vCard QR codes are the only "digital business card" format that works without an app. Every modern phone — iPhone, Android, even Huawei without Google Mobile Services — recognises a vCard payload from the camera. The phone offers to save the contact directly into the address book. No QR-reader app, no signup, no friction.
That matters because the alternative is what the rest of the "digital business card" market sells: a hosted profile page on someone else's domain (think the Linktree-of-business-cards space). Those work, but they require you to pay rent on a third-party brand and they leak your contact data through whatever tracking the host runs. A vCard QR is a piece of standard ISO data you control end to end.
The trade-off worth knowing: vCard data is encoded directly into the QR's modules. That makes the QR denser than a URL QR — typically version 7-10 instead of version 3-4. On a 500dpi business-card print this is invisible, but on a 6mm laptop sticker the modules can get small enough that older phone cameras struggle. If you need a tiny printed vCard QR, keep the payload minimal: name + phone + email is plenty; full address + photo URL + 3 social links pushes you toward 2KB and a denser code.
For dynamic vCard QRs (Pro plan), we encode a short link that points at qrlia's hosted vCard endpoint. The endpoint serves the vCard with the right MIME type so phones still recognise it. Update the underlying record any time without reprinting — useful when sales reps move companies, phone numbers change, or you finally update your job title. The same QR keeps working.
Best practice: print a minimum-viable vCard (no photo URL, no notes) on physical media that can't be re-issued cheaply (lanyards, badges, etched metal cards). Reserve the full-payload version for digital surfaces — email signatures, websites, app screens — where regenerating the QR is free.