FullContact has today released an iOS app designed to keep Gmail users’ iPhone’s contacts in sync and up-to-date. In fact, it’s not quite a new app – it’s a rework of the old Cobook app that the company acquired a year ago.
By way of recap, FullContact is a previously Web-only service that connects to your Gmail and social media accounts and then tidies them up; merging duplicates, adding photos and the like. There’s even an existing business card reader app for iOS and Android to quickly get your new contacts saved. The new iOS app offers all these features in one place on your phone.
The thing about this app is that as long as you’re happy for it to handle your contacts, it will just go ahead and sort them out – combining data from Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, AngelList and others with your existing data to create a unified record. All the data is synced with FullContact’s Web-based service and your Gmail address book. The business card scanning service from FullContact’s old iOS app is here too.
It can feel risky to let a service alter your contacts, but the app will ask you to approve major changes before they’re made. That’s a good thing, as although the app generally synced my contacts accurately, I spotted one instance where our former CEO was blessed with multiple job titles taken from other former TNW staff. FullContact is aware of this rare bug, and as you have to approve updates anyway, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem before it’s fixed.
While the app itself is free, users who don’t pay FullContact’s $9.99 per month or $99 per year subscription will be limited to one sync per day and a maximum of 5,000 contacts. The app allows you to scan 10 busines cards for free before you have to buy a subscription or additional card-scanning credits.
Hopefully we’ll see an Android app come down the pipe soon, but FullContact is certainly filling out its offering nicely. Just last month it unveiled a Gmail plugin that we were mighty impressed with. Today’s launch coincides with the announcement of a new $7 million funding round, so you can expect to see more from the company in the future.
➤ FullContact [iOS]
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.