Two lists to keep
- The people you are leaving. Close friends, family, favorite coworkers and neighbors you would hate to lose touch with.
- The people you are meeting. Neighbors, new coworkers, the person from the first meetup, and whoever helped you find a doctor or a good barber.
What to write down
- Where you met and who introduced you, so you can place them later
- One personal detail: a kid, a pet, a hobby, the street they live on
- What is going on in their life right now, for friends back home
- Birthdays and other dates that matter to them
- Anything you promised, with a reminder to follow up, like “send photos of the new place”
These notes are for you, so keep them kind and keep passwords or other sensitive details out of them. BlackBook is a private notebook, not a place for anything you wouldn’t want to read later.
Phone contacts and memory vs a personal CRM
| Phone contacts and your memory | BlackBook | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is this new person? | A name, maybe a number, and the context fades | Notes and a How We Met field on each person’s page |
| What friends back home are going through | Scattered across texts | Notes on each person’s own page |
| Follow-up reminders | A repeating event that doesn’t know what you wanted to say | Reminders per person, with notifications |
| Who to reach out to next | Up to you to notice | Pulse suggests who to reach out to next from your notes, history and reminders |
| Account | Depends on the app | No BlackBook account; data on your iPhone and in your own private iCloud |
A simple routine for the first few months
Before the move, add the people you want to keep and write a line about where things stand with each of them. After the move, add each new person the day you meet them. Once a week, open Pulse and send a short message to one or two people you haven’t talked to in a while, one from each list. A text like “How is the new job going?” or “Thanks again for the restaurant tip, we went last weekend” lands better when you remember the details. The free plan covers 25 people, which is enough to start.
More on this: a personal CRM for friends and family, a keep-in-touch reminder app for iPhone, how to remember names, and how to keep in touch with people.
BlackBook facts
- Platform: iPhone, iOS 17.6 or later
- Price: free download; optional BlackBook Pro subscription (prices shown in the app)
- Free plan: 25 people, 2 notes per person, 30 days of interaction history
- Pro: optional subscription with VIP reminders and insights, relationship notes with tags, duplicate detection, BlackBook AI
- AI: on-device via Apple Intelligence (Pro, iOS 26, compatible iPhone)
- Privacy: data lives on your iPhone and in your private iCloud, no account, no ad SDKs, data never sold
- Developer: Preston Earnest / Earnestly Studios LLC
Frequently asked questions
Why use a personal CRM when I move?
A move changes your routines overnight, and the casual run-ins that kept friendships going stop. A personal CRM gives you a deliberate replacement: notes on what each person is going through and reminders to check in, so a friendship doesn’t depend on bumping into each other.
Who should I add first?
Add the handful of people you most want to stay close to after the move, then the new people as you meet them: neighbors, coworkers, the person who introduced you to someone, anyone you want to see again. The free plan covers 25 people, which is a good starting list for both groups.
How do I remember new people’s names?
Add each person right after you meet them. Write their name, where you met, and one detail they shared, like their dog’s name or the neighborhood they live in. BlackBook has a How We Met field for exactly this, so the context is there next time you see them.
What should I write down for friends back home?
One or two lines after you talk: what is going on in their life, something they were looking forward to, and anything you said you would do, like visiting or sending a photo. Add their birthday and any other important dates.
Will it nag me?
You choose which people get reminders and when. A reminder is a nudge to send a text, not a task list for a friendship. Pulse suggests who you haven’t talked to in a while from your notes, history and reminders, and you can ignore it any week.
Is my data private?
BlackBook needs no account. Your people and notes live on your iPhone and in your own private iCloud, not on a BlackBook server. There are no ad SDKs, and your data is never sold.
Is BlackBook free?
BlackBook is free to download with a free plan of 25 people, two notes per person and 30 days of interaction history. BlackBook Pro is an optional subscription: in the US it’s $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year, and the annual plan includes a 1-week free trial. Prices are shown in the app.
What iPhones does it run on?
BlackBook requires iOS 17.6 or later. On iOS 26 with a compatible iPhone, BlackBook Pro adds on-device Apple Intelligence features.
Keep the old friends and remember the new ones. Start with 25 people.
BlackBook is free to download for iPhone (iOS 17.6+). Start with 25 people, no account needed.
Get BlackBook – Personal CRM