What if your guests could tap a little box and instantly get the info they need—on their phone, in their language, with zero apps? That’s what 42Kites does.
It's a slim little card (that you put inside a holder) which can be attached anywhere—walls, seats, counters, you name it. And it’s way smarter than it looks:
Combination of a QR Code and NFC Chip
Tap or scan it with any smartphone—no app needed
Totally wireless, no power required
Weather-resistant and built to last
Update what it links to anytime from your dashboard
Great Spots to Use It
Whether you're enhancing a guest experience, guiding a visitor, or supporting a customer in-store, 42Kites makes it easy to share the right content, right when it's needed:
On hotel doors to show room service menus
At bus stops to give schedule updates
Inside stores to demo products
Near campus maps or attraction signs
Next to a painting to share the artist story
Web Software
Digital Content
What they’re here for
You control what guests see when they scan the SmartLink Card. You build the Experience in our super simple web dashboard with lots of different content modules. No headaches. No IT guy required.
If you can't find an answer to your question, send us a message here
What is 42Kites?
It’s the easiest way to enhance any space with interactive digital experiences.
The 42Kites system gives you with everything you need to seamlessly engage your audience. It includes compact hardware to mount anywhere, an intuitive web interface to add your digital content (no software or app required), and exceptional support that offers copywriting, video editing, and Photoshop services to bring your vision to life.
There are many ways you can use this platform. The most common use is to provide instant access to enriched information—your audience can tap or scan SmartLinks with their phones to explore the digital content you’ve created.
Videos, photos, 3D models, feedback forms, and promotional messages are just a few examples of content you can add. You can include buttons to encourage actions like making a donation or signing up for a special offer, engaging users in the moment.
The 42Kites platform also includes our Inclusion Bar, featuring language translation, visual impairment controls, and text-to-speech, ensuring your content is accessible to everyone. Plus, you can create engaging activities like a scavenger hunt by embedding clues in your space.
How does 42Kites work?
We’ve built a simple, powerful platform to enhance any space. In just a few easy steps, you can create engaging digital experiences for your audience—no technical or design skills required.
Whether it’s a product, a display, a service area, or a key point in your space that could benefit from enriched content to spark interest, the first step is to choose the area or item you’d like to share more information about with your audience.
Login to your 42Kites account to create an Experience and add digital content related to your chosen area. This could be a video showcasing a product’s features, photos highlighting key details, or an audio guide for a specific location.
Assemble the holder. Place the SmartLink card inside the holder and attach it to a surface near your chosen area.
You do NOT need to use the wall-mounted holder to use a SmartLink Card. For smaller items or unique setups—like products on a shelf or displays in tight spaces—you can simply attach the SmartLink card directly to the surface.
Your audience can now tap or scan the SmartLink to access the digital content of that Experience, bringing your space to life.
What else does this system include?
In addition to the easy-to-use system (weather-resistant hardware and easy-to-use digital platform), all Premium Plans include features designed to simplify your experience and ensure success:
Always Perfect Guarantee - Your 42Kites hardware will always perform flawlessly. If a SmartLink or Wall-Mounted Holder ever breaks, tears, or cracks, we’ll send a replacement at no cost—including free shipping.
Impossible To Fail Guarantee - Use 42Kites with complete confidence, knowing it will work seamlessly in your space. If you need assistance, our team offers one-on-one support (via Zoom, FaceTime, WhatsApp, etc.) to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Helping Hand - Think of this as your personal tech and design team, transforming your content into digital experiences. Need text retyped from a photo? We’ve got you. Want to trim a video or crop a background? We’ll handle it. Looking for a custom SmartLink overlay design for printing? Just ask.
There are no additional fees for these services. Unlimited access to these benefits (and more) is INCLUDED in all Premium Plans.
Can you show me the hardware?
Here is a diagram of the SmartLink card and the three pieces that make up the wall-mounted holder:
Here are a few photos:
You do NOT need to use the wall-mounted holder to use a SmartLink card. For smaller items or unique setups—like products on a shelf or displays in tight spaces—you can simply attach the SmartLink card directly to the surface.
The end result of a SmartLink card placed in the wall-mounted holder looks something like this:
Yes! You don't need to have any design or technical skills to create Experiences.
You will also have access to lots of tutorials that show how to use the Experience Builder. However, if for any reason you need one-on-one tech support or help creating the visuals for your Experiences, we are here to help. All 42Kites Premium plans include unlimited, free support and resources!
Below are a few screenshots from inside a 42Kites account:
What variations can the SmartLink have?
SmartLink Cards allow users to tap or scan their phones to access an Experience. By default, the SmartLink card displays a QR Code, but that can be customized. You can easily overlay an image or graphic on top of the SmartLink card to match your brand or theme.*
Here are a couple of ideas:
Create a narrated audio guide about your space or products, then design a "Guided Tour" graphic to replace the QR Code.
Does your brand have a unique logo or mascot? Use an image of it to add a personalized touch to the SmartLink card.
Here are a few examples of customized overlays next to regular QR Codes:
* Because image or graphic overlays will hide the QR Code, using them will disable the "scan your phone" functionality. However, thanks to the SmartLink card’s built-in NFC chip, users can still tap their phones to access the Experience.
** If you need assistance creating custom SmartLink overlays, we can help design them for you at no additional cost. Take a look at the included service called Helping Hand.
How will people know how to scan the SmartLink Cards?
We created a few short, animated cartoon videos that will show your visitors how to scan the SmartLinks. There are multiple versions of the "How to use SmartLink Cars" video. Each video has a different setting and different animated characters. All 42Kites plans include access to all of these videos.
To make sure guests watch it, we recommend you display it on a TV screen, laptop or tablet where people enter or download the video and add to your website and / or social media pages.
Can I lock an Experience?
Yes! You can lock an Experience with a custom PIN number. Here’s what a locked Experience looks like when a user first scans the SmartLink card:
There are many ways to use a locked Experience to engage your audience. One of our favorite approaches is to create a fun adventure like a "Digital Easter Egg Hunt," "Digital Scavenger Hunt," or "Digital Challenge." These activities boost engagement while encouraging users to explore your space.
Here’s an example of how a "Digital Scavenger Hunt" could work:
Using the Promo Box feature in the Experience Builder, you can add "clues" to a few of the Experiences you’ve created for your space. Creating a clue is as simple as adding a single letter or number to each Experience that contains a clue.
Let’s imagine you have a large retail store with twelve SmartLinks across various product displays:
One SmartLink (perhaps near a featured product) displays the locked Experience shown in the screenshot above. Users can’t access the content until they know the answer.
Seven SmartLinks are scattered around your store provide interesting information about the products they’re next to (e.g., a video of the product in use, a map of its origin, etc.).
One SmartLink includes a Promo Box that says "The first digit is 1."
Another SmartLink displays a Promo Box that says "The second digit is 9."
Another SmartLink shows a Promo Box that says "The third digit is 1."
The final SmartLink contains a Promo Box that says "The fourth digit is 2."
By spreading clues across multiple SmartLinks, you encourage users to explore all the SmartLinks in your space and engage with the content. As they hunt for clues, they’ll also learn more about your products, services, or offerings in the process.
When setting up an activity like this, keep in mind that people may explore your space in different orders, so ensure the SmartLinks can be scanned in any sequence.
Once users find all the clues, they’ll have the complete key to unlock the final Experience. As a reward, the unlocked Experience could offer a code for something like "10% off their purchase" or "a free item with their next visit."
PS: Locking an Experience is as easy as adding a custom PIN and question. This is what it looks like in your account:
Why is this site named 42Kites?
When picking a name, we considered lots of options. It was important for us to create something that was memorable, easy for people to type into a browser and that was different than other "techy" companies.
SmartLink.com, SkyLink.com and SkyBridge.com are just a few of the names that were discussed. But the names we came up with were either already taken or too long for people to (easily) remember.
Back at the drawing board, we turned to some of our favorite books as sources of inspiration. In the book, “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams, the number 42 is the answer given by a supercomputer to “The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.” The supercomputer's level of infinite knowledge is what inspired us to incorporate "42" into the name.
As for the "kites" parts, while we don't sell them, kites give you the feeling of something elevating above the norm and that perfectly describes what this platform does - it takes regular museum exhibits and elevates them to a something greater.
