How it works
Touch a phone to the card and a link opens on the screen. That is the whole trick. There is a small chip and a copper coil inside the card; the phone powers it through the air for the split second they touch.
No app to install. It works on iPhone 7 and newer, and on essentially every Android sold since 2015. The person tapping does not need to do anything except hold their phone near the card, usually the top edge of the phone.
The card has no battery. It never needs charging, and there is nothing in it to wear out. A card sitting in a drawer for five years taps the same as a new one.
What the link can point to
- Your website
- Your Google Maps listing, so a tap opens directions
- Your Instagram
- Your menu
- Your booking page
And it can be changed after the cards are printed. If your number, menu, or account moves, I re-point the link and every card already out in the world follows it. Nothing gets reprinted.
And if you want one tap to offer several of those at once, I set up a small page here with just your buttons on it, like this one. Your reviews, your Instagram, your menu, whatever you run. It changes free, same as everything else.
The same chip goes into stickers and counter tags too: guest wifi, review pages, directions, menus.
What does not work
Some Android owners switch the tap reader off in their settings and forget; the card reads again the moment it is switched back on. A very thick metal phone case sometimes blocks the tap until the phone comes out of it. Phones older than the ones listed above may not read it at all.
In practice about one phone in twenty needs a second try or a slower tap. I am telling you that now so it does not surprise you at your counter.