Simple, free Web address book needs encryption

I spent a good part of the last week searching for a simple, free, and safe place to store my contacts online. Well, two out of three ain't bad.

The last time I synched my iPhone, iTunes offered to sync my contacts as well. I clicked OK without thinking. Before I knew it, I had lost about half of my phone's contact entries.

Backup? What backup? The entries in my Outlook and Gmail contacts were woefully outdated, compared to the contact information I stored in my iPhone. I had no choice but to reassemble the lost data phone number by phone number, address by address.

That was a good two weeks ago, and I'm still restoring the lost data. I vowed that this wouldn't happen again. What I needed was the online version of an old-fashioned paper address book.

What I didn't need was a full-blown customer relationship management (CRM) application, but those were all I found at first. I tried WebAsyst, Keepm, and BigContacts, but all three were overkill for my meager needs. (None of the three was able to manage the simple trick of importing my Gmail or Outlook contacts with anything approaching accuracy, either.)

I was about to bail on the whole project when I decided to try Flexadex, a Web-based application that gets your contact information online in a blink. The only fly in the ointment is that the service doesn't use Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, so all those addresses and phone numbers are flying over the Net unencrypted.

What really bugs me is that I wouldn't need a separate online address book if either Gmail or Outlook offered the meager contact management features I need. Have you ever tried editing your contacts in Gmail? Whenever I try, clicking the Edit button opens some entry other than the one I'm trying to change. Just getting all the names in "lastname, firstname" format is impossible.

Editing Outlook contacts is more straightforward, but the entries in your Outlook address book don't travel well. Outlook doesn't let you export to a file in the VCard format (.vcf). And none of the three full-size online contact managers I tried was able to import Outlook contacts without skipping or screwing up much of the information.

I followed the steps described in this Worker's Edge post from last August to move my contacts from Outlook to Gmail. Then I used Gmail's contact export function to create a VCard file I could import to Flexadex. As you can imagine, the result was less than perfect.

Fortunately, editing the entries in Flexadex is quick and simple. Just double-click a name to open its record, which consists of two text fields: Title and Contents. You can also send e-mail from the service, or e-mail a record using your own e-mail client.

Flexadex address book entries are comprised of two text fields: Title and Contents.

(Credit: Flexadex)

There's a big, big problem for anyone hoping to use this service for business. Your data isn't encrypted, so don't even think about uploading any information you wouldn't want to share with your competitors. In fact, I'm not comfortable storing the addresses and phone numbers of family and friends on the service until it adds SSL support.

If you're looking for an easy-to-use, free online address book--and you don't mind the lack of encryption--Flexadex might fit the bill.

[thedrewster77]

Dennis,

Your section on exporting to a VCF from Outlook isn't entirely correct. If you open up a contact and then File > Save As... there is an option for .vcf.

[doreilly]

I believe that is the case only for individual contacts, not your entire contact file. I'll look into this, though. Thanks for pointing it out.

Dennis

[gggg sssss]

SSL only encrypts between the browser and the server. Why woudl you trust some fly-by-night company with your addresses once they reach their server? Nothing to protect them then - either from that company itself or anybody who figures out how to hack into their system. Seems to be happening every day.

[superphonic]

seems to me what you want to look at is mobical.net. it should fit the bill perfectly. you can use it to manage and backup your contact/calendar via any SyncML device. i understand you can get a SyncML client for your iphone too.

[g3sou7d6urroq8k]

I use Yahoo Autosync with Outlook.. works like a charm... highly flexible.

I heared Plaxo was also good but don't know how is it doing these days.

[nspir8ion]

If you want an excellent online day planner and contact manager, check out Quasitime.com. No SSL either though.

You probably wouldn't want to store anything highly confidential online, even if there was SSL encryption.

[allyatunyk]

For a great adress book tool online, try UNYK.com. Simple, effective, and very user-friendly. Plus it now synchs with your phone, as well as with Outlook.
Aurelie,
Communications specialist, UNYK.com

[mikey6480]

This post is a little dated. Gmail contact and syncing with the iPhone has come a very long way. I first synced my contacts from my phone to my mac's address book. From there I exported them to a vcf file. In Gmail i deleted my address book and then imported the one from my mac. Now I have exchange active sync syncing my contacts from Gmail to my iPhone automatically via "push".

If my ramblings are a bit confusing just google for Gmail sync contact to iPhone. You'll find the simple instructions.