Apple’s Contacts apps are terrible. On both iOS and Mac, they’re opaque, confusing and frustrating to use. Cardhop is a brand-new contacts app for iPhone and iPad that is better than the built-in app in almost every way.

Here’s how to add a new contact without typing a thing.

Cardhop might be the best contacts app on iOS

Cardhop, which we showed you yesterday, uses your existing contacts database, so you don’t have to import anything or start from scratch. This is just like the way Fantastical, another great app from Cardhop developer Flexibits, integrates with your calendars.

Cardhop offers a few standout features that become apparent the first time you open it. First is that it actually uses the iPad’s screen space. There’s a sidebar, which can be used to display a list of contacts, your favorites or one of several other views.

At the top is a search box, but it does more than search. You can type in something like call Bruce, and you’ll see the following:

The “search” box, then, is really a command line for your contacts. You can paste in an unknown number, for example, along with a name, and add that number to the named contact. Or you can dial it. You can map addresses, and easily edit contacts.

The main panel shows your selected contact. The layout of this panel is almost exactly the same as in the stock Contacts app, only improved. For instance, the notes file is always available and has a button to add a text timestamp. That means you can use Cardhop as a lightweight customer-relations tool.

How to add a contact to Cardhop

However, the very best thing about Cardhop, in my opinion, is how easy it makes adding new contacts. You just copy a whole block of text — a name, address, phone number, etc. — and send it to Cardhop. You can copy and paste using the clipboard, or send it via the share sheet.

The app then parses the text, and automatically creates a contact card. Mostly it gets things right, but if not, you can easily correct the mistakes right there and then:

Once saved, you can just tap any field to access the quick actions:

Tap the address, for instance, to view it on a map or get directions. You can even specify a maps app to use. (I was totally stoked to find CityMapper on that list.)

Faves

Another nicety is the ability to mark a contact as a favorite, and have it show up in the favorites sidebar. There’s also a Today View widget that shows these favorites. I put myself in there so I can quickly check my own phone number.

One more thing: In the Spotlight search, Cardhop uses square avatars, instead of the awful circular avatars that are everywhere these days.

Cardhop is excellent, and well worth the price, even when it’s competing with a free, built-in app. It’s so much better than Apple’s phoned-in efforts that you should just go grab it now.

Cardhop

Price: $3.99

Download: Cardhop from the App Store (iOS)