How to Scan a Business Card with Your Phone

Typing out a new contact from a business card is tedious and easy to get wrong. Your phone can do this work for you automatically. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android phone, there is a built-in way to point your camera at a business card and have the phone read the name, phone number, email address, and website — then save it all as a contact with one tap.

On an iPhone running iOS 17 or later, the Camera app includes a feature called Live Text. When you hold your camera over any printed text, small icons appear that let you interact with that text. Point your camera at a business card, and Live Text will recognize phone numbers and email addresses. Tap a phone number to call or save it, or tap an email address to send an email. For saving a full contact, you can also use the Contacts app directly.

Google Lens is a powerful tool available on Android phones and also through the Google app on iPhones. It can read a business card and extract all the information at once. Open Google Lens (look for a colored viewfinder icon in the Google app or your camera app), point it at the business card. And it will highlight the text. Look for an option to copy all the text or to create a contact.

Samsung phones running recent versions of One UI have a dedicated business card scanner built into the Contacts app. Open Contacts, tap the plus button to add a new contact, and look for a "Scan business card" option. The camera opens, you frame the card, and the app fills in all the fields automatically. You then review and save.

All three methods save you time and reduce mistakes from manual typing. Even if a field or two comes through incorrectly, it is faster to correct one detail than to type everything from scratch.

After saving, always open the new contact record to check that the phone number and email address came through correctly. Automated reading is very accurate but not perfect, especially if the card uses an unusual font or has a busy design.