Comparison

Catchup vs Friendly SMS

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Catchup

This app helps you nurture important relationships by setting connection goals and sending gentle reminders to reach out. Track your interactions and add notes to remember details, ensuring your connections stay strong.

Highlights
  • Add friends and family
  • Set personal connection goals
  • Track conversations and meetings
  • Add notes to interactions
  • Receive gentle outreach reminders
  • Home screen widget for tracking
Features
Read full description

Your relationships matter. But in our busy lives, staying in touch isn't always easy. Catchup is a simple, beautiful way to nurture your most important connections through consistent touchpoints. Add the people you care about, set meaningful connection goals, and get gentle reminders to reach out. How it works: 1. Add friends and family you want to stay close with 2. Set your intentions with personal goals for how often you'd like to connect 3. Track conversations, meetings, and meaningful moments with a quick tap 4. Add notes to remember the little details of each interaction 5. Get gentle reminders when it's time to reach out Try Catchup free with 2 contacts. Upgrade to connect with unlimited friends and family and track your relationships through notifications and a home screen widget. Keep your relationships strong, one connection at a time.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Recurring contact reminders
  • Birthday reminders
  • Pre-filled SMS messages
  • Customizable messages
  • Manual one-off reminders
  • Local notifications
Features
Read full description

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

Catchup3 screens
Friendly SMS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Friendly SMS at 5.0 against Catchup's 4.4. Friendly SMS also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Catchup's advantage is ratings volume (82 vs 2) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Catchup sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Friendly SMS asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Friendly SMS holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Catchup has 82 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Catchup versus Friendly SMS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCatchupFriendly SMS
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (82 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings82 — better2
Update frequencyFortnightly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChris LeeGabriel Beer

Customer experience

Catchup

All ratings66 ratings
Positive86.4%
Neutral6.1%
Negative7.6%
Written reviews33 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral12.1%
Negative21.2%

Friendly SMS

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Catchup

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Cannot add contacts
  • Subscription is broken and unusable
  • Bug preventing upgrade to Plus
  • Names and pictures no longer show
  • Pro version features locked temporarily
Show 3 more
  • Does not sync between devices
  • Tracking information lost on iOS update
  • Data not backing up to iCloud

Requested features

24 requests
  • Alphabetical sorting
  • Customizable frequency
  • Different types of catch-ups
  • Select multiple people for a note
  • Add search function
Show 19 more
  • Add photos
  • Add friend's birthday
  • Call or text with WhatsApp integration
  • Reminder for every 2-3 days
  • Groups of people
  • Indicate who was present at a catch-up
  • Siri shortcut support
  • Widget for one-tap connection
  • Button to initiate FaceTime call
  • Option to add date of last in-person hang out
  • Option to add frequency of in-person hang outs
  • Categorize contacts (e.g., home, work)
  • Customizable reminder frequency
  • Dismiss or record connection from notification
  • Snooze next reminder option
  • Remind me on a specific date
  • Backup to iCloud
  • Sync between iPhone and iPad
  • Automatically count call/text as check-in

Friendly SMS

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Catchup

One-time1
  • Catchup Plus$9.99
None

Friendly SMS

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Catchup free?
Catchup is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Friendly SMS free?
Friendly SMS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Catchup or Friendly SMS?
Friendly SMS is rated higher. Catchup averages 4.4 out of 5 from 82 ratings, while Friendly SMS averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Catchup or Friendly SMS have ads?
Neither Catchup nor Friendly SMS shows ads.

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