NFC or QR code on a business card?

An Avant card carries both an NFC chip and a QR code. Both open the same profile, but each one suits different moments. Knowing which is which makes handing your card over easier.

NFC (Near Field Communication) is a wireless link that works only over a few centimetres. It is the same technology as contactless payment. The NFC chip in a business card has no battery: when a phone comes close, the chip draws power from the phone and passes it the address it holds.

Using it is simple. The other person holds the back of their phone to your card (on most phones the reader sits near the top or the middle of the back); depending on the phone, a notice appears or your profile opens straight away.

A QR code is a two-dimensional code a camera can read. Since it is printed on the card, it needs no extra hardware: the camera sees the code and opens the link. Most phones' camera apps read QR codes directly today.

• iPhone: the iPhone XS and later read NFC cards without an app while the screen is on. Current iPhones' cameras read QR codes.
• Android: Android phones with NFC need it switched on in settings; on most it already is. Some budget models have no NFC. For the QR code, the camera or Google Lens is enough.

If a phone doesn't read NFC, or its owner isn't sure where to hold it, the QR code is always the fallback.

• When NFC?

  • Face to face, up close. Across a table or standing in conversation, a tap is the quickest way.
  • In dim or crowded places. No camera has to find the code, and the light doesn't matter.
  • Without letting go of the card. You hold it out, they tap, and the card stays with you.

• When the QR code?

  • At a distance. On a slide, at a stand or on a table card, a QR code can be read from a few metres away.
  • On a screen. You can put the QR code on a slide, a poster or your screen in a video call; NFC works only with the physical card.
  • On phones without NFC. If the phone has no NFC, or it's switched off, the QR code opens the same profile.

Because you can't know in advance whose phone you'll meet. One person knows to tap, another opens their camera. Both lead to the same address, so it doesn't matter which they use.

At Avant your QR code isn't only on the card. A button on your profile page opens your code and downloads it, so you can use it in presentations and print too.

The chip on the card carries only your profile's address. It can't reach anything on the phone that reads it and holds no payment details. NFC's range of a few centimetres also makes it hard to read a card from a distance without its owner noticing. What your profile shows is up to you; that's covered in Digital business cards and privacy.

NFC is quickest up close; a QR code works anywhere. Having both on one card means anyone can reach your profile, whatever phone they carry. The cards are in the Shop.