The founders of Candy Crush are betting on this quirky address book app

Photo credit: Drupe.

One aspect of our mobile phones that’s remained largely impervious to a sleeker experience is the address book. Our smartphone cameras have become glitzier, user interface and experience have improved by leaps and bounds, and some of the newer Android phones even plug into VR headsets.

But the address book still feels like it’s stuck in the stone age. Every time we need to make a call, send a WhatsApp, or compose an email, we’re forced to browse through our contacts until we find the right person. Intuitive search is isolated for each app – our phone’s dialer will have a separate list of favorites, as will WhatsApp, Facebook, and Gmail.

“More than 60 percent of the time spent on the mobile device is for interacting with the people close to us. So, if that’s the number one thing done on mobile, why is our experience so app-centric, and not focused around our friends and family?,” asks Barak Witkowski, co-founder of Drupe.

It’ll recommend which app to use with a particular friend.

The startup has made an app which adds a fairly non-obtrusive widget on our screen that opens up our contacts list simply by swiping right. After that pops up a list of close contacts on the left and a list of social apps on the right. There’s also a search function to dig deeper.

The beauty of Drupe is that it allows you to interact with the person in almost every medium without having to open the corresponding app. Let’s say you want to send your girlfriend a text. Just drag her name to the right where the SMS option is located. The same process applies if you need to send your boss an email, or dial your bestie.

I found support for almost all the apps I use frequently as well as the ability to set reminders and add notes. The only service missing was Snapchat.

Sweet dreams are made of this

Drupe launched in March 2015. Barak didn’t provide figures for monthly active users but did say the app witnesses approximately 25 million interactions every month.

The genesis of the idea came after his wife complained about their lack of interaction during the day.

“As a joke I responded that it’s because I don’t see her face on my mobile device. After some additional thinking we realized that it’s indeed a pain – if this device is mostly about communicating, why is the experience not focused around that?,” he outlines.

The startup recently snagged US$3 million in funding led by Sweet Capital, a venture fund set up by the founders of Candy Crush. The cash will be used to focus on user experience and add more “contextual engines” to the solution. What this means is that it’ll be able to learn user behavior and recommend things like which app you normally use with a particular person.