Creating a vCard smart link (digital business card)

A vCard smart link is a short URL that opens the native Add-to-Contacts sheet on iOS or triggers a .vcf file download on Android and desktop browsers. This guide walks you through creating one so that anyone who taps your link — or scans its QR code — can save your full contact details in seconds.

vCard smart links are ideal for face-to-face networking, printed business cards (as a QR code), packaging inserts, phone wallet passes, email signatures, and trade-show displays.

Note: You need a free or paid 1smart.link account to create a vCard smart link. Sign up at www.1smart.link if you haven't already.

How the vCard link works

When someone taps your vCard smart link, the server responds with an RFC 2426–compliant vCard 3.0 file. The response uses Content-Disposition: inline, which is what makes iOS Safari open the native contact sheet directly — no file-manager step required. On Android and desktop, the browser downloads the .vcf file and prompts the user to import it into their contacts app.

The file includes every field you fill in during setup: name, phone numbers, emails, address, photo, social links, and more. Your profile photo is base64-encoded and embedded directly inside the .vcf body, so the contact card displays the photo reliably — even offline.

What you can include

Before you start, it helps to know which fields the vCard supports. You can fill in as many or as few as you like — the only requirement is at least a first name or last name.

Field	Details
First name / Last name	At least one is required.
Job title	Your role or position.
Company	Organisation or brand name.
Phone numbers	Multiple entries, each with a label: mobile, work, home, main, or fax.
Email addresses	Multiple entries, each with a label: personal or work.
Website	A single URL for your primary website.
Structured address	Five separate fields: street, city, state, postcode, country. These slot into the address section of the recipient's contact app.
Profile photo	Uploaded via the Media Picker. Base64-embedded into the `.vcf` for offline display.
Social links	Choose from 13 platforms: Instagram, Twitter/X, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Spotify, Pinterest, Telegram, WhatsApp, GitHub, Email, and Website.

Create the vCard smart link

Navigate to Dashboard → Links and click Create Link.

When prompted to choose a link type, select vCard.

Upload a profile photo. Click the photo area to open the Media Picker. You can upload a new image or select one you have already uploaded. The photo is base64-encoded and embedded into the .vcf file so it appears on the recipient's contact card without needing an internet connection.

Tip: Keep your photo under 500 KB. Larger images fall back to a URI-only reference, which means the photo may not appear if the recipient is offline when they save the contact.

Fill in your name, job title, and company. Enter your First name and/or Last name (at least one is required), then add your Job title and Company if applicable.

Add phone numbers. Click + Add phone to create a phone entry. Pick a label from the dropdown — mobile, work, home, main, or fax — and type the number. Repeat for each number you want to include.

Add email addresses. Click + Add email to create an email entry. Pick a label — personal or work — and type the address. Add as many as you need.

Enter your website. Paste your primary website URL into the Website field.

Fill in your address. The address is split into five fields: Street, City, State, Postcode, and Country. Fill in whichever fields apply. The recipient's contact app will display these in its standard address format.

Add social links. Use the social-links dropdown to pick a platform — Instagram, Twitter/X, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Spotify, Pinterest, Telegram, WhatsApp, GitHub, Email, or Website — and paste the corresponding URL. Repeat for every platform you want to share.

Choose a slug. This is the short, readable part of your link URL. For example, entering aman-contact produces the link 1smart.link/aman-contact. If you use a custom domain, the link becomes something like yourdomain.com/contact. Pick something short and memorable.

Click Save.

Result

Your vCard smart link is now live. You can copy the URL (e.g. 1smart.link/aman-contact) and share it anywhere:

Printed business cards — generate a QR code for the link and print it on your card. When someone scans it, they get the Add-to-Contacts sheet instantly.
Email signatures — add the link as a "Save my contact" button.
Packaging inserts — include a QR code so customers can save your brand's contact details.
Trade-show displays — print the QR code at a size visitors can scan from a distance.

When an iPhone user taps the link in Safari, they see the native iOS Add-to-Contacts sheet with your name, photo, numbers, and all other details pre-filled. They tap Create New Contact or Add to Existing Contact and they are done. Android and desktop users receive the .vcf file as a download and import it into their preferred contacts app.

Troubleshooting

The photo does not appear on the recipient's contact card

This usually happens when the uploaded image exceeds 500 KB. The system falls back to a URI-only reference, which requires an internet connection to display. Re-upload a smaller image — compress or resize it below 500 KB — and save the link again.

iOS does not open the Add-to-Contacts sheet

The native sheet only appears when the link is opened in Safari. If the recipient taps the link inside an in-app browser (e.g. inside Instagram or Twitter), the behaviour may differ. Advise them to copy the link and open it in Safari directly, or scan the QR code with the iPhone camera, which always routes through Safari.

The `.vcf` file downloads but won't import on Android

Some Android devices need the user to tap the downloaded file in the notification tray or file manager and choose a contacts app to handle the import. This is standard Android behaviour and not something the link can override.

The slug I want is already taken

Each slug must be unique across your account (and across the 1smart.link domain if you are not using a custom domain). Try a variation — for example, john-smith-contact instead of john-smith.

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