INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Facebook has become the de facto way people today keep up with their friends and family and, at times, their wider network of professional
acquaintances and colleagues
But its inattention to user data protection is leading some people looking for an out
A new app called Garden, officially launching today, wants to offer people a more private and personal way to keep up with those who are
important to them.The app was created by Zander Adell, previously the CEO of the package delivery startup Doorman, which shut down last
The business had taken a lot of work, as many startups do
the form of a big spreadsheet where he wrote down when he last caught up with someone
He found it helped him better keep up with both his business contacts and his personal relationships.When he heard from others who had also
built their own spreadsheets for a similar purpose, he thought it may make sense to offer the solution as an app instead.
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With Garden, you set a reminder frequency on your contacts in your phone, and indicate how often you want to
Garden could effectively manage both.The app also plays in the same space as all those Address Book replacement apps once did, few of which
But this may be what some people want right now as they wean themselves off Facebook.Given that Garden is a database of your personal
relationships, Adell says that data privacy is critical
The data itself is hosted with AWS in the cloud, and transferred securely, he says
It will also not spam your friends as many apps in the past have done, Adell promises.That said, contacts apps have gotten themselves into
Garden, like others, asks for access to your Contacts to do its work
And that will give some people pause.Adell says the project is something he bootstrapped himself, but is his full-time focus for the time
being.The app is currently a free download on iOS, but may become ad-supported at a later date.Image credit, top: Georgian Style Flower
Garden by ricoeurian on Flickr; others: Garden
