Groups vs Contacts Sync
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Groups
This app transforms your phone's contacts into a private social network. Organize people, share updates, and stay connected without sharing your data with large tech companies. It offers features for communication, event planning, and contact management.
- Organize contacts into custom groups
- Set reminders to reach out
- Send personalized group messages
- Create events and invite guests
- Share content from any app
- Data privacy focused
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You've just found the best, easiest app for staying in touch with people. Try it for yourself — it's free! Downloaded by millions in over 100 countries, Groups turns your phone's native contacts into a private social network. Organize your groups, share with friends and family, and stay connected — without feeding Big Tech your data. ORGANIZE YOUR CONTACTS: ◆ Group by how you know them — friends, family, work, hobbies ◆ See who you met recently and interaction history ◆ Smart search finds anyone instantly ◆ Clean up duplicates and merge contacts STAY IN TOUCH: ◆ Set reminders to reach out to people who matter ◆ Send personalized messages to your whole circle at once ◆ Message templates for birthdays, holidays, events ◆ Track who you haven't spoken to in a while SHARE TOGETHER: ◆ Exchange contact info instantly with QR codes ◆ Take Group Photos with fun AI effects ◆ Create events and invite people (they join via browser — no app needed) ◆ Share links, photos, and content from any app ◆ Custom icons for each group YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS: ◆ Unlike Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, your contacts never leave your phone. ◆ Messages go directly through SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Email — recipients don't need Groups to receive them. ◆ No algorithms deciding who sees your posts. No ads. No data mining. No selling your information. ◆ Just a better way to stay connected with the people you actually care about. Through channels you already use. WORKS WITH EVERYTHING: ◆ Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and more. ◆ Fully compatible with iOS features like Do Not Disturb, Voice Messages, and Shortcuts. Now available on iPad. OWN YOUR COMMUNITY Every contact is real social capital. Whether you're organizing a book club, coordinating family events, or building a community around shared interests — Groups helps you bring people together on your terms. Free to download. Start growing your private social network today.
Contacts Sync
Effortlessly synchronize your contacts across Google, Outlook, and iPhone. This reliable app ensures your contact information is up-to-date everywhere with 2-way syncing and support for all contact fields and photos.
- 2-way contact synchronization
- Sync Google, Outlook, and iPhone accounts
- Syncs all contact fields and photos
- Automatic background syncing
- Group and custom label synchronization
- Duplicate contact elimination
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••• SYNC GOOGLE, ICLOUD, & OUTLOOK! ••• #1 SYNC APP FOR 15+ YEARS! ••• TRUSTED BY 10,000,000+ USERS! With Contacts Sync, you can quickly & easily sync your Google or Outlook contacts with iPhone, giving you access to your contacts wherever you go. This app distinguishes itself with its reliability, ease of use, speed, and with a true "2-way sync" that merges changes made to either account. This is the #1 app for syncing contacts both in terms of downloads & reviews. Also of significance, this app syncs your Google labels or Outlook categories with your iPhone lists. For instance, you may have organized your Google contacts into groups such as "friends," "family," and "coworkers." After a sync, your iPhone and Google groups will match. With your groups configured on iPhone, you can easily send group emails or group messages. SYNC THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNTS: • Sync Google with iPhone • Sync Outlook with iPhone • Sync 2 Google accounts SYNC ANY IPHONE ACCOUNT: • Choose to sync all of your iPhone contacts, or choose to sync contacts from a specific iPhone account, such as iCloud, a local iPhone address book, Outlook, or a CardDAV account SYNC TYPES: • Choose from one of the following sync types: 2-Way Sync, 1-Way Sync, and Manual Sync • Choose a 2-Way Sync to sync changes in both directions • Choose a 1-Way Sync to transfer changes in one direction only • Choose a Manual Sync to sync specific contacts only SYNCS ALL FIELDS: • Syncs all fields including names, phonetic names, nicknames, email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, company names, job titles, departments, birthdays, anniversaries, events, notes, web page addresses, relationships, instant messaging accounts, & social profiles • Syncs contact photos • Syncs custom labels & custom fields INITIAL SYNC: • During the initial sync, the contents of matching contacts will be merged CONFIRM CHANGES BEFORE SYNCING: • Review each change before the sync actually begins AUTOMATIC SYNC: • Automatically syncs contacts in the background 24/7 APPLY FILTERS INCLUDING GROUP FILTER: • Apply the group filter, new contact filter, and more! DUPLICATE CONTACTS: • Eliminate duplicate contacts from both iPhone and Google SUBSCRIPTIONS: • Contacts Sync offers a "Premium" subscription which unlocks all of the premium features in the app, including the ability to sync an unlimited number of contacts and to auto sync in the background. • Without an upgrade, the app will sync no more than 40 contacts • The "Premium" subscription is priced at $1.99 USD per week, $2.99 USD per month, or $9.99 USD per year • Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase • Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period • Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period • Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable • Terms of use: https://playaapps.zendesk.com/hc/articles/360004197333 • Privacy Policy: https://playaapps.zendesk.com/hc/articles/226767688
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Contacts Sync at none against Groups's shown. Contacts Sync also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.2) and review sentiment (78% vs 59%). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Groups sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Contacts Sync sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Contacts Sync holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4.9K and 15K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 59% of Groups's written reviews are positive against 78% of Contacts Sync's.
Groups ships an update every 8 days, Contacts Sync every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Groups | Contacts Sync |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (4.9K ratings) | 4.6 (15K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 59.3% of reviews | 78.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.9K | 15K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 146 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Qbix, Inc. | Playa Apps |
Customer experience
Groups
Contacts Sync
User reviews
Groups
From 4.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Helpful for organizing contacts
- 🚀 Efficient for group messaging
- 👍 Customizable groups
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Unreliable sync and data loss
- 🐛 Buggy updates
- 👎 Poor customer support
- 👎 Confusing UI changes
Contacts Sync
From 15K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Quick and efficient
- 💡 Useful for syncing contacts across devices
- 🔒 Reliable and secure
- 🙌 Great customer support
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional sync issues
- 💰 Paid subscription required for more than 40 contacts
- 🔄 Confusion around syncing and merging contacts
- 🤔 Inconsistent contact formatting after sync
Bugs and requests
Groups
Reported bugs
4 issues- Groups disappearing
- Contacts not syncing properly
- Inability to create new groups
- Freezing and crashing on certain actions
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to delete groups and contacts
- Improved group management and sorting
- Option to send mass texts without individual replies
- Better integration with native contacts app
Contacts Sync
Reported bugs
2 issues- Deleted contacts reappearing after sync
- Sync corrupting or deleting existing contact data
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to merge duplicate contacts
- Sync support for Outlook contacts
- Automatic sync between multiple Google accounts
- Undo/rollback option for sync operations
In-app purchases
Groups
- Unlock All Features$0.991 Month
- Plus$1.991 Month
- Premium$2.991 Month
- Turn off Ads$1.99
- Turn off Ads$4.99
- + 500 icons$5.99
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Unlock All Features$5.99
- + I just like your app2 variants$9.99
- Unlock All Features$9.99
- + I just like your app$14.99
- + I really love your app!2 variants$19.99
Contacts Sync
- Premium (1 Week)$1.997 Days
- Premium (1 Month)$2.991 Month
- Premium (1 Year)$9.991 Year
- Automatic Contact SyncingFree
- Make Contribution$4.99
- Make Larger Contribution$9.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Premium (Lifetime Access)$11.99
Questions
Is Groups free?
Is Contacts Sync free?
Which has better reviews, Groups or Contacts Sync?
Do Groups or Contacts Sync have ads?
Which is updated more often, Groups or Contacts Sync?
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