vCard Extensions to WebDAV (CardDAV) is an

address book An address book or a name and address book is a book, or a database used for storing entries called contacts. Each contact entry usually consists of a few standard fields (for example: first name, last name, company name, address, telephone num ...

client/server protocol designed to allow users to access and share contact data on a server. The CardDAV protocol was developed by the

IETF The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and a ...

and was published as in August 2011. CardDAV is based on

WebDAV WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a set of extensions to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which allows user agents to collaboratively author contents ''directly'' in an HTTP web server by providing facilities for concu ...

, which is based on

HTTP The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...

, and it uses

vCard vCard, also known as VCF (Virtual Contact File), is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards can be attached to e-mail messages, sent via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), on the World Wide Web, instant messaging, NFC ...

for contact data.

History

CardDAV was proposed as an open standard for contact management in August 2011. It became known as a synchronization protocol in iOS 7, among other things, and is now also supported by

Gmail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...

, where it replaces the no longer supported (by Google)

ActiveSync ActiveSync is a mobile data synchronization app developed by Microsoft, originally released in 1996. It synchronizes data with handheld devices and desktop computers. In the Windows Task Manager, the associated process is called wcescomm.exe. O ...

standard. In October 2013, the standard received an update that made it possible to capture higher-resolution contact images and achieve lower data consumption.

Specification

The specification has been proposed as a standard by

as th
RFC 6352
in August 2011 by C. Daboo from

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

Implementations

Server-side

The following products implement the ''server''-side portion of the CardDAV protocol: *

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

Contacts Server. *Baïkal it is a lightweight CalDAV and CardDAV server. *

CommuniGate Pro CommuniGate Pro (CGatePro) is a highly scalable carrier grade unified communications server, as well as a development platform. The system is Internet Protocol based. The server is a single process, multi-threaded application written entirely in ...

supports CardDav protocol. * DAViCal supports CardDAV from version 0.9.9.2 * fruux, a synchronization service, supporting CardDAV *

GMail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...

and Google Contacts allow access to user's address book via CardDAV. * Group-Office, an open-source groupware and CRM application * Horde Groupware, a complete web-based groupware solution with CalDAV and CardDAV support.Horde Groupware
/ref> *

Mailfence Mailfence is an encrypted email service that offers OpenPGP based end-to-end encryption and digital signatures. It was launched in November 2013 by ContactOffice Group, which has been operating an online collaboration suite for universities and ...

Supports CardDAV protocol * MDaemon Email Server * Meishi, a standalone, Ruby on Rails based CardDAV server *

Nextcloud Nextcloud is a suite of client-server software for creating and using file hosting services. Nextcloud provides functionally similar to Dropbox, Office 365 or Google Drive when used with integrated office suite solutions Collabora Online or Only ...

supports CardDAV protocol since the first version. *

ownCloud ownCloud is an open-source software product for sharing and syncing of files in distributed and federated enterprise scenarios. It allows companies and remote end-users to organize their documents on servers, computers and mobile devices and w ...

supports CardDAV protocol since version 2.0. * Radicale * SabreDAV, a WebDAV framework for PHP, supports CardDAV since version 1.5. * SOGo supports CardDAV access to its address books. *

Zimbra Zimbra Collaboration, formerly known as the Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) before 2019, is a collaborative software suite that includes an email server and a web client. Zimbra was initially developed by LiquidSys, which changed their name ...

6 allows access to its address book via CardDAV. * SYNOLOGY DSM 6.0 supports CardDAV. * Xandikos is a lightweight CalDAV/CardDAV server.

Client-side

The following products implement the ''client''-side portion of the CardDAV protocol: *Apple

Contacts Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic ...

starting from

Mac OS X Snow Leopard Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) is the seventh major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. ...

and higher. *Apple

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

, starting from iOS 4. *

Blackberry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

devices running QNX - Blackberry 10+ phones,

Playbook Playbook may refer to: * BlackBerry PlayBook, a tablet computer by BlackBerry *A book that contains a script or story for a theatrical play. This written version of the composition is used in preparing for a performance **Fleury Playbook, a medieva ...

OS 2.0+ tablets * DAVx⁵ (previously called DAVdroid) is an open-source CalDAV/CardDAV sync app for Android (supporting VCard 4) *

eM Client eM Client is a Windows and macOS based email client for sending and receiving emails, managing calendars, tasks, contacts, and notes. Live chat is integrated as well. It was developed as a user-friendly alternative to existing email clients and c ...

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

has built-in support for CalDAV/CardDAV. *

KDE KDE is an international free software community that develops free and open-source software. As a central development hub, it provides tools and resources that allow collaborative work on this kind of software. Well-known products include the ...

Software Compilation 4.5 will feature CardDAV client support, due in August 2010. It will be available for use by Kaddressbook, which is part of

Kontact Kontact is a personal information manager and groupware software suite developed by KDE. It supports calendars, contacts, notes, to-do lists, news, and email. It offers a number of inter-changeable graphical UIs (KMail, KAddressBook, Akregator, ...

PIM suite. It will be provided by

Akonadi Akonadi is a storage service for personal information management (PIM) data and metadata named after the oracle goddess of justice in Ghana. It is one of the “pillars” (core technologies) behind the KDE SC 4 project, although it is designed t ...

: a PIM server which will also make the data available to other applications. *

Kerio Connect Kerio Technologies, Inc. is a former technology company specializing in collaboration software and unified threat management for small and medium organizations. Founded in 2001, Kerio is headquartered in San Jose, California. In January 2017, GFI ...

*Outlook CalDav Synchronizer *

Sailfish OS Sailfish OS is a Linux-based operating system based on free software, and open source projects such as Mer as well as including a closed source UI. The project is being developed by the Finnish company Jolla. The OS first shipped with the o ...

, the OS of the

Jolla Jolla Oy (sometimes referred to as Jolla Ltd.) is a Finnish technology company; vendor and developer of Sailfish OS. Headquartered in Tampere, Finland, Jolla has its own research and development offices in Helsinki, Tampere and Cyberport, Hong ...

phones and tablet (since 2015) *

Thunderbird Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to: * Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture * Ford Thunderbird, a car Birds * Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds ...

, native from version 91, or the CardBook add-on. Old versions via the SOGo Connector

References

External links

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)CardDAV Resources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carddav Hypertext Transfer Protocol Servers (computing)