Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
1–10 of 49 posts
Re: Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
#2Founder here: started on Hacker News back in November (1) and now built. There's lots still to do though - all thoughts and comments welcome. You can email directly at hi@useadd.com as well.
Re: Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
#3It sounds cool, but I'm not really sure what it does?
Re: Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
#4It sounds cool, but I'm not really sure what it does?
Hi Holger,
OK, so Add is a replacement for your contacts syncing and storage (of Gmail/iCloud etc.) for people who care about their privacy and believe that paying for a product means you are the customer, not the user or worse, the product being sold.
Does that make it clearer?
Re: Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
#5The "How it Works" page doesn't seem to actually explain how it works. I found the Export Guide to be more what I was expecting on the How it Works page.
I was also expecting it to be a bit more seemless than it is. It appears that to sync, I have to manually export my contacts from each source and upload the file to you. Same for syncing. Also, having to use a third party paid tool to sync to Outlook isn't desirable.
Re: Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
#6Inline CSS :o
But nice idea!
"We are constantly working to improve Add and add useful and exciting features."
Do you have a roadmap? (pure curiosity, I don't see what kind of feature you can add)
Re: Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
#7The "How it Works" page doesn't seem to actually explain how it works. I found the Export Guide to be more what I was expecting on the How it Works page. I was also expecting it to be a bit more seemless than it is. It appears that to sync, I have to manually export my contacts from each source and upload the file to you. Same for syncing. Also, having to use a third party paid tool to sync to Outlook isn't desirable…
Hi impostervt,
Yep, agree with you - we by no means are all the way there yet and there's still lots to do. Syncing is seamless, but at the moment you do need to export your current contacts and upload them to us. We are working on fixing that. Outlook is an issue because of its lack of support for CardDAV and is an issue I'm looking at as we would love to have better support or at least a free plugin.
This is very much just the start. Thank you for your comments though.
Re: Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
#8It sounds cool, but I'm not really sure what it does?
Hi Holger, OK, so Add is a replacement for your contacts syncing and storage (of Gmail/iCloud etc.) for people who care about their privacy and believe that paying for a product means you are the customer, not the user or worse, the product being sold. Does that make it clearer?
I think your product is a step in the right direction. But contacts are such a private matter that I think it doesn't go far enough.
People that don't trust Google are not likely to trust you.
Contacts is something you want to / should have on a computer that is totally under your control.
Given the low traffic and speed requirements, im my ideal world this world sit in a Raspberry PI like mini computer next to my router (or on my always on smartphone)
Re: Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
#9Here is my take on it.
For me, it's either use something like Google Contacts, or use something like add. They both have several features:
* Stores your contacts
* Synchronize across multiple devices
* Works on all my mobile devices as well as web (I'm giving add the benefit of the doubt here)
* Respects my privacy (Google has a good reputation here)
* Allows me to export my data
Google contacts has several advantages out of the starting gate:
* They are MUCH more likely to still be here in 5 years
* They're free
So if you want to beat Google contacts, you have to offer something they don't. Here are a few examples:
* Better structures for additional data. Like tracking relationships so I can store an address or some notes for a family or married couple instead of typing it in only one of them.
* Better tools for managing large numbers of contacts.
* Automatic updates to addresses, phone, etc. (Fed from somewhere... where would that be?)
* Automatic linking to external sources. (If it recognizes the name, propose a possible address for my friends, culled from other public or private databases.)
Basically, in order to compete with big, reliable, and free you have to offer something special that the big guy doesn't. There is LOTS of space for innovation in contact storage, and I'm willing to pay $3/month for such a service. And ubiquitous access to that (even integrated into my phone OS) and a way to avoid lock-in (so I can move my data if I want) is the minimal level needed to play. Now you need to take it further before you can attract me as a customer.
Re: Show HN: Contacts storage the way it should be done.
#10It sounds cool, but I'm not really sure what it does?
Hi Holger, OK, so Add is a replacement for your contacts syncing and storage (of Gmail/iCloud etc.) for people who care about their privacy and believe that paying for a product means you are the customer, not the user or worse, the product being sold. Does that make it clearer?
I have spend 5 minutes on your website, but I cannot figure out what would be the advantage of using this instead of Google Contacts.
Here is also a few problems I find:
1) I love that my google contacts are in Gmail and Google Voice on my desktop. I don't think that if I use your service it will autocomplete my contacts in Google Voice for example.
2) Google will most likely still exist in 20 years, you? I'm not so sure.
Do you have any advantages of using your service ? I do not care about more simple or secure, Google Contacts is simple and secure enough. Do you have any cool features, like for example synchronisation between accounts ? Me and my wife would love to have a group in Google Contacts called "Family", where if I add a person, or change a setting it would automatically update in her contacts.