Do you struggle to keep business cards under control? Maybe you lose them before you can even contact the person, or struggle to keep their information handy.

Thankfully, there's a better way. The latest app from MakeUseOf, ZipCards, lets you easily scan business cards and add the relevant info to your phone. Here's how it works.

Download: ZipCards for Android [Broken URL Removed] | iOS (Free)

ZipCards Basics

After installing ZipCards, pop it open and grant the app permission to use your camera, so it can work properly.

Use the viewfinder to capture an image of a business card. You'll see a blue box snap to the card's dimensions as you do. Toggle the camera flash in the upper-right corner if needed.

Once you've captured an image, you can fill in the information fields below it. These include Name, Phone, EmailWebsite, and similar. Adding this lets you easily reference the information in the future instead of looking at the card every time.

If you'd like to make changes to the image you captured, tap the Edit icon below the picture. Here you can crop the image, apply filters, and more. When you're all done, choose Save to complete the process. You'll see a confirmation screen, then tap Done.

Review Your Card Lists

After you've captured some cards, you can review them at any time. Open the left slide-out menu and choose Card list to take a look. You'll see a brief summary for each entry, including their name, position, and company, along with the day you captured the card.

Tap one to view its full details, including the picture of the business card you took. At the bottom, you can tap Share to generate a QR code (see below for more on this) or Delete to remove it from your list.

You can also tap the Call and Email buttons here, or on the main list, to bring up their number in the Phone app, or a new email in Mail.

Other ZipCards Features

That's all you need to use ZipCards effectively. But the app has a few other tricks you should know about.

If you already have a business card picture on your phone, you can tap From gallery in the bottom-left corner of the scanner. This lets you select an image from your Photos collection to scan.

The app also allows you to share business card contacts via QR code. To do this, open the Card list and select an entry. At the bottom of the screen, choose Share to generate a QR code.

Tap Add to address book to create a new contact with the information you've stored. You can use the Share button at the top of the screen to send the code using another app. Or if you prefer, you can tap the QR button on the main scanning screen. This lets you scan a QR code generated by ZipCards to share contact info.

In the slide-out menu, you'll also find a Settings entry. This contains links for you to rate the app, contact the developers, or share it with friends.

Finally, make sure to check out other MakeUseOf apps in the menu.

ZipCards Has Your Business Card Needs Covered

Now you don't have to worry about losing business cards ever again. Once you get them, simply scan them into ZipCards and log their information. Then you'll have a copy of the card and all its info. Further, keeping this contact info in a separate app means you won't clutter your contacts list up with acquaintance contacts.

Love this scanning functionality and want to use it for other purposes? Check out ZipScan, another MakeUseOf app, that lets you scan documents from your phone.