Addappt

App Name: Addappt Price: Free

Available Platform: iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)

What does this app do?: Theses days, many of the everyday tools we use to stay organized and up-to-date have an app equivalent; gone are the days of desk blotters and notepads. There's CalPad and Evernote, for example, to help you keep track of your calendar and take notes. And for those of you still carrying around day planners or PalmPilots, now there's an app that will keep your contacts updated, too.

Automatically.

Addappt, developed by former LinkedIn and Microsoft employees Mrinal Desai and Jorge Ferreira, syncs the contact information in your iPhone's address book with others in your address book who also use the app. In doing so, the app will automatically update your contact's address book should you make a change to your own and vice versa.

Desai, Addappt's co-founder and CEO, says keeping an address book up-to-date can be an inefficient process, one that not only requires you to send out mass emails when you change your information, but also to be continually editing your own as others make changes to their information. As someone who says he values building and keeping up with relationships, it follows Desai would set out to make maintaining the address book as convenient as possible for users.

In addition to the app's automatic update feature, Addappt makes creating groups of contacts simple. Suppose you want to create a group for family members or your friends from a local running club, for example. Tap the pen tool next to "My Groups," and then add or remove people from there. To send a message to a specific group, such as vacation photos to your family, select the group - no need to add individuals one by one to the address line - type your message and send.

So far, the app is only available for iOS, a limitation Desai says he hopes Addappt will resolve in the future. However, since the app draws from your iPhone's native contact list, it will update information across cloud devices, such as the iPod Touch, iPad and desktop computers, a convenience the founders hope will encourage potential users.

Is it easy to install?: Addappt makes a point of keeping your address book confidential, according to Desai. Therefore, once you download the app and provide your email address, the app will send you a verification code in order to get started. It is an additional step, but one that Desai says ensures your privacy by verifying you are, in fact, the person who downloaded the app.

Should I try it?: Addappt may seem like another one of those apps that aim to replace a basic function already built into your iPhone, potentially leaving users wondering, "Why bother if I already have an address book?" However, what sets this app apart is it's ability to automatically update contact information among it's users, a convenience many people on the go will appreciate. One big drawback: Since the app is only available for iOS, it is limiting to other audiences who might be eager to give it a try.