The SONO Card is the physical extension of your shell. A small card you carry. When two shells need to find each other in the same room, you tap. The card knows who you are; the phone learns who is in front of it.
Five gestures
A first registration, naming the card to your shell. A replacement, with a quiet pause so the old one stays valid for a day. A tap by someone else — they arrive on your public shell. A frozen card, when you have lost it. Your own card, opening its settings.
Why physical
A QR code is an instruction. A tap is an exchange. The SONO Card belongs to a moment of presence — a meeting, a handover, a goodbye. A small piece of plastic carrying the meaning of being there.
Presence, kept rare
Each card has a daily ceiling. Presence is meant to be rare enough to mean something, and the limit is the way the card keeps it that way.
Questions
Everything SONO Card answers, in one place.
Open any question for a careful answer. The list grows as we add new
surfaces to the component.
What is the SONO Card?
A small physical card — the size of a credit card — that carries your shell into the world. You tap it against your phone, or someone taps theirs against yours, and a quiet exchange begins. It is the one piece of MercyChain you can carry in a pocket.
Do I need a SONO Card?
No. Pearl Shell works without one. The Card is for moments where presence matters — a meeting, a handover, a goodbye. If you do not move that way through the world, you do not need it.
How is the Card different from tapping two phones together?
A QR code is an instruction; a tap of the Card is an exchange. Two phones can read a code and finish each other’s sentences digitally. The Card is physical — it asks you to put a thing into another person’s hand, and it carries the meaning of that.
What happens when I tap my own Card to my phone?
It opens the Card’s settings. You can rename it, change the daily limit, freeze it, mark it lost, or begin replacing it with a new one.
What happens when I tap someone else’s Card?
Your phone learns who they are and lands on their public shell — the door to their MercyChain. From there you can send a pearl to them, request one, add them to your circle, or begin a small written agreement.
What if I lose my Card?
Mark it lost in the Card’s settings, on your phone. The Card is permanently disabled — no one can use it again, even if they find it. You can register a new Card at any time.
Can I have more than one Card at a time?
No. One Card is active at a time. To replace a Card, you start a 24-hour pause: the new Card is registered but not yet usable; the old Card stays alive for the day; at the end of the day, the new Card takes over. The pause is the safety net.
Why a 24-hour pause when I replace a Card?
So that a card you may still be carrying does not stop working in the middle of the day. The old Card keeps you company until the new one is ready, and then quietly retires.
What is the daily limit on a Card?
A ceiling you set — the largest sum that can move through this Card in a single day. If you tap your Card to send something larger, the phone will ask for a deeper confirmation. The limit is yours to choose, and yours to change.
Can I freeze the Card temporarily?
Yes. From the Card’s settings, you can freeze it — and unfreeze it later, when you find it again, or change your mind. While frozen, the Card cannot be used by anyone, including you.
Can I use my Card to pay at a shop?
No. The Card is not a payment card. It moves pearls between shells — and only between shells.
Can I share my Card with someone in my family?
No, and the system will not let you. A Card belongs to a single shell, and a shell belongs to a single person. If your family member needs a card, they will need their own shell first.
Why physical, when everything else is digital?
Because some moments deserve an object. A small piece of plastic carrying the meaning of being there.
What if my phone does not have NFC?
Older phones may not. In that case, you can still use the rest of MercyChain — the QR code in your shell does the work the Card would do, slightly more slowly, and without the small ceremony of touch.
Can someone tap my Card without me knowing?
Tapping your Card to their phone takes them only to your public shell — the same place a stranger would arrive if you sent them your shell address by message. Your collection, your history, and your private settings remain closed. The tap is a door knock, not a key.
