What is the code printed on my card?

It is your card's ID — eight characters, printed as four and four, like ABCD-EFGH. It is how the card is recognised whether it is tapped, scanned or typed in, and it is the fallback when a tap and a QR scan both fail.

To use it, go to somebody.cards/c/ and add the code to the end — or open somebody.cards/activate/not-found and type it into the box there.

Typing it is more forgiving than it looks:

Capitals and lower case both work. The dash is optional. The codes never contain the letters I, L, O or U, precisely so they cannot be confused with 1 and 0. If you type an O we read it as a zero, an I or an L as a one, and a U as a V — so the usual misreadings correct themselves. The code is not a password. It is printed on the card and sits in the web address, so anyone holding the card can see it. It identifies the card; it does not unlock your account. Signing in is what protects your profile.