Cardbox for iOS reimagines contact management with social features, more

Designer and developer Doney den Ouden has today released a brand new take on the task of managing contacts through iOS. The goal of the app, called Cardbox, is to remove a lot of the painstaking details of contact management by reimagining the address book as a social network.

On the surface, Cardbox for iOS features a gorgeous and intuitive interface. You can create groups to manage contacts between family, work, friends, and more. Through the profile view, you can easily access things like Instagram profiles, email, addresses, and more.

The central idea of Cardbox is that you only have to manage the contact information on your own contact card. To find other people in the Cardbox app, you can look them up by their name, link, or by Nearby if they are physically near you.

Exchanging contact information is fast and easy. Look someone up by name, through their personal link, or Nearby, and request to connect. When they accept, you subscribe to each other’s contact information.

All of the contacts information in the Cardbox iOS app also syncs to the system Contacts app on your iPhone. As other people update their information, those changes are synced:

The latest contact information of your connections is always automatically synced to your phone’s system address book. Since everyone only manages their own card, your contacts are comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date, making other apps and features on your phone work better.

You can also share difference versions of your contact card with different people. For instance, if you only want to share your work email address and phone number with a person, you can share a card that removes your personal details.

In the age of data privacy concerns, Cardbox puts protecting your information above all. Essentially, you can access much of the information you might typically rely on Facebook for, through Cardbox instead:

Cardbox puts privacy first. The information on your card is encrypted, and only shared with your connections—not advertisers or data brokers.

Privacy is one of our core values at Cardbox. When you entrust us with your data, we handle it carefully and with respect. Unlike most social networks, we don’t analyze nor sell your personal data; in fact, we want as little of it as possible. It’s not our business model, and we actually think it’s unethical.

Cardbox is a free download on the App Store. If you want to connect to more than 100 people through the app, there’s an in-app subscription option starting at $1.99 per month.