Smartr App Review: One Stop Shop To Manage All Your Contacts

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Ever wished you had an automatic address book that would update itself automatically as you communicated with people through social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn? Xobni, creators of the “smarter address book” for Android and Gmail apps, recently launched the iPhone version on the Apple App Store as well.

Since I had already used Xobni’s smart contacts apps for Android as well as Gmail, I had high expectations from the iPhone version as well. More than anything, I strongly believe the concept itself is fascinating – you meet someone in the online world and here’s an app that downloads people’s contact information from their social networks and automatically creates their contact entries for you.

To use the Smartr Contacts iPhone app, you need a Xobni.com account (free). You can sign up for an account through the app as well. Once you have your account setup, ensure that you enable Cloud access and install  Smartr Contacts utility for the respective email platform/ client (Gmail/ Outlook). Next up, add information regarding your social network profiles (FB, Twitter and LinkedIn) – that’s it, you are all set to get a smarter contacts list.

Once you’re logged in, Smartr Contacts scans through your accounts to fetch contact information. The main screen is split into 2 parts –  the top portion lets you search contacts while the the bottom  displays a random contact.

For each contact, the app lets you view the profile, history and common contacts. The Profile tab lets you view the personal details and contact information (phone, email, social network handles) of any contact.

The History tab shows all communication history between you and the chosen contact.

The Common tab lists out the common contacts between you and the chosen contact.

Though the app itself is free, a Xobni Pro subscription ($7.99) is needed to link your iPhone and Outlook. And if you don’t sync, it can become a pain over a period of time. Smartr Contacts does have some not-so-smart limitations though.  First and foremost, it lacks the capability to upload contacts in your iPhone’s address book. Second, there’s no flexibility to add/ overwrite email addresses or phone numbers that were scanned through your contact’s social network profiles.

IMO, the $7.99 price tag for the app is definitely on the heavier side. However, if you are someone who needs to keep track of all contacts, Smartr Contacts may just be what you desperately needed. Take your pick!