CatchUp vs Friendly SMS
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CatchUp
This app helps you remember to stay in touch with your contacts. Set custom reminders for friends, family, or colleagues and receive notifications when it's time to reconnect. It offers automatic birthday reminders and syncs across your devices.
- Customizable contact reminders
- Recurring and custom reminder intervals
- Automatic birthday/anniversary alerts
- Upcoming catchups grid
- Unread indicators
- Contact information sync
- Cloud syncing across devices
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Free with no ads! Supported 100% by tips. Keep in touch with your friends, family, business associates, and anyone else in your iOS Contacts list with CatchUp. Set reminders for the contacts you choose, and get notified when it's time to CatchUp with them again. Set these up as recurring reminders, like every week or month, or a custom day that you pick. Regardless of your choice, you can choose the time of day that you get the notification. Step One: Add Contacts Step Two: Set your Notification Preference (how often you want to be reminded to catch up with that individual) Step Three: There is no step three Features: – Receive daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, or custom reminders to catch up with your contacts, even when not connected to the internet – Automatic reminders for contacts' birthdays/anniversaries if you have them set in your Contacts app - A grid of your upcoming catchups - Unread indicators for contacts it's time to CatchUp with - Pull down on the home screen to update your contacts' pictures and information - Automatic cloud syncing with other Apple devices – Full light and dark mode support – No ads CatchUp is free and has no ads. This is a passion project that honestly helps me out, and I'd rather not muddy the waters with advertising I can't control. If you'd like to support development, you are welcome to leave a tip in the Tip Jar within the app. A note on privacy: I store NONE of your contacts or any of your personal information. The contacts you choose and the preferences you set for them are stored locally on your device, and are never sent anywhere else. Read my full privacy policy at https://www.ryantoken.com/privacy-policy
Friendly SMS
This app helps you stay in touch with important contacts by setting personalized reminders. It allows you to send pre-written text messages with a single tap, ensuring you never miss a special occasion or a chance to connect.
- Recurring contact reminders
- Birthday reminders
- Pre-filled SMS messages
- Customizable messages
- Manual one-off reminders
- Local notifications
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Friendly helps you stay connected with the people who matter most — without letting life get in the way. Simply import your contacts, set a reminder frequency, and Friendly will nudge you when it's time to reach out. When the reminder fires, just tap to open a pre-filled text message and send it in seconds. Features: - Recurring reminders — daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly - Birthday reminders so you never miss a special day - Pre-filled SMS messages so sending is effortless - Customize your message for each contact - One-off manual reminders whenever you need them - Local notifications — no account or login required Your data stays on your device. No account, no sign-in, no tracking.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Friendly SMS at none against CatchUp's 3. Friendly SMS also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). CatchUp's advantage is ratings volume (46 vs 1). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. CatchUp sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Friendly SMS asks for nothing beyond the download.
Friendly SMS holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CatchUp has 46 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | CatchUp | Friendly SMS |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (46 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 46 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ryan Token | Gabriel Beer |
Customer experience
CatchUp
Friendly SMS
In-app purchases
CatchUp
- Gracious Tip$0.99
- Generous Tip$1.99
- Gratuitous Tip$4.99
Friendly SMS
No in-app purchases









