Questions, answered.

A free iPhone app that helps you stay in touch with the people who matter. You choose how often you’d like to catch up with each person, Howdy Mate! nudges you when someone is due, and you log a catch-up with one tap.

Yes. Every feature is included and you can add as many mates as you like. There are no subscriptions, no in-app purchases and no ads.

No. Howdy Mate! is just for you, and the app never adds, notifies or messages anyone. Texts and postcards go from your own Messages or chat app, so your mates get an ordinary message or picture. If you’d like them to know they’re on your list, “Let them know” in a mate’s menu writes a warm hello with a link to the app. You press send yourself, and it counts as a catch-up.

No. Howdy Mate! is made for iPhone. It will also run on an iPad as an iPhone app, but it isn’t laid out for the bigger screen.

Yes, folded or open. The app lock uses the Duo’s Touch ID, and says so. Opened out, the app shows at iPhone size for now rather than filling the bigger screen.

Seventeen: English, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Indonesian and Hindi. The app follows your iPhone’s language, or you can give it one of its own in the iPhone Settings app, under Apps, Howdy Mate!, Language. Siri, the widgets and Shortcuts speak the same language as the app.

Neither. There is no sign-up, and the app works entirely offline.

You give each mate a rhythm, from every week to once a year or a custom schedule. Once that long has passed since your last catch-up, they move under “Needs you” on the Today screen and you get a gentle nudge. Until you log a first catch-up, the count starts from when you added them, or from your answer to “When did you two last catch up?” on their page.

More on rhythms →

A mate is “In touch” until their rhythm comes round, “Drifting” for up to three rhythms after that, and “Been a while” beyond it. With eight or more mates, chips at the top of the Mates tab count how many are in each, and tapping one shows just them. We never call a friend overdue, because a friendship isn’t a bill.

With three of them. For your first week, the top of Today sets one small goal: get three mates in and catch up with each. Each one you log fills a slot with their face, and while you have fewer than three, the empty slots add someone instead. Still under three on day three? One notification asks who else you want to keep close, and it never comes again. After that, Today offers a week goal of your own, 1, 2 or 3 mates a week, and counts how many weeks running you’ve made it. Change it or turn it off from the dots on the card, or under Week goal in Settings.

Any kind of catch-up: a text, a call, a video call, social media, seeing each other in person, an email or anything else. Tap a mate on Today and their page opens, with ways to call or text them; tap Check In Now there and a half-height sheet opens on the kind you usually have with them, so logging is often one more tap. Swipe a mate right on Today or Mates to log it on the spot, and a call or text you start from the app is logged when you come back.

More on check-ins →

No. You get a gentle reminder when someone is due, and the wording is kind on purpose. Snooze anyone, take a break from every nudge until a day you choose, or keep nudges quiet at work with a Focus filter. Snooze someone three times in a row and it offers a slower rhythm. The app asks for a rating at most once every four months, never before your third check-in and never while you are logging.

More on reminders →

Most people do, so once a week Howdy Mate! asks instead. The weekly look-back (Sunday at 6 pm unless you pick another time) lists up to eight mates you were likely to see, from your plans, your calendar and who was due. Tap yes or no for each, pick the day, and log them all in one go. After three weeks without an answer it stops asking.

Nothing bad happens. If you come back after a couple of weeks away with a pile of mates waiting, Today offers to spread them over the next two weeks, keeping the ones who need you most on today. After a shorter break, a line at the top of Today says who came due since you last looked. Each January a quick review also suggests rhythms that better fit how often you really catch up.

Yes. On Mates, tap +, type their name and tap Create on the row that appears. The app never needs Contacts for that. Got a list in Notes or a spreadsheet? Paste it into the same field, one name a line or split by commas, and every name shows up ready to add with one tap. Anyone who’s already a mate starts unticked, so nobody is added twice.

Yes. Export a CSV from your old app, or copy the spreadsheet your list lives in, and paste it into the search field on Add mates (Settings › Data › Move from Another App opens it ready). Everyone comes across at once, with their last catch-up, rhythm, birthday, notes and phone number when the list has them. Garden has no export, so for Garden the quickest way across is “Find people in my contacts”. What you paste never leaves your iPhone.

Sort them. Add 25 or more at once and the sorting cards come straight up with just the people you added, in the order you picked them; any other time, choose “Sort your mates…” from the sort button on Mates. Each mate gets a card: Close sets every two weeks, Regular every month, Now and then every three months, and Not really archives them with their history kept. For anyone you’ve never logged, the card also asks when you last caught up, so their first nudge counts from then. Nobody piles up: the mates you sort as Close come up first, about three a day, and anyone you leave for later waits a week before coming up. Changed your mind? For a week, a card on Mates lets you remove the whole batch.

Yes. On the Mates tab, tap the search bar or a filter and Select appears above the list (or press and hold a mate and tap Select multiple). Tick the mates you mean, or Select all to take everyone the search or filter is showing. The bar along the bottom gives them all a rhythm, puts them in a group, texts 2 to 20 of them together or archives them, each with Undo. More logs a catch-up with all of them or deletes them, and deleted mates wait 30 days in Settings › Archived mates › Recently deleted.

Open Add and tap “Just met someone?”: their name, where you met and their number, then Save. Research suggests a new friendship grows on the time you spend together early on, so they come up every week for eight weeks, then settle to monthly. The first nudge comes five days later (“You met Jo at the climbing gym 5 days ago. Say hi?”). Leave “Text them now” on and Messages opens with a short hello, so they have your number too.

Yes. On a mate with no number, tap Call or Text and pick “Find them in Contacts”. If the app can already see your contacts it offers the people with that name; otherwise the iPhone’s own contact picker opens, which needs no permission and shares only the one card you choose. Their number, birthday and photo come across, and a birthday you typed stays put.

Yes. When two mates share a phone number, a contact card or a name, a card at the top of Mates says they look like the same person. Tap Review to see each pair side by side, pick the one to keep, then Merge, or choose “Merge with…” from the ••• menu on a mate’s page. Every check-in, note, date and gift idea from both is kept. A merge can’t be undone, so it asks first, and Not the same stops the suggestion.

Tap Find them in Contacts. Add opens with the name already typed, so anyone in your address book who matches is one tap away, and Create adds them as a new mate if they aren’t there. If the person is archived, they show up too, with Restore to put them back in your list.

Yes. Open one of them, tap ••• then “Comes as a pair with…” and pick the other. Each keeps their own rhythm and their own row on Mates. Log one and the check-in ticks the other too, and a quick swipe asks “Tom too?”. When both are due on the same day, Today shows a single “Ana & Tom” row and you get one nudge for the two of them.

Yes. Press and hold them on Today or Mates and their card lifts out of the list: how the friendship is going, when you last talked and how, a birthday or date in the next two months, and two of the things you’ve kept to remember. Call, text or log from the menu under it, tap the card for their whole page, or let go to drop it back.

Yes. Tap their face at the top of their page and pick one of 90 hand-drawn sketches, an emoji, a photo from your library or just their initial. It saves straight away, with Undo if you change your mind. Mates you bring in from Contacts keep their contact photo until you pick something else.

Every week, two weeks or month, every two, three or six months, or once a year. You can also set your own count of days, weeks or months, like every three weeks, or certain weekdays, a set date each month or a standing ritual like “First Thursday, pub”. Tap the rhythm on a mate’s page to change it, and a line underneath says when the next nudge will land.

Yes. If you really catch up far more or less often than you planned, a mate’s page offers the rhythm that fits. Snooze someone three times in a row and it offers a slower one, with Undo. Each January a quick review helps you tidy the lot.

Yes. Filter the Mates tab to a group and tap Get together on its card to pick every month, 2 months, 3 months or 6 months. Once it has been that long since you were all logged together, the group gets its own row on Today and a nudge at your usual time. One swipe logs an in-person get-together with everyone in it. Each mate keeps their own rhythm too, and a group catch-up counts for each of them.

Yes. On the Mates tab, pinch the list or tap the circle button beside sort and filter. Close mates sit on the inner ring, Regular around them and Now and then on the outside, with whoever has gone longest without a catch-up near the top of each ring. Anyone drifting has a coloured ring and a clock, so colour is never the only clue. Tap a face to open their page.

Around the time you first logged a catch-up. Nudges start at 10 am, and your very first check-in moves them to that time of day, to the nearest half hour and between 8 am and 9 pm, because that’s a time you had a minute for your mates. Pick your own time under Notifications in Settings whenever you like, and the app never moves it again.

Yes. Open a mate’s page, tap their rhythm, and under Nudge at pick Morning, Lunchtime, Evening or a time of your own. Their nudges arrive at that time and everyone else keeps your usual time from Settings. The time is your phone’s time, even for a mate who lives in another time zone.

Yes. Under Notifications in Settings, pick your Nudge Days, or choose Every day, Weekdays or Weekends. A nudge that falls on a day you skipped waits for your next nudge day, at the same time. Birthdays, important dates and plans still arrive on the day itself.

Yes. Hold the mate’s row on Today, tap Snooze and pick “In 2 hours” or “This evening” (7:30 pm, or tomorrow evening once it’s past 7). The nudge comes back at that exact time instead of the next morning. You can also snooze until tomorrow, the weekend, next week or a date you pick, and Wake brings anyone back early.

Yes. In Settings, under Notifications, tap Take a break and pick a week, two weeks, until the new year or a date of your own. Every nudge stops until then, and birthdays still come through unless you turn that off. Today reads calm, with nobody overdue. On the morning you’re back, one notification says who would love to hear from you, and the usual nudges pick up by themselves.

Yes. Turn on One Mate a Day under Notifications in Settings and you get one suggestion a day instead of a reminder for everyone who’s due. High priority mates and whoever has waited longest come first, and everyone else gets their turn on the days after. Birthdays, friendiversaries and important dates still remind you as usual.

Yes. In Settings, then Notifications, under Reminder Voice, pick Gentle (“Ana would love to hear from you”), Mate, the Aussie one (“Give Ana a bell, mate”), or Straight (“Message Ana today”). The lines rotate so you rarely read the same one twice, and every voice is free.

Yes. Turn on “Also put nudges in Reminders” under Notifications in Settings. A Howdy Mate! list in Reminders holds one reminder for each mate due in the next week, so they show on your Apple Watch, your Mac and in Siri. Tick one off and it’s logged as a check-in the next time you open the app, with Undo. The app only reads and writes its own list, never your others.

Yes. Turn off Show Count on App Icon under Notifications in Settings, which also hides the number on the Today tab. The number is how many things are under “Needs you” on Today: mates who are due, plus any birthday or important date that falls today.

Usually because iOS isn’t allowing notifications for Howdy Mate!, often after a “Don’t Allow” on the first day. Today then shows a “Nudges are off” card: tap Turn on and the app asks again, or opens iOS Settings if you said no before. Tap the summary at the top of Settings and a test nudge arrives five seconds later. Rather skip notifications altogether? The same card offers Use Reminders instead.

Yes. Press and hold a reminder and tap Check In, or tap Add a Note, type a line like “talked about the new job” and tap Log. It’s saved as the way you usually catch up with that mate, and the app stays closed. Siri, the widgets and the Log control in Control Center work without opening the app too.

Yes. Tap + on the Log tab and type or dictate a line like “Coffee with Ana yesterday” or “called Mum on Sunday”. Howdy Mate! picks out the mates, the kind of catch-up and the day and fills them in below, where you can change anything, and keeps the line as your note. Two mates with the same first name? It asks which one rather than guessing. It all happens on your iPhone.

No. When you log a catch-up, the list of mates ends with Someone new. Tap it, type their name and tap Done, and they’re added and picked for the check-in on a monthly rhythm, without leaving it. If you searched for them and nobody matched, the row offers the name you typed. Someone already on your list is picked instead, so nobody is added twice. Their photo, birthday and number can wait for their page.

Yes. Tap When on the check-in to pick any earlier day and time, or tap Yesterday or the weekend just gone. Quicker still, add a photo from that day: if it was taken on another day, the app asks “Log it on that day?”, and one tap moves the check-in there. Only the date the photo was taken is read, on your iPhone.

Yes. When you log a catch-up, open “Add details” and tap “They reached out first”. Once a mate has started a few of your recent catch-ups, their page says so (“They reached out 3 of the last 8 times”), and Recap shows how often mates got in touch first. Nothing is shown for a mate who hasn’t, because it’s there to notice the people who think of you, not to keep score.

Yes. A mate’s page says when you last logged an in-person catch-up and where, if you added a place (“In person: 8 months ago · Fitzroy”). Group get-togethers count for everyone in them. When it’s been a long while, Draft adds an opener that suggests meeting up.

Yes. Log a catch-up from Today and, while anyone else is still under “Needs you”, the confirmation adds a line like “Next: Ana”. Tap Text to open your chat with her, and it’s logged when you come back. It skips anyone snoozed and stops suggesting after five in a row, so it never feels like a treadmill.

Yes. Tap Draft on a mate’s page and a sheet opens with an opener written from their interests and your last note (on iPhones with Apple Intelligence, written on the phone itself). Tap Another opener for a different one and change any word. Chips across the top change what it’s for: Hello, Thanks, Really going? and Our year. Send opens their usual chat with it typed in, and the catch-up logs itself when you come back.

Yes. On the Draft sheet, write or change a line the way you would say it and tap Keep. It becomes one of your openers (up to twelve), with that mate’s first name turned into a gap so it fits anyone. Draft and the Text button on a nudge then offer yours first, taking turns so the same line doesn’t go out every time.

Messages, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Instagram, Messenger, LINE and Snapchat. Edit a mate and pick one under “Texts on”, and their Text and Draft buttons open that app instead of Messages. WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram find people by number, so save it with its country code. Instagram, Messenger, LINE and Snapchat need a username. WhatsApp opens with the drafted hello typed; for the others Draft copies it for you to paste.

Yes. Edit a mate and add their email address, and Email joins the More button on their page, or leads it if email is how you usually keep up. For a mate with no number saved, the Draft sheet sends your message as a new email. Come back to the app afterwards and it’s logged as a check-in, with Undo if you didn’t send it.

Yes. Edit a mate and pick a language under “Write to them in”. The Draft sheet’s lines, their birthday and name-day wishes, a postcard’s line and the “Let them know” hello then come out in that language, while the app itself stays in yours. Openers you saved yourself are left as you wrote them.

Yes. Drafted texts and prompts open with what you call someone, not just the first word of their name: “Aunt Carol” stays Aunt Carol and “Dr Priya Shah” is Dr Priya. To use something else, edit a mate and fill in “What you call them”. Mates you bring in from Contacts start with the nickname from their card.

Yes. Tap More on a mate’s page, then Send a postcard, and pick one of twenty hand-drawn cards, from coffee soon? and miss you to get well and three for the holidays. Keep or change the line that comes with it. Send opens Messages with the card attached (several mates make one group thread), or the share sheet for other apps. The cards have no words on them, your mate needs nothing installed, and it’s logged once it’s sent.

Yes. Every mate’s page has a “For next time” list for links to send and ideas to do together. Tap Draft and the message starts with it (“Saw this and thought of you”), and a link you send comes off the list by itself. You can also tap Share in Safari, Photos or any app, choose Howdy Mate! and pick the mate (iOS 17 or later). It all stays on your phone.

Share to Howdy Mate →

Yes, with one line and at most one reminder. Got a message you mean to answer? Press and hold the mate and tap “They messaged me”: their row reads “Your turn to reply” and one reminder that evening has an I replied button. Sent a text and heard nothing? Tap “Waiting on a reply?” and if three days pass, one nudge suggests a call. Logging any catch-up with them settles it.

Yes. A mate’s page carries a question to bring to your next catch-up; tap it for three more, from a light, a catching-up or a deeper set, and shuffle any you don’t fancy. Save one for next time and it joins that mate’s things to remember, so it shows when you log the catch-up or draft a message.

Tap ⋯ at the top of Today, choose “Got a few minutes?” and pick 2, 10 or 30 minutes. Howdy Mate! suggests three mates worth reaching right now, leaning toward how you usually reach each one, so a quick text goes to the mate you always text. Nobody in another time zone is suggested in the middle of their night. Each one is a tap from the call or chat, and it’s logged when you come back.

Yes. On the Mates tab, filter to a group and tap Message everyone. A Messages sheet opens with one group text to everyone in it who has a number saved, with a hello already typed, and sending it logs a text with each of them. To text a handful of mates who aren’t a group, tap the search bar on Mates, tap Select, tick 2 to 20 and tap Message.

Yes. Open a mate’s ••• menu and tap “Introduce to someone…”. Mates who live in the same city or share an interest come first. You get one group text to both, already written, to edit and send. Once it’s sent it counts as a catch-up with each of them, and about two weeks later the next message drafted for either one asks whether they ever met up.

Once in a while. When a mate has been around a lot lately, Today may ask “Who’s been good to you lately?” and name them. Write a thank-you opens Draft on Thanks, with a short message from your last catch-up, and it counts as a catch-up. It shows at most once a month, and nobody is suggested twice in a year. To thank anyone else, tap Draft on their page and pick Thanks.

Yes. Tap Draft on a mate’s page and pick Our year (it appears once you’ve caught up with them twice this year). It writes a short note from what you logged, like how many times you caught up and your favourite moment, with a hand-drawn December postcard. Change anything and send it. Through December, Today offers your five most-seen mates one at a time.

Yes. Choose “Suggest a time” from the ••• menu on a mate’s page, or press and hold them on Today. You see the next seven days with a free weekday evening and a weekend day already picked, and the app writes the text: “Coffee soon? I’m free Thursday evening or Saturday morning. Any good?” Let it use your calendar and only days you’re actually free are offered. Send it, and the first day is saved as a plan.

Yes. Save a plan and the “saved” message offers Add to Calendar. iOS opens its own new-event screen with the plan filled in, so you can set a time or pick a calendar before you tap Add. The app doesn’t need Calendar access for this. Changing the plan later doesn’t touch the event, so move or delete it in Calendar yourself.

Yes. On Sunday and Monday a card on Today offers to plan your week, or choose Plan my week from ⋯ at the top of Today any day. Pick up to three mates, most overdue first, and a day for each. Each one shows on Today on that day, with a nudge that morning. If you haven’t planned by Sunday evening you get one reminder at 6 pm, which you can turn off in Settings.

Yes, in Plan something. Name the plan, say hiking or footy, and “Who’s up for hiking?” shows the faces of the mates who are into it, from their interests, the facts you saved about them and catch-ups that mention it. Tap a face to put them on the plan, then share it with them in one tap. Everything is matched on your iPhone.

Yes, both ways round. Choose “Going somewhere?” from the plan button on Today, type the city and your dates, and Howdy Mate! ticks the mates you know there, with the reason under each name. When a mate is coming to you, switch to “They’re coming”. Either way a card on Today shows the stay, one tap logs seeing someone in person, and anyone you missed gets the usual “Did it happen?” the day after.

Birthdays come in with mates you add from Contacts, and you can type one in by tapping Edit on a mate’s page. Don’t know it? A mate with no birthday has an Ask button that opens your chat with “when’s your birthday?” already typed, and counts as a catch-up. When they answer, tap Add it on their page. You then get a reminder the day before and on the day.

Yes. On a mate’s page, tap Write their birthday text and save it, and their birthday on Today says your text is ready. On the day, Send Wishes on the reminder opens your chat with your words already typed. When you come back, the check-in is waiting with “Birthday wishes” filled in, so one tap counts it as a catch-up. Once the birthday has passed the text clears itself.

Send a belated one: it still lands. The morning after a birthday with no catch-up logged, a card on Today offers Send a belated wish, with a late birthday message ready in your chat. If you already wished them another way, tap Already did and it’s logged on their birthday. After three days it goes quiet.

Yes. Open a mate’s page, tap Important Dates, and tap a date to change it. Under Remind me, pick On the day, Day before, Week before or Both (a week before and on the day, which is where every date starts). A yearly date with a year says how long it’s been, like “10th anniversary” or “Turns 4”.

Yes. Turn on Show Dates in Calendar under Calendar in Settings and every birthday and important date goes into a calendar called Howdy Mate!, kept in step as you change them. Birthdays already on a contact card stay in iOS’s own Birthdays calendar, so nothing shows twice. Turn the switch off and the calendar is removed.

The anniversary of the day you met a mate. Edit a mate and set “Met on”, and Howdy Mate! marks the big ones: one, two, three, five and ten years, then every five. It shows on Today as it gets close (“10 years of friendship”), the day itself brings one reminder at your usual time, and a swipe of the row opens a friendiversary postcard.

Yes, for Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, France and Italy. If your iPhone is set to one of those countries the name-day calendar is already on, and anyone can pick one under Settings, Notifications, Name days. Each mate’s first name is matched to the calendar (Kasia counts as Katarzyna, Peppe is Giuseppe), and on the day you get a reminder with a name-day postcard ready to send.

Yes. From 1 December, Today shows a Holiday hellos card. Pick Happy holidays or Happy New Year and one of three hand-drawn winter postcards. Mates you’ve drifted from are already ticked and close mates aren’t, since they’ll hear from you anyway. The hellos are spread a few a day, each one a text of its own with the card attached. Nothing is sent for you.

Open their page, tap the ••• menu and choose “They’ve passed away”. Every nudge and reminder for them stops, and everything you logged together stays. Their page says “In memory” and they move to a Remembered list in Settings. If you like, one notification a year on their birthday says you’re thinking of them, and you can pick others in their group to check on. Nothing is set up unless you choose it.

Yes. On the 1st of each month, one notification sums up the month just gone, like “6 check-ins with 4 mates”, and opens Recap on it with one question: how connected did you feel? Not very, somewhat or very. After three answers, Recap says how many catch-ups a month you logged when you felt most connected. The answer stays on your iPhone, and Monthly recap in Settings turns it off.

A December look back at your year, as a short story of cards: your catch-ups, the mates you saw, the longest gap you closed, who you saw most, your busiest month and who to start with in January. Once your year has five or more check-ins, a card on Today offers it from 1 to 25 December. Play it again any time from Recap’s year view.

Yes, as a picture. Tap Share under the year’s card in Recap and the card goes to the share sheet as an image, sized for a story. A mate’s page has one too: tap Share recap at the foot of it for a card of the two of you. The picture is made on your iPhone, and nothing leaves your phone until you pick where to send it.

Yes. From Boxing Day to the end of January, Today asks who you want to see more of in the year ahead. Pick up to three mates and how many catch-ups each one means (4, 6, 12 or your own number). Their page shows how far along you are, like “4 of 6 catch-ups this year”, and if someone falls behind pace you get a single nudge on the first of the month.

Yes. Ask “Who’s due in Howdy Mate?” or “Log a check-in in Howdy Mate” with nothing to set up, and every action is in the Shortcuts app. On iOS 18 there’s also a Log control for Control Center, the Lock Screen and the Action button, and you can type a mate’s name into Spotlight to open their page. Siri and Spotlight can’t reach your mates while the app lock is on.

Siri and Shortcuts →

Yes. Add the Pinned Mate widget, touch and hold it, tap Edit Widget and pick a mate. It shows their name, whether they’re due and your last catch-up, and its Log button logs the way you usually catch up with them without opening the app. Add one for each person you want to keep close, on the Home Screen or the Lock Screen.

Widgets and Control Center →

On your iPhone, in the app’s own database. There is no account and no server holding your mates, check-ins, notes or photos. The app sends anonymous crash reports and usage counts so we can keep it working, never your content.

Read the privacy policy →

Only if you tap “Find people in my contacts” while adding mates, or “Refresh from Contacts” on a mate you imported. It brings in names, birthdays, photos, a phone number, any anniversaries and related names on the card, and your Contacts groups. None of it leaves your phone. Once you’ve said yes, it rereads your imported mates’ cards about once a day for a new number or photo (Settings › Data has the switch). If you only share selected contacts, the app sees just those. The only time it writes to Contacts is “Save to Contacts” on Just met someone, which adds the one card you typed.

Read the privacy policy →

For a few optional things. “Suggest catch-ups” looks for recent events with a mate’s name on them and asks whether to log them, and can send a short brief before one. “Use my calendar” in Suggest a time checks only when you’re busy. “Bring in dates” finds birthdays you keep as all-day events, and “Show dates in Calendar” adds one calendar of its own. Events are read on your iPhone and nothing is sent anywhere. Adding a plan to Calendar needs no access at all.

Only if you turn on “Also put nudges in Reminders”. iOS only offers full access to Reminders, but the app reads and writes just the Howdy Mate! list it made: a reminder per mate who’s due, and which of them you ticked off. Your other lists are never read or changed, and nothing is sent anywhere.

A reminder can quote the note from your last catch-up so you remember what to ask about, and a reminder about one mate shows their photo or sketch. Turn on the app lock in Settings and reminders never include a note or a picture. The Lock Screen widgets show a name, when they’re due and the kind of your last catch-up, never a note.

No server ever sees it. A spoken recap is transcribed on your iPhone and the audio isn’t kept. On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, message drafts and the “Last time” line are written by Apple’s on-device model, and without it the app uses its own simple wording. Nothing you write or say leaves the phone.

Read the privacy policy →

Yes. Once a day, when you open the app, it backs up your mates, check-ins, photos and settings to your own iCloud Drive. On a new iPhone, or after reinstalling, the app offers to restore that backup the first time it opens, and Settings › Data › Restore from iCloud does the same any time. You can also export everything as CSV or JSON from Settings › Data › Export Data.

Settings › Data › Reset All Data removes everything on your iPhone. Swiping left on a mate deletes just them, after 30 days in Settings › Groups & Lists › Archived mates › Recently deleted. Deleting the app removes everything on the phone. The iCloud backup stays in your iCloud until you delete it from the iPhone’s Settings › your name › iCloud › Manage Storage › Howdy Mate!.

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