Meet Humin, The Brilliant App That Wants To Turn The iPhone's Contacts System On Its Head

Humin is an elegant solution to the age-old problem of remembering who you've met.

"The way to solve this problem is not by building a better contacts app, but by building a Search feature like Google did," Ankur Jain, CEO and co-founder of Humin, told Business Insider. "That inspired this idea: Why doesn't your phone just think the way you did?"

The result is Humin, an app that remembers all of the important details about a first-time meeting so you don't have to.

Humin received a lot of buzz even before its launch, getting coverage from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Re/code months before its release.

The hype stems from the fact that nobody enjoys forgetting names. Humin eliminates this hassle by requiring only a phone number to work its magic.

Humin takes care of the rest.

When you add a new phone number in Humin, the app will bring up their name, where and when you met them, who you both know, and where they work. If they're on social media, it will pull a picture so you never forget their face.

The first time you open the app, Humin asks permission to access your phone and social media contacts. Once you set up who your Favorites are, you'll be greeted by a grid of your closest friends each time you open the app.

You can swipe left or right on a contact to call or text them, and tapping on their tile brings up a detailed summary.

Humin is designed to replace your Phone and Contacts app, but the app thankfully handles messaging through Apple's iMessage, so if you swipe to text someone, you're brought right into iMessage. It's a nice touch that means you don't have to change the way you text. But if you're looking for someone in Humin, you can easily jump into a message or phone call.

The true power of Humin, however, is realized in its Contacts section, which acts as your go-to hub for seeing who is around and searching for people you've met.

You can search your contacts, see who is visiting town, and even peruse a list of your friends in the area.

An even cooler feature is how Humin handles searching. It allows you to use common phrases, such as "lives in Brooklyn," or "met last week," to surface a contact even if their name escapes you.

Since Humin records all of this info as soon as you add someone's name or phone number, you don't even have to tag anything for the feature to work.

Humin's deep search functionality is leagues ahead of its competition, but it could still be better. While it does work with common contextual phrases, I often found myself searching with keywords or phrases that were too specific to bring up any results.

It's a minor issue easily eclipsed by how often Humin's search successfully brings up who you're looking for. CEO Ankur Jain says Humin will only grow smarter and feature a more robust catalogue of search terms in future releases.

But for now, does Humin live up the hype?

Let's put it this way: Using Humin for a couple of weeks has convinced me to replace my default green Phone app with it. And the best part is that I've barely noticed the difference.

Humin goes a long way in solving the common problem of forgetfulness, and it does so with a flair and elegance that compels you to excitedly show the app off to your friends.

Right now, Humin is only available for iPhone users, but there's an Android version in the works that will be released in the next few weeks.

You can download Humin today over at their official website.