# CardLens - Scan to Contacts — Business card scanner & reader

> Business card scanner & reader (iPhone/iPad app by Liang Shao.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cardlens-scan-to-contacts/id6804919723 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Liang Shao](https://appshunter.io/developer/438549159)
- Category: Business, Productivity
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 26.0 · 5 MB
- Languages: American English, Canadian French, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified, China), Latin American Spanish
- Released: 2026-09-16
- Data updated: 2026-10-22

## What is CardLens?

Point your iPhone at a business card and the contact fills itself in — name, company, title, email, phone, address and website — ready to save in seconds.
All the reading happens on your iPhone. Card images, and the details printed on them, never leave it. No account to create, no ads.

NO MORE DUPLICATE CONTACTS

Most scanners add a new entry every time. CardLens looks first. If you already have the person, it tells you before it writes anything — and shows you, field by field, what updating them would change.
New details are ticked and ready to add. Anything that would overwrite a value you already have starts switched off, shows both versions side by side and what accepting it costs. You make the call; CardLens writes only what you agreed to.
Decline the contacts permission and CardLens hands the finished card to the Contacts app's own save sheet: no duplicate check, but the card still gets in.

SCAN A WHOLE STACK

Work through a stack in one session, a card at a time, and each becomes its own contact to review and save. Pick one of your Contacts lists and the whole pile from a conference is filed into it.
If a card carries a QR code with contact details, CardLens reads them straight off.

DETAILS THAT ARRIVE INTACT

Three numbers come in labelled mobile, work and fax, not as three identical entries, and each is saved exactly as the card prints it, extension and all.
A link to LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube is filed as a social profile, not dumped in with the websites.
A card carrying a company and no person is saved as an organization, not as a nameless record.

EVERY FIELD IS YOURS

Email, phone, address and website are read straight off the card. Name, company and title are worked out on-device by Apple Intelligence, and every value is checked against the text printed on the card before it is accepted. On a device without Apple Intelligence, the tray below is how you label those three.
Each field shows where its value came from, so you know where to look. Anything left over waits in a tray at the bottom — tap a line to file it under the right field, or press and hold to split a line holding two facts, or join one that wrapped. Clearing a field puts its text back in the tray.

SEE WHAT IT SAW

Tap Recognized Text and the card comes back with every line CardLens read drawn over it, numbered, beside what each line became — so when a value looks wrong, you can tell whether the card was misread or the line was filed under the wrong label.

THREE WAYS IN

The scan screen opens straight into the camera: a card-shaped window, a shutter, and a light for a dim table. CardLens finds the card's edges and straightens the shot. A stack, or corners to drag by hand, is one tap away beside the shutter.
A card someone emailed you, or a screenshot of a signature, comes in from Photos.
One saved out of Mail, iCloud Drive or a scanner app comes in from Files.

A CONTACT PHOTO, NOT A PHOTO OF PAPER

If the card carries a headshot, CardLens can crop to just the face and use that as the contact photo, so the entry looks like the person, not a scanned rectangle. Optional, and off by default.

BUILT PROPERLY

Cards in other languages are read properly, including Japanese and Chinese company forms and name order — and CardLens itself speaks English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and French.
VoiceOver reads every field with its confidence attached, confidence is never signalled by colour alone, and the layout holds at the largest text sizes.
CardLens keeps no library of its own: the contact goes into Contacts, nothing about the card stays behind, and one tap opens the new contact there.

FREE TO TRY

Your first 10 saved contacts are free. After that, one purchase unlocks unlimited scanning for good — no subscription, no sign-up.
CardLens collects anonymous usage statistics and crash reports so problems get fixed; you can turn that off in Settings. Neither ever includes card images, contact details, or anything read off a card.

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CardLens Pro | $4.99 | one-time |


## Is CardLens safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess CardLens.

## Is CardLens legit?

CardLens - Scan to Contacts appears legitimate, with a few gaps. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for CardLens is 75 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 2 releases)

### 1.1 — 2026-10-08

New: save a card straight into a list.

On the review screen, Add to List offers the lists you've made in the Contacts app. Pick one and the contact is filed there as it's saved. Your pick stays put while you work through a stack, so every card from one event lands in the same list — and updating someone you already have adds them to it too.

Also: View in Contacts now shows the contact edge to edge.

### 1.0 — 2026-09-16

No release notes.

## Apps similar to CardLens

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [CardSnap: BizCard Scanner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cardsnap-bizcard-scanner/id6760873171) | — | Free | Business |
| [AI Card to Contacts - Scanner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ai-card-to-contacts-scanner/id6807256972) | — | Free | Business |
| [Business Card Scanner - OCR](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/business-card-scanner-ocr/id6779245982) | — | Free | Business |
| [Zahara Go](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zahara-go/id6743001476) | — | Free | Business |
| [PMU Forms](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pmu-forms/id1497270923) | 4.3 (35) | Free | Business |
| [Pioneer ConnectIQ](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pioneer-connectiq/id1525061352) | 4.8 (21) | Free | Business |

## More apps by Liang Shao

- [Picture Talks](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/picture-talks/id438549153)
- [MoveLens: Dance, Mirror & Loop](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/movelens-dance-mirror-and-loop/id6801042955)
- [Heelstorm: Kick in High Heels](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/heelstorm-kick-in-high-heels/id6807526489)

All apps by Liang Shao: https://appshunter.io/developer/438549159

## Related topics

[card lens](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/card-lens)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-22.*