Mingle: Action-Based Contacts Could Be The Best, Fastest Contacts App

Mingle: Action-Based Contacts ($0.99) by Samir Ghobril is a unique contacts app that acts like Launch Center Pro or Drafts, but for contacts. Just like with the popular “launch actions, not just apps” utility, Mingle allows users to customize and quickly access a series of actions related to contacts. Since Mingle goes beyond the typical Contacts app that just displays data and requires completely manual input, Mingle is the only contacts app that focuses on getting you the heck out of your contacts list as quickly as possible.

Upon opening the app, the only thing you'll see is a list of your contacts for you to take action on, along with a search field at the top. I wish that the keyboard would automatically pop up upon opening the app so that the user could get to searching right away, but perhaps some would rather scroll. Whether by searching or scrolling, once you come upon a contact in the list, it can be quite alarming at first to find that actually tapping on their name does nothing at all. However, this doesn't mean that you can't do anything with them at all, and this is what makes Mingle so different.

Once you arrive at the contact you've been looking for, tapping and holding on their circular avatar will present a row of circular buttons representing the actions you can carry out on them. Sliding your finger sideways across these bubbles will bring a new one to the front and color it in, meaning that it's now selected. Once you've selected the action you want, just let go to launch it. Actions available include the ability to message, call, or tweet the contact (including support for Tweetbot), along with event creation in Fantastical or entry creation in Day One. Furthermore, custom actions can be configured through the use of URL schemes.

Take a look at how it all works in the following video:

If you cannot view the video embedded above, head over here.

However, underneath all of the greatness in Mingle, there are a few setbacks. For example, you can only configure up to four actions to pop up, and these actions cannot be set for individual contacts. Also, as I've mentioned, your whole contacts list shows up in the app, meaning that there are no options to filter by specific groups or favorites. Finally, when choosing the Phone or Message option for any given contact, it automatically defaults to selecting whichever number appears first in their contact info without providing the option to choose between, say, a home or mobile number.

But despite the small drawbacks, Mingle is still a killer app for making use out of your contacts quickly. The flexibility that the customizable actions provide, along with the quick execution of actions, makes for a contacts app that puts the focus on actually interacting with other people, which is where it should be. For the iPhone, you can find Mingle: Action-Based Contacts for $0.99 on the App Store.