Slide Contacts Review

Apple’s native Phone app performs well, but it’s rather bland and sometimes confusing. I’ve often tapped on the wrong button when I’m in a hurry, which results in frustration and the occasional muttering of obscenities.

Slide Contacts aims to improve on the native app by making it easier to manage contacts. It achieves this by allowing users to call, text, or email contacts with just a quick swipe.

When Slide Contacts is first opened, users must allow the app to access their contacts. Users can then start tapping on their favorite contacts if they desire or view all their contacts at once. Tap on any contact and slide to the right to call, slide to the left to send a text and slide way to the left to shoot a quick email. The plus button in the upper right corner makes it easy to add contacts, while the options button in the upper left corner allows users to organize their favorites, set up groups, change color themes and manage Settings.

In addition to the convenient swiping feature, Slide Contacts also has a speed dialer for call, texting, and emailing, a built-in address book manager, a way to sync contacts with iCloud automatically, and a Group text and email option. Furthermore, users can go into the Settings and turn on Call Prompt, sort all contacts by first name, opt to use WhatsApp instead of Messages, and turn on Google Maps to open addresses.

What I enjoyed the most about Slide Contacts is the easy-to-read interface and the ability to customize the look with various themes. The interface is sharp and clean and definitely has an edge over Apple’s native app. The downside is that after switching Call Prompt on to set the app to return to Slide after hanging up, it still went back to the native app. It’s kind of a pain to keep switching back and forth between the two. Additionally, it could use the options to check Voicemail and connect with friends via Facetime.

While Slide Contacts isn’t a complete replacement for iOS and isn't as convenient as Siri, it does provide users with a fun alternative. It gives the iPhone more personality and pizazz, and it makes the daunting task of quickly connecting with contacts a little bit easier. Since it comes in at less than one dollar, anyone interested in looking for an alternative Phone app should definitely explore this one.