A memory for the people in your life: their birthdays, what they told you, and how long it's been since you last spoke. Then text them. It lands better than you think — that's not a slogan, it's thirteen studies and about six thousand people.
Download on theApp StoreNow on iPhone (iOS 16+) · Free to download · No credit card
Every Pro feature, yours for life, at no charge. It's what I can offer the people who put up with the version that still has my bugs in it.
BetterFriend is a memory for the people in your life.
You are not bad at this. Nobody holds every birthday, every "how did the interview go?" and every friend they meant to call in one head. So BetterFriend holds them instead: who is in your life, what they told you, and how many days it's been since you last spoke. It tells you when someone has been waiting a while, and hands you your own note from last time, so you know exactly where to pick up.
Add your people, pick how often you want to hear about each one, then get on with your life.
Import from your phone's address book, one tap at a time, or add someone by hand. Write down what matters: their birthday, that they love Italian food, the thing they're going through right now.
Decide how often you want to hear about each person: every 7, 14 or 30 days. That's the whole setup. BetterFriend does the counting from there.
"You haven't spoken to Sam in 30 days. Last time: interview on the 4th." Open the app and your note is right there. One tap logs the connection and resets the timer.
Six things. Nothing you have to learn first.
You hear about a birthday or anniversary a few days out, while there's still time to do something about it. Not the morning after.
A rhythm per person, 7, 14 or 30 days. Whoever has been waiting longest moves to the top of your list, so you always know who to text first.
Write down facts and memories about each person. Next time you talk you open with "how did the interview go?" instead of "how've you been?".
Had a call or a coffee? Tap once, jot down what you talked about, and the timer resets. Logged.
A heads-up before the big dates, with enough runway left to find something they'd actually want.
Bring people in straight from your phone, one tap at a time. You pick who comes in; the address book is never swept, and the people you skip never leave your phone.
No new habits, no extra apps to check. BetterFriend works with what your phone already does.
Sign in with Apple · import from Contacts · nudges via native notifications · encrypted backup on Pro.
Everything that makes the app work is free. Pro is for remembering more things, about more people.
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| People you can trackHow many friends & family you can add | Up to 10 | Up to 500 |
| Facts & memoriesNotes about the people you care about | ✓ | ✓ |
| Birthday & stay-in-touch nudges7 / 14 / 30-day intervals | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gift remindersA heads-up before the big dates | ✓ | ✓ |
| On-device encryptionOnly you can ever read your notes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Event follow-up nudges"Her interview is Thursday, remind me Friday" | ✗ | ✓ |
| One-off reminders"Remind me to call Dad on Sunday" — no memory to log first | ✗ | ✓ |
| Flexible nudge rhythmsAny interval from 7 to 365 days, "Surprise me" intervals + your own cadence | ✗ | ✓ |
| A new question each monthA question you'd never think to ask, so you learn something you didn't know | ✗ | ✓ |
| Backup & recoveryYour memories survive a lost or new phone | ✗ | ✓ |
| PriceStart free, upgrade any time | €0 forever | €10.39 per year · about €0.87 a month |
€0.99 a month is the cheapest in this category by some distance. The nearest comparable app, TouchBase, is $3 a month; most apps in this category sit between $3 and $12 (checked July 2026).
BetterFriend is in beta, and everything above is free for everyone right now — there's no way to pay me yet. These are the prices Pro will cost when subscriptions open.
Not "we take your privacy seriously". Here is the actual mechanism, what it covers, and what it costs you.
Every fact, memory and reminder you write is encrypted on your iPhone before it's sent anywhere. My database only ever holds the ciphertext.
A 256-bit key is generated on first launch by Apple's own secure random generator, then stored in the iOS Keychain where the system guards it.
The key never leaves your phone in a form anyone else could open. Not to me, not by email, not in a support ticket. I can't read your notes because I hold nothing that opens them.
What isn't encrypted, so you're never surprised: a person's name, photo, interests, important dates and when you logged a catch-up are stored readable on my server. That's how your list of people survives a new phone, even on the free plan. Everything you write about them, every fact, memory and follow-up, is encrypted and unreadable to me.
If I can't read your notes, I can't restore them either. Lose or replace your phone without a recovery phrase and what you wrote is unrecoverable. Not by me, not by Apple, not by anyone. That trade-off is real enough that the app makes you read and accept it during onboarding, before you're allowed to add a single person.
Pro adds a way back: a 12-word recovery phrase, shown once and held only by you, that wraps your key so it can be restored on a new phone. Only the wrapped, unopenable blob is ever stored. The phrase itself never touches my server.
A while ago I took in a parcel for my neighbour and dropped it at his door. He took it, thanked me, and I walked back home. Later that day I found out it had been his birthday. I'd stood on his doorstep, looked him in the eye, and said nothing about it. It was in my calendar the whole time. I congratulated him the next day instead, which is exactly as good as it sounds.
I didn't need to care more. I needed something that would have told me. So I built a personal CRM for friends and family, which is a very dry name for an app that just remembers what your neighbour told you and how long it's been since you spoke.
RikSolo maker of BetterFriend
Six honest answers, including the two that are not flattering. Tap a question to open it.
A calendar reminds you about dates you already knew. Contacts stores a phone number. Neither one notices that you haven't spoken to your closest friend since March.
BetterFriend watches the silence. It counts the days since your last real conversation with each person, pushes whoever has been waiting longest to the top of your list, and hands you your own note from last time, so you open with “how did the interview go?” instead of “how've you been?”.
Your people come back. On the free plan, your notes don't. Names, photos and important dates are stored readable on my server, so signing in on a new phone rebuilds your list. What you wrote about each person is encrypted with a key that only exists in your iPhone's Keychain, so when that phone is gone, the key is gone with it.
Pro adds the way back: a 12-word recovery phrase, shown once and held only by you, that unwraps your key on a new device. If that sounds like a harsh trade, it's the same trade that stops me reading your notes. I can't have one without the other.
Only the people you tick, one tap at a time. Your address book is never swept, and the people you skip never leave your phone.
For the ones you do add, the name, photo and important dates are stored readable on my server, which is how your list survives a new phone even on the free plan. Everything you write about them, every fact, memory and follow-up, is encrypted on your iPhone before it's sent, and I hold nothing that opens it. No ads, no data sold, no third party looking over your shoulder.
There's no snooze button yet, so the honest answer is no. What BetterFriend does instead is refuse to nag. A nudge arrives around 9 in the morning your time, asks at most three times spaced two days apart, then goes quiet until the next cycle comes round. Ignore it and it stays ignored. Nothing is keeping score, and nothing counts your failures.
If someone is coming up too often, change their rhythm to 14 or 30 days, or log a quick memory to reset the timer. Pro can pick any interval from 7 to 365 days and decide how tightly those three asks are spaced.
Not yet, and I'd rather say that plainly than leave you guessing. BetterFriend is built in React Native, so the same codebase can go to Android without a rewrite, and that's the plan once iPhone is steady. I'm not going to invent a date for it.
If you want to know the moment it lands, email support@betterfriend.site and I'll keep you on the list.
Nothing is being charged today. BetterFriend is in beta and there's no way to pay me even if you wanted to. When subscriptions open, Pro is €0.99 a month or €10.39 a year, exactly the numbers in the table above, and exactly what the app will charge.
The first 100 members never see either number, because Pro is theirs free, forever. If a price ever moves, you'll hear it from me before it reaches your card, not after.
Download BetterFriend, add your first person, and write down one thing they told you. The 100 free-forever Pro spots are still open, for now.
Download on theApp Store