@bramk Hey Bram - great question! We aimed to design the app to provide value to users whether they wanted to leverage all the built-in social and communication features, or not. When you sync your phone's address book, Atmospheir creates a beautiful card for every contact. Cards make it much easier to see the information you have have for every contact, and then use that information without the need to scroll or tap around. The app's address book sync is seamless and ongoing, i.e. if you edit any existing contact's information from their card in Atmospheir, or create and manually add information for a brand new contact (which is a much faster than using the native contacts App), the information will instantly sync with your phone's address book, and then remain in sync over time. In sum, you can use Atmospheir to manage your contacts, regardless of how many of the App's features you want to take advantage of... but we're also confident that you'll end up wanting to use a lot of the other features we've added. ;). Every end-user views the various issues related to contacts with varying degrees of severity, which is one of the main reasons that we stress design to the degree that we do; always thinking about how to create an experience that works for each type of user with every feature implementation and iteration.

@bramk Here is a small collection. http://www.producthunt.com/@cool...

@coolnalu @bramk Great stuff :)

@joshuapinter Hey Josh - it does remove those steps! At the end of the day, the App allows you to connect completely with other people in about the same amount of time that it would take you to follow someone on Twitter. So in about 10 seconds (or less) two people can connect and share every piece of contact information they want the other to have. Your profile can contain a nearly unlimited number of phone number(s), email(s), address(es), social networks, etc., and the only thing that either person needs for this exchange to potentially happen, is the other's ID. As either person changes information in the future, it's immediately updated for the other person (and everyone else they are connected to). This is one of the features that we've found becomes indespensible to users over time - it's a surprisingly (in this day and age) fantastic feeling to get a notification that someone has changed their phone number for you. Definitely much better than getting that "I've got a new phone" email. ;) Literally, Atmospheir makes it possible for you to turn yourself into the last contact you need to worry about keeping up to date. Other things we built to make life a bit easier include in-app text, voice, photo, video, location, GIF messaging, which enables people to immediately start a conversation without jumping (or searching for a new contact) in another App. A useful Nearby feature that alllows you to discover and create multiple connections with people that are within 50m (great for conventions, larger meetings, etc.). And finally, we've built privacy directly into the App's workflow, i.e. every user has a choice over the information they share every time they make a new connection - share a professional set of information with one person, and a distinct set of personal information with someone else - it's completely up to you, and seamless.

@joshuapinter Hi Josh! Simplicity was always the goal. But when dealing with something as robust and extensive as an address book, things can easily become convoluted. Our competitors try to 'modernize' the address book by aggregating and repackaging out-of-date information from your phone, email and social networks. We don't think this actually fixes anything. In fact, we think it actually makes things worse. There isn't an algorithm that defines your relationships and what information you want each contact to have. Shortcuts like these tend to only get us even more lost. Like @mattcrumrine mentioned, we rely on user-managed profiles and allow for controlled sharing with personal and professional profiles linked by one ID like a twitter handle. There are quite a few other features that allow you to organize and personalize your address book in any way you want. For example, users can utilize Favorites and Tags to filter their contacts for quick retrieval. Chat is another new feature that we're excited about. Really, there is no reason for your 'Contacts', 'Messages', and 'Phone' to be three separate apps on your iPhone. So we upgraded them all and put them in one place. Many more things to come (like group chat & android version), but the idea that if you do put forth that little bit of initial effort — everything is going to be a lot easier for you down the road.

@nickatloot Thanks, Nick! We're already testing this in some of our development builds, so it could be very soon. With that said, the LinkedIn API continues to change fairly rapidly, so we're waiting to make sure we integrate it in a manner that will provide a consistent experience to our users for the foreseeable future.

@gerbz We've taken a much different approach than lot of other companies that claim to 'modernize' the address book by aggregating all of your information automatically and connecting with all your contacts across a medley of networks. We don't think this actually fixes anything. As such, it comes as no surprise that people have been reluctant to adopt any of the so-called modern “solutions”. The address book is a simple thing with a simple goal. It’s not some artificial attempt to humanize your information. It’s not some formulaic attempt to aggregate the known universe. Your friends and family are not equations. With that said, you don't have to worry your contacts being spammed here. Hopefully you love it and do it yourself. If you do, that's all on you!

@gerbz I hear you! Engagement can be tough with utility apps. We'll, over course, never spam your contacts. And we'll definitely never take any kind of action on your behalf. The app's you mentioned probably spammed for engagement - we only focus on building engaging features. We're the first "address book" with a complete in-app messaging tool. We don't need to spam.

@maxwellfinn Couldn't agree more! I've been using the same style Address Book since my Nokia flip phone!

@govince @maxwellfinn That Motorola Startac is still top 5 phone's of all time though! ;)

@shanehvizdzak Thanks, Shane! Just requested to connect!

@crixlet Thanks, Aaron. Check it again! http://www.atmospheir.com/

@ryanpaugh Thanks, Ryan!