vCard Extensions to WebDAV (CardDAV) is an address book 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 ...

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

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 user (computing), users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clien ...

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

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 trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...

Contacts Server. *Baïkal it is a lightweight CalDAV and CardDAV server. * CommuniGate Pro supports CardDav protocol. * DAViCal supports CardDAV from version 0.9.9.2 *

fruux fruux is a cross-platform synchronization service operated by fruux, the company behind the popular open source project SabreDAV. The service enables users to synchronize address book contacts, calendar events, tasks, bookmarks and notes between ...

, a synchronization service, supporting CardDAV *

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

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 Supports CardDAV protocol * MDaemon Email Server *

Meishi Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company or business aff ...

, 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 ...

supports CardDAV protocol since the first version. * ownCloud supports CardDAV protocol since version 2.0. * Radicale *

SabreDAV sabre/dav is an open source WebDAV server, developed by fruux and built in PHP. It is an implementation of the WebDAV protocol (with extensions for CalDAV and CardDAV), providing a native PHP server implementation which operates on Apache 2 and ...

, a WebDAV framework for PHP, supports CardDAV since version 1.5. * SOGo supports CardDAV access to its address books. * Zimbra 6 allows access to its address book via CardDAV. *

SYNOLOGY Synology Inc. () is a Taiwanese corporation that specializes in network-attached storage (NAS) appliances. Synology's line of NAS is known as the DiskStation for desktop models, FlashStation for all-flash models, and RackStation for rack-moun ...

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 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 Conferen ...

and higher. *Apple iOS, 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 ...

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 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: 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, ...

*Outlook CalDav Synchronizer * Sailfish OS, the OS of the Jolla phones and tablet (since 2015) * Thunderbird, 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)