Voice notes in Telegram. No new app.
Never lose touch with the people who matter.
Talk for twenty seconds after you see a friend. Holdfast remembers what's going on in their life and what you promised. Then it reminds you at the moment it actually matters.
holdfast · the root that anchors seaweed to rock, so the current can't take it
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- You send a voice note, 18 seconds long.
Marco: mom's surgery on the 14th, stressed about the job hunt.
Marco: you said you'd introduce him to a recruiter.
- 3 days later
Marco: you said you'd introduce him to a recruiter. Still worth doing?
Watch how it works. 72 seconds, sound on, captions available.
Most friendships don't end. They just go quiet.
of Americans said they had no close friends in 2021, up from just 3% in 1990.
of men had six or more close friends, down from 55% three decades earlier.
hours of shared time, roughly, before someone becomes a close friend.
Sources: Survey Center on American Life, The State of American Friendship (survey conducted May 2021); Hall, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2019).
Twenty seconds of talking. That's the whole habit.
No typing, no forms, no fields to fill in. You talk, Holdfast does the sorting.
Say what happened
"Coffee with Marco. His mom's surgery is on the 14th. He's stressed about the job hunt. I said I'd introduce him to a recruiter." Hold the button, talk, done.
Holdfast sorts it out
It pulls out who you saw, what's happening in their life, the dates that matter, and, most importantly, anything you said you'd do.
It finds you at the right moment
On the 15th: Marco's mom had surgery yesterday. Ask how it went. Three days later: You still haven't introduced Marco to that recruiter. At most three nudges a week. Enough to help, never enough to nag.
Forgetting isn't the same as not caring.
If you have ADHD, this might sound familiar. Out of sight, out of mind, even with people you love. It says nothing about how much they matter to you.
Most friend apps ask you to remember to open them, find the person, and type it all up. That's one more thing to forget.
Holdfast asks for twenty seconds in a chat you already use. After that, the remembering is its job, not yours.
No app can import the people you love.
Facebook will only tell you which friends already use this app. Instagram closed its doors to third-party consumer apps at the end of 2024. Snapchat never opened a social graph at all.
So none of this gets scraped from anywhere. It only exists because you said it out loud.
Which, honestly, is the right way round. Nobody needs a list of 800 acquaintances. You need the fifteen people you'd be gutted to drift away from. Only you know who they are.
Where your voice note goes.
Here is what happens today, in plain words. The privacy policy has the full detail.
It gets turned into text.
We send your recording to Groq to transcribe it. Groq then reads the text to pick out the people, dates and promises.
The recording gets deleted.
As soon as the text is saved, we delete the audio from our storage. If a recording can't be turned into text, it's deleted within 2 days.
Your copy stays with you.
The original voice note stays in your Telegram chat. Delete it there whenever you like.
It isn't used for training.
Groq says it doesn't train models on data sent through its API, and doesn't keep it by default. It may keep it for up to 30 days to fix problems or check for abuse. Read Groq's data policy.
Questions people ask.
Do I need to download a new app?
Not if you use Telegram. Holdfast lives there as a chat: hold the record button, talk, and let go. If you don't have Telegram yet, it's free on iPhone, Android, and desktop.
Is Holdfast a personal CRM?
No. It doesn't import your address book or ask you to fill in records. It only knows the people you talk about, and only what you chose to say.
How is it different from a friend notes app?
You talk instead of typing. It keeps track of what you said you'd do, not just what they told you. And it reminds you around what's happening in their life, like the day after a big appointment.
What if I forget to send a voice note?
Nothing is lost. Holdfast keeps everything you've already told it. If weeks go by without a note about someone, it may let you know you two haven't spoken in a while.
How many reminders will I get?
Three a week, at most. When more is due, the most important ones go first, like a promise you made.
Do you keep my recordings?
Only until they're turned into text. We delete the audio as soon as the text is saved, and within 2 days if that fails. Your own copy stays in your Telegram chat. See where your voice note goes.
Say it out loud once. Holdfast remembers the rest.
Holdfast is in early development. Join the waitlist and you'll be among the first in.