CardHQ - Business Card Reader 4+

CardHQ provides a quick and fairly accurate way to scan and save your business cards, and it provides an adequate means of converting that image into a basic digital contact that must be manually refined. (I have the iPhone version)

Once the app scans the card, it provides a variety of options such as Call, Message (text), Email, Web (find the company site online), Navigate, and copy text. It also appears to integrate with Waze, Skype, Twitter, and LinkedIN. I tried the LinkedIN (I have the LinkedIN app on my phone and am already logged in), but all that occurred was that the LinkedIN app opened. I then tried selecting the name on the business card first, then hitting LinkedIN, and again nothing happened (other than the app opening). Finally, you can “Save to Phone Contacts.” This last feature is the one I most care about, and I find its integration is less than stellar but still a good start. Here’s why:

When you click Save to Phone Contacts, the app shows you the card with all text fields outlined in red. You must then select the individual’s name and company. At that point, those two elements are saved to your contacts app as a new card. The additional text on the original card may or may not get integrated, and that information may or may not be accurate. Example one: Your new contact card has only the name and company. Example two: Your new contact card has some additional information as well. Example three: The phone numbers are saved but without the area code (the app sees the area code as a separate field on the card). Example four: rarely does the app see and import the address correctly. I suspect the reason for this is that most addresses appear on business cards in multiple lines because the one time the app accurately got the entire address was when it was looking at a business card where the address was on a single line. So you will sometimes get just the street address, or just the city and zip. Most times, the app reads the person’s entire name as their first name.

The app saves and scans business cards quickly. It can quickly import a very basic digital card to your phone’s contacts book, and with some effort, you can manually finish the job.

I already love this app so much. I have so many darn business cards! I only wish I could add data to the record because folks have gotten fancy with their cards and they have some text on one side and some on the other. Or they have fancy pants writing that is tough to detect. I can barely read it so I don’t expect the app to do so.

Just what I was looking for to eliminate stack of business cards. Favorites lets me quickly access most used cards and actually place a call. Love it...and it is FREE. 👍