Cardhop's Intuitive Contacts Management Comes to iOS

[Bryan Bowler]

Fantastic software. Just bought it. This is the future of business cards. These cards we give each other get used once to enter the information into our contacts apps or phones and then either sit in a drawer gathering dust or get thrown in the bin. Either way it's not something we should be continuing to do in our limited resources world.

Being able to share your contact details via the QR code based business card within the app saves the planet and saves us retyping what's on a business card or relying on expensive OCR software to try to interpret the various business cards we encounter in our careers. This in my view is the major strength of this app.

Saves the planet? Are business cards destroying the planet now?

I only use straws about 4 times a year, but was recently told that I could not have a straw becasue the government now controls that and has targeted straws as the culprit that is supposedly destroying the planet.

I see a lot of things that are clearly not good for the environment, but business cards and straws are not one of them.

Now, managing contact information electronically, I could not agree with you more. Exchanging info in an easier and quicker manner? I wholeheartedly agree with you. I’ll certainly buy this app and try it out and if it’s even close to being as useful as Fantastical, it will be a great app.

 

[LastStarfighter]

I agree, business cards aren't a great evil in our world but it's the mindset. If we approach everything with a mindset of minimising waste both in time re keying and in resources, I think we'll be a whole lot better off.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Does it have the option to search exchange activesync global address list?

Yep. You can even specify which directory parser you want to use and add more than one. It’s super flexible and A LOT faster (instant) than Mail’s support.

 

[bladerunner88]

Apple's Contacts app is a good example of how the company is failing to live up to its legacy for polished software. As some Users are aware, the features of the MacOS and iOS apps aren't equal.

Thank God for third party substitutes! Their apps are the only thing demonstrative of the platform's real potential. Remember this the next time a dev laments Apple's arbitrary policies. Remember this when—not if—Apple forces third party MacOS apps to go through Apple's app store exclusively.

Rant over. I like Fantastical. I'm going to explore their contacts app. Does anyone know if the iOS app lets you choose which web browser and maps apps to open links with?

I seem to remember way back when there used to be a feature in Contacts if you were typing something familiar , you used to able to hold dow the f 4 or 5 Key and it would automatically populate that field that feature seems to have gone away. Also of late as am entering new contacts sometimes the card just disappears and you have to start over...so frustrating.

 

[AeroZ]

Yep. You can even specify which directory parser you want to use and add more than one. It’s super flexible and A LOT faster (instant) than Mail’s support.

And you can initiate call, facetime, message etc straight from the app without having to tap OK to the “app wants to open Phone” etc prompts?

 

[gwhizkids]

This is a very, very good app. It is not 100% perfect at parsing free form contact info, but nearly all the info ends up in the right fields. Just highlight an address say, in an email, use the Share Sheet to send it to CardHop and it does the work. Their Dark Mode is very pleasing to the eye, as well. Tons of Siri shortcuts, too.
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Unfortunately it doesn't support Edison mail as the mail app. No big issue. I use Edison to keep my work email seperate from my personal email and so it doesn't give our exchange server rights to remote-wipe my device.
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Yes it does and also add additional exchange servers than those configured for the whole device. So you can just add an exchange server with a GAL you want to search to this app only rather than for the whole device

This is super useful. Just added my work Office365 account and it searches that much faster than the Contacts app does.

 

[Syrgul]

Unless this is accessible from the Contacts tab in the Phone app, it will flop.

I disagree, I'd gladly buy this if I could use this for my 'alternate' contacts. Every contact management app seems to want to store contacts in iOS's contact list. I'd love for a contacts app that lets me keep my little used contacts (like the wife's, uncle's, cousin's country home kind of contacts) somewhere separate where I have it if I need it, but don't have it cluttering up my daily contact list. Just putting them in a different group doesn't really work for me, I'd much rather just have them in a completely separate app.

However this quote:

On their website it states:
The same contacts that you already use will instantly be available in Cardhop. iCloud, Google, Exchange, and LinkedIn are all supported.

Although not entirely sure what happens if you add a new contact via Cardhop....is it automatically added to iOS contacts?
EDIT: I just installed the trial Mac version and can confirm if you add a contact via Cardhop it is added to normal contacts and syncs with iCloud.

Doesn't seem like this app provides that for me. It sounds like it's all the rest and stores it's contacts in your existing contacts.

 

[nutmac]

I love Flexibits app, including Cardhop.

Having said that, I wish Cardhop would push the envelop further and offer pseudo-CRM like features. Because Cardhop integrates with iOS Contacts, it is subject to same limitations. Most irritating is the limitation it imposes on each contact. Each contact cannot exceed 256 KB, including photo (which must be 224 KB or less).

While that is fine for very light use, it is all too easy to exceed that if you take lots of notes.

To get around that, perhaps Cardhop can leverage Calendars and Reminders databases? Tag Calendars or Reminders entries using Notes field, matching them with a contact?

 

[gaanee]

Apple is quite capable of designing more polished first-party apps like Contacts, Calendar, Reminder, but they seem to be content providing bare-bones functionality with iCloud sync and hope that people will buy 3rd-party apps and thus giving 30% cut to Apple for developer's work.

 

[Chrjy]

For the sake of £3.99, I purchased it. It's very good, looks nice and performs well. I've replaced the normal phone app icon on my dock with this. I notice that if I want to dial a number but there is no contact in my list I simple just type 'Dial 07675 111111' - It will then open the normal phone app and dial as usual so you have access to the number keypad in case you need to navigate a bunch of options to get through to the right dept!

 

[LastStarfighter]

Has anyone actually tried scanning the QR code on the business card? I can’t get anything to read it which is rather disappointing!

 

[Chrjy]

Has anyone actually tried scanning the QR code on the business card? I can’t get anything to read it which is rather disappointing!

Haven't tried it yet. Did you just use the standard camera app on iOS to scan the code?
EDIT: I just picked up my iPad and opened the camera app and pointed at the business card and it immediately asked if I wanted to add to contacts. So it works for me.

 

[LastStarfighter]

Haven't tried it yet. Did you just use the standard camera app on iOS to scan the code?
EDIT: I just picked up my iPad and opened the camera app and pointed at the business card and it immediately asked if I wanted to add the to contacts. So it works for me.

Which iPhone do you have?

 

[Chrjy]

Which iPhone do you have?

iPhone X but was using my iPad Pro to scan the code.

 

[LastStarfighter]

I have an XR. Also scanning with an iPad Pro. I wonder if it’s a shortcoming of the XR screen or just something screwy with my QR code....

 

[Chrjy]

I have an XR too, let me try with that.

Okay so when I try with the XR it's hard work to try and get it to recognise it. I got it to work a couple of times but it was hit and miss for the camera to recognise there was a QR code available.

 

[LastStarfighter]

I have an XR too, let me try with that.

Okay so when I try with the XR it's hard work to try and get it to recognise it. I got it to work a couple of times but it was hit and miss for the camera to recognise there was a QR code available.

Aww that’s a shame. I wonder if they can adjust how the image shows to fix that for lower res displays.

 

[Chrjy]

Aww that’s a shame. I wonder if they can adjust how the image shows to fix that for lower res displays.

When I look at their QR code it does look quite detailed compared to other QR codes I've seen. Out of curiosity have you tried installing a free QR code reader from the App Store to see if it recognises it better.

 

[LastStarfighter]

I hadn’t but I have now and it didn’t make any difference. To be fair if it doesn’t work iPhone to iPhone without any 3rd party apps it’s useless for meetings. Exchanging business cards takes seconds. If this is any more of a faf than that I’d never expect someone to use it to scan my card.

EDIT: I’ve tweeted Flexbits, we’ll see if they can fix it on the next version...or perhaps correct their App Store page on which iPhones it’s compatible with...

 

[QuarterSwede]

And you can initiate call, facetime, message etc straight from the app without having to tap OK to the “app wants to open Phone” etc prompts?

You should be able to. For me they’re all greyed out for some reason but it works the same way the main contacts do, From the search, slide to show message, email, etc options.

 

[Chrjy]

I hadn’t but I have now and it didn’t make any difference. To be fair if it doesn’t work iPhone to iPhone without any 3rd party apps it’s useless for meetings. Exchanging business cards takes seconds. If this is any more of a faf than that I’d never expect someone to use it to scan my card.

EDIT: I’ve tweeted Flexbits, we’ll see if they can fix it on the next version...or perhaps correct their App Store page on which iPhones it’s compatible with...

Nice one. Let's hope they improve then because as you say if it takes anymore than 2 seconds at most people will just avoid it. I'm can't be 100% but I'm sure it's to do with the way the QR code is generated. I just searched QR codes in Google and pointed my phone at them and each one was recognised with ease so it's definitely something to do with how the code is generated.

 

[adeadpixel]

Can you create groups with this? That’s something you still can’t do without a Mac or iCloud in Contacts.

Yes you can add groups, and delete them as well with this, which I’m very about about as well.

 

[LastStarfighter]

They responded and suggested I double tap the QR code to enlarge it.

It seems to be more reliable doing it this way... I’ll give it a try in a few meetings and see how it goes...

 

[ZEEN0j]

Apple's Contacts app is a good example of how the company is failing to live up to its legacy for polished software. As some Users are aware, the features of the MacOS and iOS apps aren't equal.

Thank God for third party substitutes! Their apps are the only thing demonstrative of the platform's real potential. Remember this the next time a dev laments Apple's arbitrary policies. Remember this when—not if—Apple forces third party MacOS apps to go through Apple's app store exclusively.

Rant over. I like Fantastical. I'm going to explore their contacts app. Does anyone know if the iOS app lets you choose which web browser and maps apps to open links with?

Yes you can change those apps. Mine opens Spark, Tweetbot and Apple maps.

 

[Chrjy]

They responded and suggested I double tap the QR code to enlarge it.

It seems to be more reliable doing it this way... I’ll give it a try in a few meetings and see how it goes...

Great, I'll give it a go as well, thanks for the update.