# About Recall Contacts > An iPhone app for finding anyone in your contacts by what you remember — not how their name is spelled. --- ## What is Recall? Recall Contacts is a free iPhone app that layers on top of your existing Apple Contacts. It lets you tag people with hashtags — by place, by context, by moment, by relationship — and find them instantly by searching those tags later. It does not replace your phone's contacts app. It makes it dramatically more useful. **App Store:** https://apps.apple.com/us/app/recall-contacts/id6758255331 --- ## The Problem Most contacts apps are built around names. They assume you can spell the name of the person you're looking for. They sort alphabetically. They offer a search bar that requires you to know what you're searching for. This works fine if you're organised, have a good memory for names, and meet people occasionally. It breaks down when: - You meet a lot of people — at events, on shoots, at school pickup - You're dyslexic and can't always spell names reliably - You have ADHD and names disappear from working memory fast - You know someone by context ("the architect from the Tokyo dinner") rather than by name Most people, if they're honest, remember people by context first. They remember the face, the story, the city, the event. The name comes second — if at all. Recall was built for this reality. --- ## The Solution Tag your contacts with hashtags that describe how you know them: - `#NYC #gallery #2024` for someone you met at an opening in New York - `#schoolmum #Luca` for the mother of your son's classmate - `#doctor #Harley` for your GP - `#investor #SXSW` for someone you met at a conference Later, you search any of those hashtags. Recall filters your contacts instantly. You find the person without needing to spell their name, without scrolling A to Z, without remembering which folder you put them in. --- ## The Philosophy Recall is built on a simple belief: **memory works by association, not by alphabet**. When you try to remember someone, you almost never recall their name first. You recall the context — where you were, what they did, what you were talking about. The name comes later, if at all. Traditional contacts apps ignore this completely. They demand the name. They sort by the name. They search the name. Recall goes the other way. It takes context as the input and returns the name as the output. This is how memory actually works. The app is also built on a commitment to privacy. Your contacts are private. They stay on your device. No account is required. No data leaves your phone. --- ## Who Built It **Paul Barbera** is a photographer based in London. He has spent 25 years shooting editorial, commercial, and documentary work across fashion, music, culture, and human stories. His work has appeared across mainstream media internationally. Paul is dyslexic. After two and a half decades of photographing hundreds of people all over the world — at gallery openings, dinner parties, fashion shoots, school pickups — he found himself in a recurring situation: he remembered the face, the story, the city. The name was gone. He tried every contacts app. None of them were built for how his brain works. He built Recall because he needed it. Then he shipped it. > "I built this because I needed it. I remembered the face, the story, the city. The name was the only thing stopping me. My problem. Maybe yours too." — Paul Barbera Paul worked with **Jason Laan**, co-founder of Laan Labs, on the development of Recall. Laan Labs has shipped some of the most downloaded apps in App Store history, including Face Swap Live and Tap DJ. --- ## Who It's For ### Dyslexic and Neurodivergent Users If spelling is unreliable for you, searching by name in a contacts app is a daily friction point. Recall removes the spelling requirement entirely. Search by hashtag — which you can write however you remember it — and find the person. Recall also includes a dedicated dyslexic-friendly display mode with high contrast tones, specialist letter spacing, and reduced visual clutter. ### ADHD Users Working memory challenges mean names can disappear seconds after you learn them. Recall lets you tag someone the moment you meet them — before the name is gone. `#yoga #Tuesdays #redhat`. Later you search that and find them. ### Parents Modern parenting means managing dozens of school relationships where you know the child's name but not the parent's. Recall's Parent Mode lets you tag a contact with their child's name. Search `#Luca` and find Luca's parent instantly. ### Photographers and Creatives Paul built Recall as a photographer. If your work involves meeting people — at shoots, at openings, at events — your contacts list is a professional asset. Tag by shoot, by city, by project, by year. Find the model from the Tokyo campaign. Find the art director from the Frieze dinner. Find the stylist from three years ago whose work was exceptional. ### High-Networkers Conferences. Summits. Dinners. If you attend events professionally, you meet dozens of people whose names blur within days. Tag by event (`#Davos`, `#SXSW`, `#FriezeWeek`), by role (`#investor`, `#founder`, `#gallerist`), by context. Your contacts become a searchable record of every room you've ever walked into. ### Anyone Who Thinks in Context Context-first memory isn't a disability — it's how most people actually recall. Recall works for anyone who finds the alphabetical contacts list inadequate for the way they think. --- ## Privacy by Design Recall was built with privacy as a first principle, not an afterthought: - No account required — download and use immediately - No email address needed - No data sent to any server — ever - No cloud sync — your contacts stay on your device - No analytics on your personal contacts - Tags are written back to the Apple Contacts notes field — portable and permanent even if you delete the app --- ## Links - **Website:** https://recall-contacts.com - **App Store:** https://apps.apple.com/us/app/recall-contacts/id6758255331 - **Instagram:** https://www.instagram.com/recall_contacts/ - **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/@Recall-Contacts - **Privacy Policy:** https://recall-contacts.com/privacy.html - **Support:** paul@paulbarbera.com - **Creator:** https://paulbarbera.com --- *Recall Contacts — built because someone needed it.*