Add your first person
- Open Tend and tap the plus button. Type a name, that's all you need to start.
- Add where you met and a detail or two when you have a moment. There is no account and no sign-up.
- To bring in people you already know, tap Add from Contacts. Tend only reads your contacts; it never changes them.
- Set when you'd like to reconnect, and Tend takes it from there.
Take a note by voice
Open someone's card and tap the microphone. The first time, allow microphone and speech access when iOS asks. Talk naturally; your words become a note on that person, and the audio is transcribed on your phone and never leaves it. You can pause to think and keep going, then tap done. Prefer to type? The keyboard is always there too. Voice notes are part of the one-time unlock.
The daily nudge
Tend gathers a few people you haven't spoken to in a while into one calm daily reminder. Each card shows why now and your last note, so you never face a blank page. Tap Call, Text, or Email and Tend opens your usual app with everything filled in. If now isn't the time, set a new date or mute someone, and they drop off the list.
Free and the one-time unlock
Tend is free to keep up with your closest 25 people, with typed notes, reminders, and one-tap reach-out. A one-time $19.99 lifetime unlock lifts the 25-person limit and adds voice notes plus backup and export. There is no subscription, ever. If you get a new phone or reinstall, tap Restore Purchases on the unlock screen while signed in to the same Apple ID.
Questions
Does Tend change or delete my contacts?
No. When you add people from your address book, Tend only reads them. It never edits or deletes anything in your contacts, and nothing you write in Tend is ever saved back into them. You can also add everyone by hand and skip the contacts permission entirely.
Where are my notes stored?
On your iPhone only. Nothing is uploaded and there is no cloud copy. See the privacy page for the details.
Will the reminders nag me?
No. Tend sends one gentle daily digest, not a stream of alerts. It batches a few people into a single calm reminder, and you can change how often it appears, mute anyone, or turn it off in Settings.
My voice note stopped when I paused. What happened?
Tend is built to keep listening through a normal pause for breath, so your words should stay put. Make sure microphone and speech access are allowed in iOS Settings, and that you're in a reasonably quiet spot. If text still disappears on a pause, send us the details and we'll look into it.
I reached the 25-person limit. What now?
The one-time unlock lifts the limit so you can add everyone you want, and it adds voice notes and backup at the same time. Your first 25 people and their notes stay exactly as they are.
Can I back up or move my data to a new phone?
The unlock includes backup and export, so you can save a copy of your people and notes and bring them into Tend on another device. Because nothing is stored in the cloud, this export is how your data moves between phones.
I restored on a new phone, but my people are gone.
Restore Purchases brings back the unlock, not your data. Since nothing is uploaded, your people and notes live only on the phone that created them. Use the export and import in the unlocked app to carry them over.
Does Tend work without an internet connection?
Yes. Tend is fully offline. It needs no account and makes no network requests for your data; everything runs on your device.
Get in touch
Bug reports, feature ideas, questions. Send an email and you'll get a reply.