your logo, your tagline, a colour, or single-sided.

The code is drawn in a dark ink with a light margin around it, whatever colour you pick for the card. Every change is saved as you type, and the card waits in My Cards.

Check the code before you print

After you stop typing, Card Cat test-scans the code on the card the way a phone camera would and shows the result under the preview:

  • "QR code scans correctly" when its own test scan reads your code.
  • "Too much for a small code. Choose Website, or put the code on the back." when the code holds too much for the card's size.
  • "The code may not scan at this size. Try another design or put it on the back." when the test scan can't read it.

For "Too much", switch to Website or fill in fewer details. For "may not scan", put the code on the back or try another design.

The check is a test on your phone, not on your printer, paper or the phone in someone else's hand. Print one card, or one sheet on plain paper, and scan it with your phone camera before you print the rest.

Tap Print & download and choose:

  • Print for card sheets or plain paper at home.
  • Print shop for a PDF with bleed and crop marks: one page, or the front and back as two pages for a two-sided card.
  • Image for a digital card. Share image sends the front only, so if your code is on the back, use Save to Photos, which saves the front and back as PNGs.

There's also Share as contact (.vcf), which sends your details straight into someone's Contacts by AirDrop or message, no scan needed.

For sizes, what goes on a card and printing at home step by step, see our guide on how to make a business card on iPhone. For every Card Cat screen, there's the Card Cat help page.

What it costs

QR codes are free in Card Cat, along with the six designs, both sides, colours, your logo, printing at home, the print-shop PDF, the image, Save to Photos, the contact file and My Cards. There's no watermark: nothing is printed on your card except you. There are no ads, no sign-up and no account. Card Cat Pro is an optional one-time purchase that adds six Studio designs, five more typefaces for your name with a smaller or larger name, and taking the white background off your logo, on your device. More on the Card Cat page.

Your details and logo are kept on your device and in your own backups unless you share, save or print them.

Quick answers

Can I add a QR code to a business card for free?
Yes. In Card Cat, QR codes are part of the free app, with no watermark on the card.

Should a business card QR code go on the front or the back?
The back gives the code a side to itself and keeps the front clean, which is why Card Cat starts there. The front works for a single-sided card.

What should the QR code on my business card link to?
Your contact details, so one scan adds you to someone's contacts, or your website. In Card Cat, choose Save contact or Website.

Does the code depend on a link service?
Not in Card Cat. The code holds your contact details or your web address itself. If your website address changes, the code still points to the old one, so make new cards.

How do I know my QR code will scan?
Card Cat test-scans it on the card and tells you if it may not scan at that size. Then scan a printed card with your own phone camera before you print the rest.

Try Card Cat

Try Card Cat: free, no watermark, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/card-cat