The result of my quest for a Personal Relationship Management app

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DALL-E 2023-11-24 A grayscale, horizontal image depicting a modern, sleek smartphone displaying a sophisticated personal relationship management app. The app's interface should feature a clean, organized layout with various contact profiles, showing names, photos, and brief notes. The smartphone is placed on a minimalist wooden desk, surrounded by a few personal items like a stylish pen and a small plant, suggesting a productive and personal workspace. The overall tone should be professional yet inviting, capturing the essence of personal relationship management in a digital age. The image should resemble a high-quality photograph

I began my research two weeks ago.

It was a different world, a different time. I desired to do a better job of staying in touch with the people around me. But then, we were all confronted with the fragility of the world we took for granted, and that sentiment has only grown.

Software reviews sound extremely futile in the current context.

But it’s not about software; it’s about being thoughtful with friends.

The apps and the process

I found 20 candidates.

I eliminated the apps focused on the commercial aspects of relationships, which left this list. You can read the individual atomic reviews by clicking on each.

The results

In the end, I believe there are three strong options.

They are not in competition, as their approaches are radically different.

I think the choice will eventually depend on your relationship with computers.

Clay

Clay is a beautiful app. The adjective applies to the design and the concept. If you want the software to lead you, and you have no wish to do any maintenance on your own, Clay is the answer. It leverages machine learning to present you with a limited set of choices. You have to accept to give up control and let the AI make decisions for you.

Mogul

Mogul is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Nothing happens that you haven’t initiated manually. It is a minimalistic approach where you are never confused, never surprised. Of course, keeping full control has its tradeoffs, and in Mogul’s case, they are about entering all the data by hand.

Dex

Dex is the most complex to use. It has more options and more flexibility. Most data input is automated, but it uses straightforward algorithms that are easy to follow. It requires more maintenance than Clay but not as much manual work as Mogul. It’s a good solution if you enjoy using apps.


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Comments

9 responses to “The result of my quest for a Personal Relationship Management app”

  1. Phil Avatar

    Appreciate this list and reviews! I’m going through a bit of a personal CRM search now too. Some great options here. Dex is really nice, and Mogul is interesting. Wish there was something at the like $50 price point, as it’s something you’ll use for years.

  2. Gary Avatar

    Which did you choose in the end, and which have you stuck with? I’m on the same journey at the moment, and I’m finding something that ticks to boxes without being crazy expensive is rather challenging.

    1. I ended up going with Dex, which I have used since. It’s not perfect, but very usable. These days, though, I am truly missing a proper integration with messaging apps.

      Email, LinkedIn, Twitter, this all feels so old, 99% of my interactions with people are in Slack, Telegram, Signal, and Whatsapp.

      1. Hello

        I was also considering Dex, but doesn’t have integration with messaging apps such as WhatsApp or iMessage. Have you come across any personal CRM’s or contact management apps that has integration with messaging apps ?

        Does Dex sync it’s congtacts with iphone contacts as well ?

        Thank you for your time.

        1. Hi, unfortunately, the integration with messaging apps is the giant feature gap in all the tools I tested. To the point that they are barely useful in a world where more than 90% of my interactions with people happen through instant messaging.

          I handle the sync between Google Contacts and iOS Contacts with Contacts +

          1. Ramon Avatar

            Doesn’t Clay support integration with messaging apps? This page suggests they do: https://library.clay.earth/hc/en-us/articles/6819150711323-iMessage

          2. Only Apple Messages, but no WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, or Slack.

  3. Patrick Ludewig Avatar
    Patrick Ludewig

    A friend of mine created a new one, maybe its one for you to try out as well. Its called henlo https://apps.apple.com/at/app/henlo-stay-in-touch/id1643404410?l=en

    But i still have to read how you manage them in roam.

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