Keep in Touch: a free app that reminds you to call your friends and family

Keep in Touch is a free app that reminds you to call, text or see the people you care about before too much time slips by. You add a few names, pick how often you'd like to be in touch with each one and the app shows you who's due, most overdue first. There's no account, no contact upload and nothing to pay. You open Keep in Touch in your phone's browser, add it to your home screen and you're set.

Here's how it works, how to get it on your phone and a few ways to keep it from turning into one more to-do list you feel guilty about.

What Keep in Touch does

Most friendships don't end with a big fight. They just fade. You mean to call your college roommate, then it's March, then it's been two years and calling out of the blue feels weird. Sound familiar? This app is built to catch that drift early.

For each person you choose a rhythm, every week, every two weeks, every month, every three months or every six months. You tell the app roughly when you last talked, and it works out when they're next due. The Due screen lists everyone with a little badge (green if you're fine, amber if they're coming up, red if you're overdue).

When you reach out, you tap Reached out, pick how (call, text, video, met up) and the clock resets. That's really all there is to it, and I think that's the point. A friendship app that takes more effort than a text message has missed the mark.

Why this matters more than it sounds

Back in 2023 the US Surgeon General put out an advisory calling loneliness an epidemic, and said that being socially disconnected carries health risks on par with things like smoking and inactivity. That's a big claim, and the research behind it is mostly long-term observational studies, but it lines up with what most of us feel in our gut. People need people.

The good news is the fix doesn't have to be grand. A two-minute text, a voice note on the drive home or a quick call while you fold laundry all count. Our piece on loneliness and your health goes deeper into the why, and the app handles the when.

How to get Keep in Touch on your phone

It's a web app, so you won't find it in the App Store or Google Play. It installs from our site straight onto your home screen.

On an iPhone:

1. Open 8dofwellness.com/apps/keep-in-touch in Safari.
2. Tap the Share button (the square with the arrow pointing up).
3. Tap Add to Home Screen, then Add.

On Android:

1. Open the same page in Chrome.
2. Tap the three-dot menu at the top.
3. Tap Install app or Add to Home screen.

The green icon with two people on it shows up with your other apps. It opens full screen and works offline.

How to use it, screen by screen

Adding someone

Tap Add someone and fill in a short form. Type a name (Grandma, Sam from work, the Thursday night poker crew, whatever you'd call them). Pick how often you want to be in touch, then pick roughly when you last talked, from today all the way back to "over a year ago".

There are two optional fields. A phone number puts Call and Text buttons right on their card, so reaching out is one tap away. And "something to remember" is a spot for the kid's name, the new job or the dog's surgery, the little details that make a catch-up feel like you were paying attention.

I'd start with five to ten people, the ones you'd actually miss. Adding your entire contact list on day one is a fast way to feel swamped and quit by Friday.

The Due screen

This is home base. At the top it tells you how many people are due, or that you're all caught up. Below that is everyone, sorted with the most overdue at the top.

Each card shows how often you want to be in touch, when you last talked and a colored badge. If you saved a number, the phone and message buttons are right there. When you've reached out, tap Reached out, pick how you did it, add a note if you want ("ask how the move went") and save. The person drops down the list and the app tells you when they'll pop up next.

The People screen

An alphabetical list of everyone. Tap a name to change how often you want to connect, update their number or notes, or remove them.

The Log screen

Every time you reach out, it gets logged here with the date and how you did it. At the top you'll see how many times you've reached out this month and how many of your people are on track. It's a nice little nudge on the days you feel like a bad friend, since it shows you've been doing better than you think.

Setting a weekly nudge

At the bottom of the Due screen there's a Weekly nudge box. Pick a day and time (Sunday at 6 PM is the default, which tends to be a quiet moment for a lot of people) and tap Add weekly reminder.

You get two options. One downloads a calendar file for the iPhone Calendar app, Samsung Calendar or Outlook. The other opens Google Calendar with a weekly repeating event ready to save. Once a week your phone pings you to open the app and see who's due, even if you haven't opened it in ages.

Your contacts stay on your phone

The app never reads your phone's contact list. Everyone you add is typed in by you and stored on your phone only, with no account and nothing sent to us. Phone numbers are only used for the Call and Text buttons.

Since there's no cloud copy, save a backup now and then. Tap the gear icon, then Save backup, and keep the file somewhere safe. Restore puts everything back on a new phone.

Tips to actually stay in touch

Lower the bar for what counts. A text that says "saw this and thought of you" with a photo is a perfectly good touchpoint. So is a voice memo while you walk the dog. If you only count hour-long phone calls, you'll fall behind with everyone.

Batch it. Sunday evening, with the weekly nudge, go through who's due and send three quick texts. It takes ten minutes. More of our ideas for this are in keeping friendships going when life gets busy.

Use the notes. Writing down that your friend's daughter just started kindergarten means next time you can ask how it's going, and people notice.

Be realistic with the rhythm. Weekly for a parent or best friend, monthly for good friends, every few months for the wider circle. You can change it anytime.

Make some new connections while you're at it. If your list feels short, that's common in adulthood, and there's a whole guide on how to make friends as an adult that doesn't involve awkward speed-friending.

What to say when it's been way too long

This is the bit that stops most of us cold. It's been eight months, so what do you even open with? I'd skip the big apology and just be straight about it, something like "I was thinking about you today and realized it's been ages, how are you doing?" Most people are flat-out delighted to hear from an old friend and don't keep score nearly as much as we fear they do.

If a call feels like too big a jump, send a photo of something that reminded you of them, a song you both loved or a link to the restaurant you used to haunt. Once the door's open, a proper catch-up tends to follow on its own, and the app will remind you to keep it going.

Frequently asked questions about Keep in Touch

Is Keep in Touch free?

Yes. No price, no ads, no sign-up. It's one of our eight free wellness apps, one for each dimension of wellness.

Does it read my phone's contacts?

No. You add people by hand, and everything stays on your phone.

Will it text people for me?

No. It shows you who's due and puts a Call or Text button on their card if you saved a number, but you do the reaching out. That's kind of the point.

How often should I keep in touch with friends?

There's no magic number. Weekly or every two weeks for your closest people and monthly to every few months for everyone else works for a lot of folks. Pick what feels doable and adjust.

What if I fall way behind?

Just start again. Tap Reached out after your next text and the clock resets. There's no score to lose.

Your relationships are one spoke of the wellness wheel, and the free wellness wheel quiz shows how the other seven are doing.