
Reviewed Apr 22, 2010
Filed Under:
Developer:
zaal LLC
Age rating: 4+
Rating Description
4+ Applications in this category contain no objectionable material.
9+ Applications in this category may contain mild or infrequent occurrences of cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence, and infrequent or mild mature, suggestive, or horror-themed content which may not be suitable for children under the age of 9.
12+ Applications in this category may also contain infrequent mild language, frequent or intense cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence, and mild or infrequent mature or suggestive themes, and simulated gambling which may not be suitable for children under the age of 12.
17+ Applications in this category may also contain frequent and intense offensive language; frequent and intense cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence; and frequent and intense mature, horror, and suggestive themes; plus sexual content, nudity, alcohol, tobacco, and drugs which may not be suitable for children under the age of 17.
Compatibility: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
Requires iOS 4.3 or later.
Contacts Journal - Professional CRMCurrent Version: 3.0
See more Business app reviews under $15 »
* Featured by Apple in "Apps For Business"
* Featured by Apple as a "Staff Favorite"
* Forbes.com - 10 Best iPhone Apps for Business Networkers
* O'Reilly's iPhone Apps - Best App for Tracking Conversations
* CultofMac.com - "a brilliant contacts manager"
Your day is full of meetings, phone calls and emails with so many people – clients, colleagues, customers. How do you remember who you talked to, what you discussed, and when to follow-up? Organize and track it all with Contacts Journal.
Contacts Journal is a powerful Contacts Relationship Management (CRM) system built specifically for mobile use, and integrates with the best technologies that iPhone and iPad have to offer:
• Import contacts directly from the Contacts app, and keep contact information in-sync
• Log all your interactions with your contacts; review them to prepare for the next meeting
• Add To-Dos for your contacts to remind yourself of important upcoming events and follow-up steps
• Attach Documents and media files to contacts, and view / watch / listen to them later
• Filter data by contact groups. Use groups from the Contacts app, or create and manage Private Groups within the app
• Call, SMS or email your contacts directly from the app
• Attach location data to your Logs and ToDos, and view them all on a map
• View all your Logs and To-Dos across all contacts, sorted by date, or view them on a calendar
• 2-way sync between ToDos and the Calendar app. Set meetings from within the app, then edit from anywhere (including Outlook)
• Export your data for reporting by email, CSV, AirPrint or even to your Contact notes field
• See all your contacts on the Map View, and get directions from your current location
• Use DropBox to easily transfer data between iPhone and iPad devices, and for collaborating with other people (iPad Edition is sold separately)
• Use Siri Dictation to speak your notes instead of typing (for the new iPad and iPhone 4S only)
Contacts Journal works great for:
• customer management for small businesses
• managing your sales pipeline
• tracking conversations with your clients
• keeping a call log
• business networking
• professionals like corporate executives, lawyers, real-estate agents, teachers, nurses etc.
• keeping a history of interactions with your friends and family
As long as you are someone who interacts with many people, professionally or personally, Contacts Journal will keep you on top of things. Don’t keep it all in your head – use Contacts Journal to track your interactions with the people who matter.
Other Contacts Journal Features:
- Pin-protection option to protect your data, using Apple's secure keychain services
- Backup data using Wi-Fi or email
- Restore data from earlier backups
- Create Private Contacts and Groups that are only saved and visible inside Contacts Journal
- Access contacts Address Book page from within app, and edit contact details
- Set alarms and repeating events for ToDos, and sync ToDo directly to your Calendar
- Contact support for help and reporting problems, using in-app email
- FAQ page to help you get started.
Please note:
• iPad Edition is sold separately
• We cannot access the contents of your messages, or access information about incoming calls or emails
• There is a bug with the Convert functionality that converts a Private Contact to the Address Book (and vice versa). It doesn't save the notes field when you do the transfer, and the note will get lost. We will be fixing this in our next update
Please send us your
Contacts Journal - Professional CRM Review
Lightweight CRM app helps you track communications, commitments
Trying to keep track of interactions with clients, customers, colleagues, and friends is one of the routine challenges facing business people, and others. When exactly was that last phone call? What did you speak about? Can you track down the e-mail you sent a few months ago? Contacts Journal is a lightweight CRM application from Zaal that aims to help with the task of collecting and tracking phone calls, e-mails, text messages, “to-dos” and favors given and received.

Keep in Touch: Tracking calls, text messages, and e-mails is a snap with Contacts Journal, a lightweight CRM application for those who need help tracking communications.
Contacts Journal distinguishes itself from similar apps with its inexpensive price tag and simplicity of operation. A free version of the app, Contacts Journal Lite, allows you to try things out with support for a limited number of log entries.
When starting the app for the first time, you’re prompted to import existing contacts from your iPhone’s Contacts. The application allows you to import all of your contacts, or to select specific individuals. The process is rapid, with the application processing several hundred records in less than a minute. Once the initial import is completed, future modifications to contacts in either the built-in Contacts application or Contacts Journal are automatically synchronized. However, new records must be imported by hand—a task which would be better automated.
Selecting an individual contact displays a screen showing a log of past interactions (e-mails, text messages and phone calls). You can readily select individual records to review or edit, or start a new call or message. For each operation, Contacts Journal presents phone numbers or e-mail addresses associated with the individual.
Select the desired entry, and the application will transfer you to the appropriate built-in app on your iPhone. At the same time, Contacts Journal will record a new log entry, capturing the date, time, and type of communication.
You can enter notes for each record, and there’s also a location field (though Contacts Journal doesn’t interact with the iPhone’s location services, so entries must be added manually). The same contact display also provides a location to enter or review to-do records and favors given or received.
A Logs view provides a list, sorted by date, of interactions with all of your contacts. You can select and edit individual records as well as add new entries.
Pressing Add retrieves a list of contacts—simply select the desired individual and proceed with the desired form of call or message. A to-do tab provides similar functionality for tasks associated with individuals.
Contacts Journal supports the ability to e-mail logs associated with an individual, and the entire database can be backed up and restored via a built-in Web server.
While integration with the built-in Contacts application is solid, Contacts Journal suffers from an inability to integrate with the built-in iPhone calendar, and the absence of alarms or reminders for time-sensitive tasks. The developer indicates there are plans to add these capabilities in a future, iPhone v4.0-based, release. (On the Contacts Journal App Store page, Zaal also mentions plans to remove the Favors tab in a future update, though, quite frankly, I found that particular section to be the least useful piece of the app.) Until that future update arrives, Contacts Journal still proves useful for anyone who needs help in keeping track of their communications and commitments.
[Dale Gardner is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Northern Virginia. You can follow him on Twitter.]
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