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How to use Carded

Carded is a privacy-first web app: it runs right in your phone’s browser, on-device and offline, with no app store, no download, and no hardware. That’s the only thing that works differently from a normal app, so here’s the whole picture: opening it, adding it to your home screen, getting a clean scan, and fixing camera issues.

Start here, 3 steps
1Open the link

Go to trycarded.app/app in your phone’s browser (Safari, Chrome, whatever you use). It opens instantly. Nothing to download, no App Store.

2Add it to your home screen

So it opens full-screen with its own icon like a normal app, and keeps working with no signal. Steps for every browser are in section 3 below.

3Scan an ID

Tap Scan ID and aim at the barcode on the back of the card. In about a second you get a green pass or red stop, and a chime.

Open Carded now

1Get a clean scan

Carded reads the PDF417 barcode on the back of the ID, the wide striped block, not the photo side. A good scan takes a second when the barcode is framed and in focus.

Camera won’t focus, or the barcode is worn? Wipe the camera lens, hold the ID flat about 4–6 inches away in good light, and let the camera settle for a second so the dense barcode comes into focus. If it still won’t read, tap “Enter date of birth manually” to check age from the ID’s printed date of birth.

2The camera won’t open

The most common cause: you opened Carded inside an in-app browser. When you tap a link from a text message, email, Facebook, or Instagram, the phone opens a stripped-down browser that blocks the camera.

The fix: open Carded in a real browser app. Open Chrome, Safari, or Samsung Internet (whatever you normally use) and go to trycarded.app/app directly. If a link opened inside another app, use that screen’s menu and choose “Open in browser” or “Open in Chrome.”

If you tapped “Block” on the camera prompt

Android (Chrome): tap the lock or ⓘ icon at the left of the address bar → Permissions (or Site settings) → Camera → Allow, then reload the page and tap Scan ID again.

iPhone (Safari): tap the “aA” button in the address bar → Website Settings → Camera → Allow. Or go to Settings → Safari → Camera and set it to Allow.

3Add Carded to your home screen

Installing Carded to your home screen gives you a one-tap icon that opens full screen like a normal app, and it keeps working offline after the first load. Pick your browser:

iPhone & iPad, Safari

  1. Open trycarded.app in Safari.
  2. Tap the Share button (the square with an up arrow, at the bottom).
  3. Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen.
  4. Tap Add. The Carded icon appears on your home screen.

Android, Chrome

  1. Open trycarded.app in Chrome.
  2. Tap the ⋮ menu (top right).
  3. Tap Add to Home screen (it may say Install app).
  4. Tap Add or Install.

Android, Samsung Internet

  1. Open trycarded.app in Samsung Internet.
  2. Tap the menu (the three lines, usually bottom right).
  3. Tap Add page to → Home screen.
  4. Tap Add.

Android, Firefox

  1. Open trycarded.app in Firefox.
  2. Tap the ⋮ menu.
  3. Tap Add to Home screen (or Install).
  4. Confirm with Add.

Android, Microsoft Edge

  1. Open trycarded.app in Edge.
  2. Tap the ••• menu (bottom).
  3. Tap Add to phone → Install.

4Still stuck?

If scanning still isn’t working after trying a real browser and manual entry, email us at support@trycarded.app with your phone model and browser, and what you see on screen. We’ll get you sorted.

Answers

Common questions

No. Carded runs in your phone's browser. Open the link, add it to your home screen, and it becomes a one-tap icon that opens full-screen, with no App Store, no updates, and no hardware.

Open trycarded.app in Safari, tap the Share button (the square with an arrow pointing up), scroll down and tap 'Add to Home Screen,' then tap Add. Carded now opens full-screen from its own icon, just like a regular app.

Open trycarded.app in Chrome, tap the three-dot menu in the corner, and choose 'Add to Home screen' (or 'Install app'). Carded gets its own icon and opens full-screen.

Tap the big Scan ID button and hold the back of the ID flat inside the frame. The barcode is the wide striped block, usually near the bottom. Carded reads it in about a second and shows the age verdict, ID status, and details. If the light is bad, use 'Scan from a photo instead' or type the date of birth in manually.

Yes, both, plus tablets and laptops. The audible chime works everywhere; the vibration buzz works on Android (Apple does not allow websites to trigger iPhone haptics).

It depends on your plan: 1 device on Single, up to 5 on Venue, and up to 15 on Multi-register. You activate each phone or tablet once, name it (like 'Front Door' or 'Register 2'), and it counts as one of your devices.

Your subscription covers multiple devices. On each new phone, open the app, tap 'I already have a subscription,' and enter the email your subscription is under, plus your access code if you have set one. That phone is now activated and counts as one of your devices. You only do this once per phone, and after that it works offline like any other.

Yes. On a shared phone or tablet, staff tap their name to sign in at the start of a shift, so every scan is tagged with who ran it. Signing in does not use a device slot, so any number of employees can share one device.

Open the Devices screen in the app and remove it. That frees the slot for a replacement right away, and the lost phone loses access the next time it connects to the internet. Because customer identities never sit on our servers, and the on-device scan log can be cleared or locked behind an access code, a lost phone is not a database risk. You can also set an access code so no new device can be added without it.

They live only on the device. IDs on the 86'd and VIP watchlist are saved as a one-way hash, never the raw number, and the compliance report keeps outcomes only (pass, decline, expired, device, and staff name), with no names, dates of birth, or ID numbers. Only de-identified outcomes sync to your dashboard; no customer identities are uploaded to us.

Yes. Carded keeps an on-device log of every scan and lets you export a CSV or a printable compliance report showing scans, declines, and expired IDs by device and staff member. It is built to help you prove your diligence to a regulator or your insurer.