Kardhaus

Not in the keynote: the new iPhone and your business cards

Apple's event ran on 9 September. Cameras, chips, colours — and not one second about the twenty business cards you will come home from your next conference with. That part was never Apple's job. It is an app, it runs on Apple Intelligence, and it works on the new phone from the first day you are holding it.

Last updated 2026-09-17

Apple announced iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPhone Duo on 9 September, and iOS 27 arrives on 14 September. Kardhaus asks for iOS 26 or later and every one of those ships with newer, so it runs from the first day you have one.

Three things the keynote did not cover

  • A better camera still only takes a photograph. It is a picture of a name until something turns it into a contact you can dial. That step is an app, not a sensor.
  • Apple Intelligence, two seconds after a handshake. Kardhaus reads the card on the phone with the OCR built into iOS, then Apple Intelligence sorts the fields — on the device today, and from version 1.1 on iOS 27 first through Apple’s Private Cloud Compute. The keynote’s headline technology, doing the thing you will actually do this month.
  • Both sides are one person. Half the cards handed over in Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul are Chinese on the front and English on the back. Most scanners file that as two contacts. Kardhaus reasons over both faces and keeps one.

It works on day one

Kardhaus needs iOS 26 or later. Every iPhone Apple sells ships with a newer iOS than that, so whatever is in the box on launch day runs it — no waiting, no compatibility update to sit through. It also runs on the iPhone already in your hand, which is the one you will be scanning cards with next week.

Will it work on the iPhone announced on 9 September?
Yes. Kardhaus requires iOS 26 or later, and a new iPhone ships with a newer iOS than that, so it installs and runs on the first day you have the phone.
Does it cost anything to try?
No. The download is free, storing cards is unlimited, and exporting your own data is free. One optional one-time purchase unlocks the advanced features — no subscription, and no ads on any tier.
Do the cards get sent anywhere?
Not to us — the app sends nothing to Kardhaus. The text is read on the phone by the OCR built into iOS. Three things about a card go to Apple, and to nobody else: the address printed on the card, looked up in Apple Maps so the card can be placed on the map; from version 1.1 on iOS 27, AI recognition, which sends the photo of that card to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute; and from version 1.2 on iOS 27, a follow-up draft, only when you tap to generate one — the name, title and company on the card and your meeting notes, never phone numbers, emails, addresses or photos — also to Private Cloud Compute. Apple built Private Cloud Compute so that what is sent is used only for that request, is not stored, and cannot be accessed even by Apple. Before 1.1, on iOS 26, or when Private Cloud Compute is unavailable, the fields are sorted on the phone.