So recently my new job has me interacting with tons of new folks, making calls, filling out Contact information, etc. I’m finding the built-in Contacts app on Mac is less friendly than I’d like, and BusyContacts (which I purchased some time ago along with BusyCal) occasionally does some weird things to my contacts, such as creating 6 or 7 of the same contact. When I close out BusyContacts, no more duplication. The other day I ran across the Cardhop app while reading about Interact Scratchpad. So, here’s my question…
Looks like Cardhop and BusyContacts do fairly similar things… does anybody have background / experience with both and a recommendation? Looking to see whether its worth troubleshooting BusyContacts, or if Cardhop is a favorite, just going with that. Thanks!
I bought BusyContacts because I’ve always been a big fan of BusyCal.
Truthfully, I never find myself using it. Moreover, I can’t even think of any features that it offers anymore. It’s just left my mind-space altogether.
CardHop’s unmatched and brilliant feature is the ease with which it can parse text into a new contact, and that was enough for me to get over the hump of buying a new app despite having bought BusyContacts and Interact Contact Scratchpad for. Eventually I just accepted that CardHop was the better app, and so I bit the bullet and paid for it.
That being said, I’d definitely use the full trial period that CardHop gives you, and see if you like it enough to purchase.
This is another FWIW reply. I haven’t used Cardhop. But I rely on BusyContacts because it’s so easy to keep my contacts in sync on multiple platforms. I want almost every contact to be synced between Apple and at least two Google accounts. Some contacts also need to sync to Exchange. There is some manual work involved — I duplicate contacts and then move them to the platform where they are needed — but the sync always works. I’m grateful to BusyContacts for that and will continue to use it.
Techcrunch broke this story. Unfortunately, those publications that basically rewrote the article didn’t bother to give full info; as reported, “if an app developer does believe it has a valid reason for accessing the Notes field, they’ll be able to file a request for an exception.”
I would certainly expect well-known apps like Cardhop and BusyContacts would be able to continue to access that field.
I got it on iOS when it was introduced. I like the design better than Apple’s contacts app, and it’s easier to review and edit the notes field on the iPhone , which I tend to access a lot.
I think the Mac app is a little too pricey and am in no rush to buy. Maybe if there’s a sale.
CardHop’s “killer feature” for me is the ability to copy/paste new contact information and have it parse it, much like Fantastical does for calendar information.
Nothing against BusyContacts, but I have it and have never really found anything about it that made me return to it, although it’s UI is definitely nicer than the default app.
I used BusyContacts & BusyCal before I retired. The integration of mail & calendar in the contacts app was great. I used it like a CRM to keep up with all the players (vendors, engineering, techs, etc) on months long projects. I occasionally had some “weirdness” with contacts, but never nailed it down to BC as the cause. iCloud wasn’t rock solid then either.
I’m one of the “mobile first” crowd now and tried CardHop primarily for groups. Creating new contacts via Flexibits parsing was icing on the cake. A week later I purchased the Mac version. Definitely worth the price, IMO.
Interesting interview with Michael Simmons, the developer of Cardhop in the latest episode of the iPad Pros podcast. The podcast conveniently makes extensive use of chapter marker titles, which can be helpful:
