How Does the Card Actually Reach the Recipient?

Why we only ask for a name

When you create a card, the recipient's name is the only thing about them we ask for — no email address, no phone number. That's on purpose, and it's not an oversight. The name goes on the cover. Nothing else is needed, because nothing gets emailed or texted on your behalf.

The upside is that we never hold contact details for the person the card is about. They didn't sign up to anything, and they won't be on a list anywhere. The card exists at a link, and the link is yours to hand over however you like.

How delivery works: the recipient link

Every card has two links. The signing link is the one you share with everyone who's contributing. The recipient link is the finished card — the one the person the card is for opens. You'll find both on your dashboard, on the card's tile.

Delivering the card means giving the recipient that second link. Any way you'd normally reach them works: a text, a WhatsApp, a Slack DM, an email. The dashboard has a Copy button for the recipient link and an Email button that opens a ready-written message in your own mail app — it comes from you, from your address, not from us. Or read it out to them in person with the card open on your phone, which is honestly the best version.

So when you're wondering whether the card has "gone" — it goes the moment you send that link. If you haven't sent it, it hasn't been delivered, and nothing will happen on its own.

What the delivery date actually does

This is where the confusion usually comes from. When you create a card you can set an optional delivery date and time. It sounds like it schedules a send. It doesn't — remember, nothing is sent. What it does is lock the recipient link until that moment.

Before the delivery time, anyone who opens the recipient link — including someone who signed and clicked through — sees a "not available yet" page, not the card. After it, the link works. That's what it's for: you can hand over the link early, say on the last day before someone's leave, knowing the card stays sealed until the morning of their birthday.

If you didn't set one, the recipient link works straight away. Most people don't set one, and that's fine.

"Has it been delivered yet?"

Because delivery is you sending a link, there's no delivery status to check on the dashboard and no read receipt — we don't track who opens the recipient link, by design. Three things follow from that:

• →If you sent the link and it's past the delivery time (or you never set one), it's delivered. There's nothing further to wait for.
• →If you want to know whether they've opened it, the reliable method is the old-fashioned one: ask them. A "did you get the card?" is also a nice excuse for a second moment.
• →If you can't remember whether you sent it, open the recipient link yourself. If it shows the card, it's live and you can send it again — the link doesn't expire when it's used, and re-sending is harmless.

A couple of practical tips

Send the recipient link from an account they'll recognise — a message from the team lead lands differently from one from an unknown number. Add a line of your own; the link on its own looks like spam. And if the moment matters, consider not sending it at all: open the card on a laptop, gather the team, and let them watch it being read. The link will still be there afterwards for them to keep.

The recipient link stays live for six months from when the card was created. If they'd like a permanent copy, they can download the card as a PDF from the page itself — details in the help centre.