Getting a business card into iOS Contacts
Three routes, ranked by how many cards you have and how much you care about the phonetic fields.
Last updated 2026-08-17
One card: Live Text straight into a new contact
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Point the Camera at the card and tap the Live Text button
The icon appears in the corner once text is detected.
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Long-press the phone number
Choose Add to Contacts, then Create New Contact.
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Fill the rest by copy and paste
Go back to Live Text, select the name, company and email, and paste each into the contact card.
Fastest route for a single card, and it needs nothing installed. It does not keep the card image, and it will not populate the phonetic fields.
Many cards: import a vCard file
If your cards are already digital — in another app, in a spreadsheet, or in an export from an app you are leaving — vCard (.vcf) is the format iOS reads natively.
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Get a .vcf file onto the phone
AirDrop it, email it to yourself, or put it in iCloud Drive and open it from the Files app.
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Tap the file
iOS offers to add the contacts. A multi-contact vCard imports in one action.
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Check a few records before deleting the source
Specifically check that company names and extensions survived. Then keep the file as a backup anyway.
On CSV
iOS Contacts will not import CSV directly. Convert to vCard first — macOS Contacts can do it, and so can any card app that exports vCard. This one detail is why "export to CSV" and "get into my phone" are not the same task.
The detail almost everything loses: phonetic fields
iOS Contacts has dedicated fields for phonetic first name, last name and company. They are not decoration. They are what makes 田中 sort correctly among Japanese contacts, what lets you find someone by typing a reading rather than the kanji, and what stops VoiceOver reading a Japanese surname with a Chinese pronunciation.
Almost nothing writes them. Live Text cannot — it has no idea how the name is pronounced. Most card apps do not either, even though Japanese cards very often print the furigana right there on the card, which is the most accurate pronunciation source that exists and is free to read.
Kardhaus reads printed furigana or romaji when it is on the card, lets you correct the reading, and writes it to the phonetic fields on export. It is a small thing that quietly decides whether your address book is usable in Japanese.
Which route to use
| Situation | Use | Keeps the card image | Keeps phonetic fields |
|---|---|---|---|
| One card, need the number now | Live Text | No | No |
| Cards already digital elsewhere | vCard import | Sometimes | If the source had them |
| Paper stack, ongoing | A card app | Yes | Depends on the app |
Common questions
Can I import a CSV of contacts into iPhone directly?
Does a card app need full access to my contacts?
Why do my Japanese contacts sort in a strange order?
Will contacts I add sync to my other devices?
Not on the App Store yet
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100 free scans, front and back included
Kardhaus is in development for iOS 18 and later. Leave your email and you get the TestFlight build when it opens, plus 100 free AI scans on the house — double-sided cards included, counted as one card, not two.