Designer extraordinaire Jeff Broderick has created yet another tool for enhancing your productivity on your iOS devices. QuickContact is a beautiful web app that allows you to create app icons for quickly initiating calls or messages from your Home screen.
Like the rest of Broderick’s work, QuickContact is gorgeously designed down to the tiny details. The basic web app allows you to enter a name and number for a Home screen shortcut. By tapping the little Phone/Messages icon next to the number field in the web app you can select whether to trigger a call or text message with that specific icon. You can choose from 15 pre-made app icons or upload your own in Mobile Safari.
The icons look great on a Retina display, and they are effective at opening either the Phone or Messages app. If you have a certain contact that you communicate with often throughout your day, it may be beneficial for you to create a Home screen shortcut for texting or calling that person.
It would be nice if QuickContact didn’t have to open Mobile Safari each time you tapped a shortcut, but the experience isn’t ruined by that process. Another enhancement would be the ability to create shortcuts for email addresses. You would then be able to quickly text iMessage users that don’t have an iPhone number. When you install a QuickContact shortcut, you’ll need to install a verified profile in the Settings app. Mobile Safari takes you through the process very quickly and Broderick promises that he doesn’t collect any personal information.
Visit https://brdrck.me/quickcontact/ on your iOS device to make your own shortcuts. If you want to see more of Broderick’s work, check out QuickWiFi and the now-defunct Settings web app.
