‘Add to Contacts’ fills in the gaps on Windows Phone 8.1 by helping you save those searches

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Windows Phone 8.1 is pretty awesome; there’s no doubt about that. Microsoft seems to have improved just about everything there is, but there will always be a few bits that are missing. One of those we even forgot ourselves: saving search results to contacts.

Case in point: you do a search in Cortana (or Bing, for non-US users) for an establishment like a diner or coffee stop. Powered by Bing, Cortana will do a great job of finding what you’re looking for in a jiffy. But let’s say you now wanted to add that find to your People Hub for future reference? Maybe you’re new in town, or you found a flower shop you really like. Evidently, you still can’t do that on Windows Phone, even with 8.1.

Liquid Daffodil, a popular developer firm who makes apps for Windows Phone and Windows 8, has released a brand new version of their ‘Add to Contacts’ app. We’ve covered this app in the past, and we’re happy to see it get a makeover and integration into 8.1.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Launch the app
  2. Agree to it using your location
  3. Search in the app for what you are looking for
  4. Edit fields, if necessary, then add to your contacts

But that’s kind of lame, no? If you’re using Bing or Cortana, who wants to launch a separate app each time?

Luckily, you don’t have to, due to some clever usage of the new Share picker.

'Add to Contacts' using Bing or Cortana (New)

  1. Search for your establishment
  2. Tap on the one that you want from search results
  3. Hit the Share button (in the middle)
  4. Select ‘Add to Contacts’ app

And that’s it. You’ll see a banner notification telling you it was successful and now that location, including all the fields, have been saved to your contacts. It’s simple, shrewd, and we love it.

To grab Add to Contacts, head here to the Store. The app costs 99 cents with no free trial, but we can vouch that it works quite well. The developer is a well-known contributor to the Microsoft ecosystem, having a dozen popular apps.  Plus it will go free, for a short time, once 8.1 official releases. Windows Phone 8.1 only.

QR: Add to Contacts

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

78 Comments
  • For 99 cents and the convenience, this was an instant buy. It may not be something you use everyday, but that one time you need it, you'll love it.
  • Cant you copy and paste? The info... Even though it takes longer
  • lol, that's the point...I don't have to copy and paste, which yes, does take longer (and may even be considered to be a PITA by some, like myself).
  • Well lol i still have my Nokia voucher.. Gotta use this before it expires. Imma gonna buy it
  • Exactly - its 99 cents people. I just bought it and even if I end up using it once in my life - it has paid for itself!   If 99 cents is too much for you - well I guess you were never the developer's target audience and should wait till someone else makes an ad-supported app with similar functionality.
  • but you can add the place to favorites and it gets saved in cortana's memory and you can give it a nickname and call it later so that jimmy johns isnt showing up in your people hub lol
  • How do you add it to your place? I didn't follow.
  • To do that you would - Search for the place ("Where's the closest McDonalds').   - Once it comes up tap the map displayed, it brings you to Bing Maps integrated on the phone - Press the "flag" highlighting the location of McDonald, it brings up an "About" page - Press the favorites icon on the bottom (the star), and proceed to add it as a favorite.   I agree if you're only looking to save a destination for future reference, this might be a better procedure.   If its a human being you want to call and reference in the future, adding to contacts is probably the winner  
  • Great thanks. I was hoping for a way to add an address to the Places Cortana uses through a link. xajuan above said "add the place to favorites and it gets saved in cortana's memory..."
  • No problem.  There's probably other steps to the same place, but that's what I do
  • "Even though it takes longer" exactly.
  • Have the old version on my L925. Will buy this version soon to get the 8.1 integrated experience!!!
  • I have the old version too http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=2e2c5bce-0a50-4335-9d61-a2dd33420e0f
    Looks like I need to buy the newer version to be able to use the "share" functionality
  • Good
  • Enough of all these WP 8.1 posts, 95% of WP users don't even have it yet. So can we please be normal again? Thank you in advance!!
  • So you mean lets have limited news and updates to discuss a soon to be outdated os aka wp8. Makes perfect sense..
  • Do u feel jealous of it..
  • why not get it and join the minority?  
  • @ericjojo No. We'll continue to post news, when there's news. You're welcome, in advance! :) But for sake of argument, what do you want us to post instead? What 8.0 news have we missed that we're not covering? Tell us via the 'Tip' button.
  • Haha windows phone 8 is old school!!!
  • There is no reason anyone reading wpcentral shouldn't be on 8.1
  • What interesting 8.0 news has there been? What sense would there be in ignoring 8.1 news in favour of no news? Why does WPC attract some of the densest people on the net? They should be on WMPU, not here
  • i had mine...y dont u???
  • WP8.1 is pretty awesome except for batterylife
  • +920, keeps dying about 5 hours of music. Got all day before.
  • +1020 agreed. My battery life is sucking like a Dyson.
  • +925 My battery life drains in like 2 hours tops.. Smh! Use to be all day also.
  • Are you playing with your phone non-stop? My phone lasts all day when I'm not conversing with Cortana, then browsing web sites, then playing games, then back to Cortana, then... Not that battery life couldn't be improved on (IE11 does eat noticably more battery than IE10 did). That said, my battery does seem to last longer after biting the bullet and doing a hard reset. (Tip: double-check that you have passwords, etc. for all apps that login to assorted non-Microsoft services, as you'll probably be reentering them.)
  • Seems like a faster way to add contacts, especially without having to actually call.
  • I've been wanting MS to add this feature for years. I just use HERE Maps' Favorites feature.
  • Why a new app? Cannot remember, but was the old on free? If not, why not just update that?
  • No one know$
  • I get the point of saving this to the people hub but then again I don't want Pizza Hut to show up when I'm looking for a contact that starts with "P"
  • I wish the People app let you easily create groups (with a little g) so I could separate local businesses from my human contacts.
  • Welcomed addition. Sadly still missing from from WP8.1 is the ability to search contacts from the phone pad. Strange since it was available on WM6.5.
  • This should be part of Cortana, easier anyway. I want my favorites to be ready to go, nav, call, whatever.
  • The transparency effect of the live tile is awesome. And the app itself is awesome as well of course
  • Duh, i can't buy it because im from Canada and i set my phone to get cortana !!! if i switch back my Region/Country to Canada buy the app and then switch back to US will this work ??
  • Doesn't work. The only thing it saves is the phone number. No comapny name or address or anything esle...just the phone nummber. Bummer.
  • I got the same results. Phone number only.
  • I broke my vow to never again buy an app without a trial version and got burned. Bummer
  • Try saving from a Cortana search, and not the Local Scout.
  • I do not have Local Scout. Don't know what it is. Regrdless of whether I use Bing Search directly or Cortana, it doesn't work.
  • That's sad, I had the older app but bought this app because I thought it would actually work with WP8.1 unlike the original app that would not work with WP8
  • Worked fine for me here in the states. Not sure why the other information didn't populate for you.
  • Worked for me. However, it will only save the phone number when saving from Local Scout. It WILL populate everything when using search through Cortana.
  • You lost me at "agree to it using your location"
  • ....really. How else is an app that searches for local results supposed to work?
  • I understand what you mean. I just don't give access to my location. Its why I don't use Cortana. I wish I could use Cortana without giving access to location.
  • Why? You're on a cell tower, what is the difference from MS knowing where you are or ATT (or whatever) or one app developer?
  • Limit as much as possible I guess. Guess it doesn't matter though, o well
  • You know...I do share your concerns...does, for example, a software company really need to know where I go?  No, but the added benefits of allowing it are worth it to me I guess. The gov't is clearing tracking us already, so the only way to stop that is to drive an old car, ditch the cellphone completely, mail letters, and avoid any speed and/or red light camera's.   I get your concerns, which is also why I'm un-googling my online life, they're getting creepy...now, about that armadillo helmet...  ;)
  • I just hate the crowd that says "I'm not doing anything wrong, so what do I care?" I think that is a weak and idiotic statement. How many of these people will be saying that when the black box from their new car lets the authorities know that they were speeding and they get a ticket in the mail? The police state is coming.
  • I am confused, maybe someone can clarify for me. This seems very useful but for example, for local businesses, wouldn't I get more mileage out of adding that as a fave to my locations vs. putting into contacts? I am thinking in terms of location based reminders and Cortana.
  • Wondering the same thing. It would be nice to get a little more clarity about Cortana and how she treats different classes of objects.
  • Yes, you are correct. This isn't anything I would use.
  • I just call the place, then add it from my phone history. Seems easier but I guess I don't get address info this way. I'll favorite it on here maps of I need that.
  • I'm tempted, but their WP8 app never worked for me, no matter how many times I tried their magical sequence of events. I'm still baffled this is not part of the core OS or People hub already.
  • Don't waste your time, it still "works" the same as it did with 8. Did great on my trophy phone but hasn't worked on my HTC 8 or my icon using 8.1
  • Unfortunately the feature via the sharing-button is not working for me. The in-app search works. Has it something to do with the fact that I live in Germany?
  • I can swear I had purchased this app and now I'm unable to redownload it. Wtf... It was available for free once upon a time, remember?
  • I rarely save businesses to my Contacts anymore. It's much simpler, easier and faster to add businesses to my HERE or BING favorites.
    Once saved there (cloud) I can access them, sort and search them based on my location or needs.
    Much better than digging deep into your Contacts and finding what I need.
    Save to Contacts is OLD SCHOOL.
  • I had this app, got it with my HTC Trophy, it was great! Then WP8 came and it stopped working, so I uninstalled it. Now it says I have to buy it again, so I went into my PC to get the old version reinstalled... man, I've installed a lot of cap apps in two years!... got it reinstalled and it still wants me to buy it again! Didn't I pay for this once already? What's up? Was it only free before cuz I seen to remember paying for it and being pissed when it stopped working properly.
  • It only saves the phone number - that's not very uselful or worth the 99 cents. Is the app broken?
  • Love "Add to Contacts"
  • I used to own the old app, wish I could download this one for free ...
  • What is that case? I really like it's slim profile.
  • Still doesn't work for me. Deleted the old 8 version and bought the new version and it continues to import only name and phone number.
  • There is another way with Cortana to save contacts. Suppose we search for a bar nearby using Cortana. She shows us 5 places. Then we say "Call 2nd one" or any one you want to save. Once the call starts, cancel it. Then go to Call History. You will see the number represented by the Bar name. Then click the contacts icon besides it. From there click the save button. The contact gets saved with the Bar name and number. I had found it while searching for a doctor nearby. :)
  • That is not new, that comes from the call history. Add to Contacts is much more than that. It will add everything the contact has, such as Website, Times they are open etc. would be nice if it were a built in feature, but this app fills that gap extremely well. Worth every bit of $0.99.
  • Bro, its not what we do by dialing and seein in history. What I was saying is that, searching for a contact and dialing through Cortana does almost the same thing as the App here. Let me tell you what I did. I opened Cortana and asked her to search nearby doctors' clinics. Coratana showed me 5 clinics. One of them was Dr Ramesh Gupta and came in 2nd suggestion I told Cortana to call 2nd one. She automatically called Dr Ramesh Gupta and instead of his number being displayed, I saw the complete name as it appeared in search. Then after I ended my call and went to check Call History, I saw the name instead of the number(which should have come for unknown numbers.) Then I clicked on the contacts info button besides the Dr's name and got save option. When I saved, it was stored easily as a contact. I did not had to write or dial anything manually. Bro, I know Add Contacts is doing much more than this method. I was just trying to suggest another cool way to take help of Cortana and a simple built-in function which users, who do not want to spend bucks, can take help of.
  • Ok why doesn't LD allow the existing app for WP 8 to be updated and work. Is the new trend?
  • When you delete this app, will it delete the contacts you've saved by using this app as well?
  • Does not work for me at all
  • I just came across this article, and since this app sounded interesting I searched for it in the WP Store. As of this posting it is $99.99 
  • I too just came across this article. And it's still a hundred bucks. So I'll take a pass
  • I emailed the publisher. The price is not a mistake! Publisher's response:
    We have priced it at $99 to discourage new users. The app is no longer available for anyone who isn't an existing user.
  • Update. I responded and asked why. And received the following:
    you have encouraged me to re-evaluate for the time being. I've gone
    ahead and moved the price to $1.49 for the time being. :) Give the Store an hour or so to update and it should become available to you
    at the lower price. Thanks, and let us know if there's anything else we can do and hope you
    enjoy it! (We use it every day!) :)