ABBYY Business Card Reader Alternative: What to Use Now

The quick answer

ABBYY Business Card Reader is no longer a safe choice. ABBYY ended the Android app on 18 September 2023, and the iOS app no longer syncs scanned cards, according to ABBYY’s end-of-life announcement. The best replacement is Habsy: it scans with 99% accuracy (the highest in our in-house tests), reads cards in multiple languages and translates them into English, and is free forever with unlimited scanning and export.

What happened to ABBYY Business Card Reader?

ABBYY announced the end of life of several mobile apps, including Business Card Reader for Android:

• 17 August 2023: ABBYY stopped accepting new subscriptions and in-app purchases for the Android app.
• 18 September 2023: Business Card Reader for Android reached end of life, and support ended.
• iOS: the app remains available and supported, but no longer synchronises scanned business cards with an ABBYY account.

If you still use the iOS app, your contacts live on one device with no sync. If you lose or replace the phone, you risk losing them.

What to look for in a replacement

ABBYY was known for accurate recognition and good language support. A replacement should match that, and fix what is missing now:

1. Accuracy, including cards in other languages
2. Sync and backup, so contacts are not tied to one phone
3. Export, so you can always get your contacts out
4. Batch scanning for stacks of cards
5. QR codes and badges, since many people no longer hand over paper
6. Follow-up tools, so contacts turn into conversations
7. A company that is investing in the product

Why Habsy is the best ABBYY BCR alternative

On top of scanning, Habsy writes personal email and WhatsApp follow-ups with AI from a short prompt, flags duplicates for you to review, and captures offline, processing cards once you are back online. With Habsy Plus, you add voice notes with searchable transcripts, intent signals, AI enrichment, templates and CRM sync.

How to move your contacts

1. Export from ABBYY BCR. Save your contacts to your phone’s address book or export them to a file, using the options in your version of the app.
2. Install Habsy from the App Store or Google Play.
3. Import your contacts. Habsy imports CSV files and supports migration from other scanner apps.
4. Review duplicates. Habsy flags possible duplicates and lets you choose.
5. Scan the rest. If you still have the paper cards for important contacts, batch scan them for clean records.

Do this soon. An app that no longer syncs is one lost phone away from losing your network.

Before you uninstall ABBYY Business Card Reader

Work through this list first, so nothing is lost:

1. Count your contacts in the app, so you can check the total after moving.
2. Export everything the app allows: to your phone’s address book, to a file, or both.
3. Check the export opens and has separate fields for name, company, email and phone.
4. Note any groups or tags you used, so you can recreate them as tags or categories in Habsy.
5. Import into Habsy and compare the count.
6. Keep the old export file somewhere safe for a while.

Test Habsy on the cards you actually receive

ABBYY users often chose it for languages. Before you commit, scan 20 of your own cards, including the hardest ones: other languages, two-sided cards and unusual layouts. Habsy reads cards in multiple languages, including non-Latin scripts, translates them into English, and lets you add the back of a card. Check the fields in the review step, and you will know quickly whether it fits your network.

Other options

If you want to compare more widely, see our guides to the best free business card scanner apps and the most accurate business card scanner.

Bottom line

ABBYY Business Card Reader has ended on Android and no longer syncs on iOS. Move your contacts to a scanner that is accurate, synced and free to use. Habsy is that scanner. Try Habsy free.