Hippo — the privacy-first personal CRM for iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Remember the people who matter.
Without giving up your privacy.

Hippo is a personal CRM built for Apple platforms. Keep notes, events, and to-dos for the friends, family, and colleagues you care about — all stored on your device. No account. No cloud server. No Contacts permission required.

Download on the App Store

Hippo personal CRM contact profile with notes and event reminders

What is Hippo?

Hippo is a personal CRM for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. A personal CRM helps you keep track of the people in your life the way a sales CRM helps a salesperson track leads — but focused on the relationships that actually matter to you. Friends, family, mentors, colleagues, the people you want to stay close to.

Unlike most personal CRMs, Hippo stores everything on your device. There’s no account to sign up for, no server holding your contacts, and access to your iOS Contacts list is never required (it’s optional, and granted contacts still stay on-device). Optional sync runs through your own private iCloud Drive — never through Hippo.

Hippo is built for people who want to be more attentive without trading their privacy for the privilege.

🤯 Too many things to remember about your contacts?

Hippo can help you too!

Make notes, keep track of events and store to-dos for all your contacts.

So next time you meet, a quick glance at the person's profile in Hippo is all you need to remember the details.

Being attentive doesn’t have to be a challenge anymore.
Hippo is your personal reminder.

Illustration of two friends connecting — Hippo helps you remember the people who matter

Features

Notes

Use notes to quickly jot down things you learned about your contacts. Like names of kids, new jobs, a promotion, holiday plans, or gift ideas.

Events

Create events for face to face meetings or important life events.

Get reminded when the event is happening so you can ask about it.

To-dos

Remember the questions you want to ask the next time you meet.

Privacy-first by design

Hippo is the personal CRM that doesn’t want your data.

  • No account, ever. No email, no password, no sign-up flow.
  • On-device storage. Your notes and contacts stay on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
  • No Contacts permission required. Hippo works fully without access to your iOS address book. If you grant permission, your contact data still stays on your device.
  • Optional private iCloud sync. If you sync, it goes through your own iCloud Drive — not a Hippo server.
  • No analytics tied to your identity. We don’t know who you are, and we want to keep it that way.

How Hippo compares to other personal CRMs

Hippo vs. Monica

Monica is a powerful open-source personal CRM, but it’s web-based and requires either a paid hosted plan or self-hosting your own server. Monica’s recent v5 update has shifted the product toward life journaling and modular vaults. If you want a focused personal CRM that runs natively on iPhone, iPad, and Mac with no setup, Hippo is the closer fit.

Hippo vs. Dex

Dex is a strong choice if your relationships are heavily LinkedIn-driven and you want cross-platform sync via a Dex account. Hippo runs natively on Apple platforms (iPhone, iPad, and Mac) and is built around on-device privacy — your contact data never leaves your device unless you choose to sync via iCloud.

Hippo vs. Clay (Mesh)

Clay enriches your contacts with public data from across the web. Hippo intentionally doesn’t do this. If you want enrichment, Clay is the right tool. If you want your data to stay local and untouched, Hippo is.

Hippo vs. Covve / UpHabit

Hippo offers a one-time lifetime purchase option (uncommon in the category) and is the only one that works without ever requesting your iOS Contacts list.

Why I built Hippo

Photo of Roel, the creator of Hippo

Hi 👋, I’m Roel

I have been struggling with my memory all the time, at work and at home. I used to forget children’s names, someone's job, birthdays, anniversaries and other important life events. At work I couldn’t remember when or how a decision was made.

This made me insecure and unhappy. That is why I built Hippo.

With the Hippo app, I can remember all the important things about the persons I care for. A quick note usually does the job. It is simple and effective … and has changed my life! Hippo has helped me to become a better friend, partner and colleague.

What others say

Your execution is spot on!
- Sam on ProductHunt
This app you've just built ...has been at the back of my mind for years and years! Congrats on sticking with and actually building it, it's just what I've been looking for.
- ithasbeendone on Reddit
Oh my god I haven't tried this yet but I'M SO EXCITED.
- BadBadMushrooms via Reddit
Seriously impressive. And your privacy policy is the best I’ve ever seen: all medical apps could learn from your example.
- GrapeJulius via Reddit
I was constantly forgetting birthdays and anniversaries until it would pop up on Facebook and I had to run out and get a gift. Not my more, the app tells you a week out when an event is coming up. I love it!
- ltldmon via Reddit
Oh my goodness! I needed this app like yesterday! I constantly forget things, and this looks like the much needed kick in the rear that will get me started on organizing my life. Thank you.
- ThotThotleyTheMeek via Reddit
Congrats Roel! App looks great and works really smooth!
- Marcel via ProductHunt
Really creative, love the way you took care of privacy issues!
- Akshay on ProductHunt

Pricing

Hippo is free to try for 1 month. After the trial, it’s $14.99 per year or $29.99 as a one-time lifetime purchase.

To view the pricing in your currency, see Hippo in the App Store.

Get Hippo, get attentive

Free to try for one month.

Download on the App Store

Frequently asked questions

Hippo is a privacy-first personal CRM app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It helps you remember the important details about friends, family, and colleagues by storing notes, events, and to-dos linked to each contact — all on your device.

No. Hippo does not require an account, email address, or password. You can start using the app immediately after installing it from the App Store.

All data is stored on your device. Optional iCloud sync is available, which uses your own private iCloud Drive — not a Hippo server. Your contacts and notes never touch a third-party server.

Hippo is free to try for one month. After that it costs $14.99 per year or $29.99 as a one-time lifetime purchase.

Hippo is a strong fit for users looking for a Monica alternative that runs natively on Apple platforms without self-hosting or maintaining a server. While Monica is open-source and powerful for users willing to host their own instance, Hippo offers similar privacy guarantees through on-device storage with no setup required.

Hippo is available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It is a native Apple platform app and is not available on Android, Windows, or as a web app.

If you have another question, feel free to reach out to me.