# Group Contact Lite vs CircleBack

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CircleBack at none against Group Contact Lite's 2. CircleBack also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (2.5K vs 453). Group Contact Lite's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). On price and review sentiment there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Group Contact Lite sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. CircleBack asks for nothing beyond the download.

Group Contact Lite holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CircleBack has 2.5K ratings behind it against 453, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 60% and 61% positive.

Group Contact Lite ships an update every 5 days, CircleBack every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Group Contact Lite | CircleBack |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.7 (453 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/group-contact-lite/id386490865/reviews)** | [4.5 (2.5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/circleback-updated-contacts/id957826826/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 453 | **2.5K** |
| Positive reviews | 60.1% of reviews | **60.8% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | **Every 5 days** | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | **Free** |
| Size | 90 MB | 118 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.6** | 17.6 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch** | iPhone |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [EJing](https://appshunter.io/developer/379452377) | [CircleBack, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/303908341) |

## What reviewers say

### Group Contact Lite

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/group-contact-lite/id386490865)

Organize contacts into custom groups with drag-and-drop functionality. Automatically categorize contacts by company and send group emails or SMS messages. Includes contact backup and task scheduling features.

**Highlights:** Drag & drop group editing, Automatic grouping by company, Create, edit, delete groups, Search contacts, Send group email/SMS, Contact backup, Task scheduler

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Apple Watch app, Vision Pro support, iPhone Duo support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remove Ads | $0.99 | per month |
| Remove ADS | $1.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 💡 Allows grouping of contacts
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🚀 Efficient for sending group emails/texts

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes after updates
- 🐛 Groups not syncing properly
- 🐛 Unreliable drag-and-drop functionality
- 🐛 Contacts not displaying properly

**Reported bugs**

- Crashes when trying to open the app
- Groups disappearing or not updating
- Contacts not syncing between app and device
- Incompatibility issues with iOS updates

**Requested features**

- Option to sort contacts by first/last name
- More color options for groups
- Integration with native Contacts app
- Ability to send MMS/picture messages to groups


### CircleBack

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/circleback-updated-contacts/id957826826)

This app intelligently updates your contacts, finds new ones from email, and cleans duplicates. It also allows scanning business cards and offers unified contact management across devices.

**Highlights:** Automatic contact updates, Duplicate contact merging, New contact discovery from emails, Business card scanning, Unified address book, Contact sync across devices

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Easy to use
- 📚 Helpful for managing contacts
- 💾 Keeps contacts synced
- 🔍 Useful for finding updated contact info
- 🧹 Helps clean up duplicate contacts

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes or freezes
- 🔁 Duplicates keep reappearing
- 🔒 Google login issues
- 🤯 Messes up or deletes contacts
- 🕰️ Slow performance

**Reported bugs**

- Fails to update contacts on devices
- Incorrectly merges unrelated contacts
- Loses contact notes and other data
- Unreliable sync between app and phone contacts

**Requested features**

- Add ability to remove contacts from groups
- Improve search functionality
- Allow starting with a fresh contact list
- Provide better backup/restore options


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Group Contact Lite free?

Group Contact Lite is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is CircleBack free?

CircleBack is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Group Contact Lite or CircleBack?

Group Contact Lite is rated higher. Group Contact Lite averages 4.7 out of 5 from 453 ratings, while CircleBack averages 4.5 from 2.5K ratings.

### Do Group Contact Lite or CircleBack have ads?

Group Contact Lite shows ads; CircleBack does not.

### Which is updated more often, Group Contact Lite or CircleBack?

Group Contact Lite ships an update every 5 days, and CircleBack every 2 months. Most recently, Group Contact Lite was updated on October 26, 2026 and CircleBack on October 24, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*