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Ask HN: In 2024 what's the best way to manage contacts?

88 points raleighm | 1 comments | 19 Oct 24 04:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.227s | source

How do people sync and manage contacts across so many apps and contexts?

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UPDATE: Thanks for the comments so far. To clarify my situation:

My main use cases are: Gmail (personal): For personal contacts. Gmail (work): For professional contacts related to my role. Outlook (work): For internal and external business communication. LinkedIn: Managing professional connections. Messaging apps (WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.): Keeping in touch with a wide range of contacts.

I’ve tried syncing across these platforms using Google Contacts, vCard exports, and a few automation tools, but the results have been inconsistent. Either the syncing doesn't work as expected, or there’s a lot of manual cleanup involved—especially when contacts change roles or details across different apps.

I’m wondering if anyone has found a more seamless way to manage contacts across all these different contexts? I’d love to hear any recommendations for more advanced tools, automations, or strategies that have worked for you.

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sandreas ◴[19 Oct 24 07:50 UTC] No.41886342[source]▶
Google may be a privacy issue... So I would love to have the possibility to prevent anyone putting my info in their contacts in Google.

I personally use a paid E-Mail service (mailbox.org) and a self hosted nextcloud.

The APP myphoneexplorer can be used to sync offline.

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devjab ◴[22 Oct 24 06:06 UTC] No.41911622[source]▶
I don’t know if it is like this in many countries but in Denmark we have a public registry of addresses, and I’d assume Google (and others) simply pull from that. There are ways to avoid being on the public list but most people aren’t doing that, and if your parents didn’t do it for you then you’ll have been in the registry at one point.

I guess it won’t tell big tech who your friends are. At least until you talk with them regularly through online channels.

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1. sandreas ◴[22 Oct 24 06:26 UTC] No.41911721[source]▶
I'm not afraid of having parts of my information online in general. Having a website often needs an imprint with a big part of your data. It's more like the information only friends and family know of and which are way more important in many senses.

- phone - this is kind of ok, because phone spam is less common

- email - to prevent spam

- birthday - this one is quite critical, because here in germany it is a common way to verify authentication on phone calls by insurance companies

- job-details, contact relationships, etc.

I doubt that these are all in the public registry.