How to Use
Recall Contacts

Getting Started

Recall Contacts layers on top of your existing iPhone contacts. When you open the app for the first time, it asks for permission to access your contacts. This is the only permission it needs.

Your contacts are not copied or uploaded anywhere — they are read directly from your device. Nothing changes in your Apple Contacts app or Phone app.

First steps

1. Download Recall Contacts from the App Store (free).
2. Open the app and tap Allow Access when prompted for contacts permission.
3. Your contacts appear in the main list. They look exactly as they do in your iPhone contacts app.
4. Pick one contact you know well and add your first hashtag to it. This is the best way to understand how Recall works.

How Tagging Works

A hashtag in Recall is just a word or phrase you attach to a contact to describe how you know them. Tags can be anything: places, events, relationships, contexts, moments.

Examples: #NYC, #wedding2023, #doctor, #rooftopbar, #ArtBasel, #school, #mentor.

Adding a tag to a contact

1. Tap any contact in the list to open their detail view.
2. Tap Add Tag (the + button near the hashtag area).
3. Type your hashtag. Don't type the # symbol — Recall adds it for you.
4. As you type, autocomplete suggestions appear from your existing tags. Tap one to use it, or finish typing to create a new tag.
5. Tap Save or press return. The tag is added immediately.

Swipe to Tag (fastest method)

1. From the main contact list, swipe right on any contact.
2. A tagging panel opens. Type your tag and confirm.
3. The contact is tagged and you return to the list — ready to swipe the next one.

Removing a tag

Open the contact's detail view, find the tag you want to remove, and tap the × next to it. The tag is removed from that contact immediately. Your other contacts keep their copy of the same tag.

Searching by Hashtag

The search bar at the top of the main list is where Recall's core power lives. Type any hashtag (or partial hashtag) to filter your contacts instantly.

Single-tag search

1. Tap the search bar.
2. Type a hashtag keyword — e.g. tokyo.
3. Recall instantly filters to show only contacts tagged #tokyo.

Multi-tag search

1. After typing the first tag, add a space and type another — e.g. tokyo photographer.
2. Recall narrows the results to contacts tagged with both tags.
3. Keep adding tags to narrow further. The more context you add, the more precise the result.

Smart Groups

Every hashtag you create automatically becomes a Smart Group. Recall builds these for you — there's no manual setup.

1. Tap the Groups tab (or the filter bar at the top of the contact list).
2. You'll see all your tags listed as groups, sorted by frequency.
3. Tap any group to jump straight to the contacts tagged with it.

Groups update in real time. The moment you add or remove a tag from a contact, the group is updated.

Super Tags

Super Tags are five built-in priority categories that appear as colour-coded chips in your contact list: VIP, Family, Work, Parents, Friends.

Unlike custom hashtags (which appear in light grey), Super Tags stand out visually — they're the fastest way to see which of your contacts belong to the groups that matter most.

Applying a Super Tag

1. Open any contact's detail view.
2. Tap one of the five Super Tag buttons — VIP, Family, Work, Parents, or Friends.
3. The chip appears on the contact in the main list immediately.

Filtering by Super Tag

The filter bar at the top of the contact list shows your Super Tags as quick-access chips. Tap VIP to see only VIP contacts. Tap Family to see only family. Tap multiple chips to combine filters.

Parent Mode

Parent Mode is designed for one specific problem: you know every child at school pickup, but you can never remember the parent's name. Parent Mode bridges that gap.

Setting up Parent Mode

1. Open a school parent contact (e.g. Sarah Mitchell).
2. Add a hashtag for her child's name: #Luca.
3. Add a hashtag for the context: #schoolmum.
4. Later at pickup, search #Luca and Sarah's contact appears instantly.

Enabling Parent Mode in settings

Go to Settings → Modes and enable Parent Mode. This activates the dedicated Parents Super Tag and unlocks the child-name attachment workflow in the contact editor.

Review & Delete Queue

Most people have hundreds of contacts with no context. The Review Queue is the fastest way to process them all and build a tagged, useful address book.

1. Tap the Review button (broom icon or menu item).
2. Untagged or old contacts appear one at a time as cards.
3. Swipe right to tag the contact — a tag input slides in.
4. Swipe left to skip it and move to the next.
5. Swipe up to delete the contact permanently from Apple Contacts.

Themes & Display

Recall includes three visual themes accessible from Settings → Appearance:

• Dark Mode — Black background, white text. The default. High contrast and designed for extended use.
• iOS Native Mode — Follows your iPhone's system Light or Dark setting. Familiar iOS colours.
• Paper Mode — Warm off-white, low contrast, no sharp edges. Designed for dyslexic users and anyone who finds stark displays tiring.

Dynamic Type

Recall fully respects your iPhone's text size setting. Go to iOS Settings → Display & Brightness → Text Size to increase the text size, and Recall will scale all text to match — including the Accessibility extra-large sizes.

Your Data & Privacy

• No account required. No email address needed.
• No contacts data is sent to any server — ever.
• Tags are stored locally on your device.
• Tags are also written to the Apple Contacts notes field, so they persist if you delete Recall and sync via iCloud if you choose.
• Deleting Recall does not delete your tags. They remain safely in Apple Contacts.

Recall connects to no external service. It reads your contacts from Apple's local database on-device, and that is where everything stays.

Tips & Tricks

Tag at the moment you meet someone

The best time to tag is immediately. Open Recall right after getting someone's contact and add three tags: where you met, what context, and anything distinctive. Three tags at the moment of meeting will save you minutes of searching six months later.

Use date stamps for events

Recall can insert the current date as a tag automatically. Tap the date stamp button when adding tags to create something like #2025-06-04 #ArtBasel. This lets you filter contacts by roughly when you met them.

Tag statistics

Go to Settings → Tag Statistics to see a breakdown of all your tags and how many contacts carry each one. Useful for auditing your tagging system and spotting tags you've outgrown.

Keyboard navigation on Mac

Recall on Mac via Catalyst supports full keyboard navigation. Use arrow keys to move through contacts, Tab to jump between elements, and standard macOS keyboard shortcuts throughout.

Power User Mode

Go to Settings → Power User Mode to unlock additional customisation options. Adjust display density, toggle individual features, and configure tag management preferences.