Frequently asked questions
About Local CRM, your data, and h2made. If your question isn't here, write to hello@h2made.com.
About h2made
What is h2made?
h2made is a design and research studio. We design and build Local CRM, which keeps your contacts and conversations private and on your own iPhone, iPad and Mac, with all your devices in sync via iCloud. We also publish research notes about the problems we work through while building it.
What does h2made care about when it designs software?
Six things: your data lives with you; nothing is lost without asking first; limits stop adding but never take anything away; nothing interrupts you uninvited; software should work the way your devices already do; and it should say plainly what will happen. About h2made explains each one and where it shows up in Local CRM.
How do I contact h2made?
Email us at hello@h2made.com.
Local CRM
What is Local CRM?
Local CRM is an app for iPhone, iPad and Mac that keeps the people you work with in one place. It's private: there's no account and no tracking, and nothing you add ever reaches h2made. It's on-device: your data is stored and searched on the device you're using. And with iCloud sync on, all your devices stay in sync through your own private iCloud database.
Inside: contacts with every field of the Contacts app, a timeline of calls, emails, meetings and messages, Markdown notes, colored tags, todos with reminders, a calendar and a map. See what Local CRM does.
Which devices does Local CRM run on?
iPhone and iPad with iOS or iPadOS 18.0 or later, and Mac with macOS 15.0 or later. It's one app across all three, so buying Pro on one device unlocks it on the others signed in to the same Apple Account.
Is Local CRM available for Android, Windows or the web?
No. Local CRM is made for iPhone, iPad and Mac only, and there's no web version.
Which languages is Local CRM available in?
English, French, German and Spanish.
Can I import my existing contacts?
Yes. Local CRM imports from the Contacts app: everyone, or only the people you allow with iOS 18's limited access. It reads your Contacts and never writes to them, so your address book stays as it is.
Notes stored in the Contacts app aren't imported, because reading them needs a permission Apple only grants on request.
How do I log calls and emails?
Tap a phone number or email address on a contact. Local CRM opens Phone, FaceTime, Messages or your mail app and offers to log it: “Log this call with Olivia Bennett?” One tap adds it to the contact's timeline. You can add meetings and anything else by hand.
What can Local CRM's search find?
Any field of any contact, ignoring case and accents; phone numbers by their digits, however they're written; and names in other scripts by their Latin spelling. Todos, notes, timeline entries and tags show up in the same results. With a keyboard, press ⌘K. How the search works.
What does Insights show?
Charts of new contacts, logged interactions and completed todos for the period you choose; when you last talked to each contact; who has gone quiet, meaning no logged interaction in 90 days; who to reconnect with; and your contacts by tag and by country. Insights is part of Pro. Why 90 days.
Privacy and sync
Where is my Local CRM data stored?
On your device. If you turn on iCloud sync, it's also kept in the private database of your iCloud account, so your other devices can sync with it. There is no Local CRM server, and h2made never receives your contacts, notes or history.
Can h2made see my contacts?
No. Nothing you add is ever sent to us: Local CRM has no server for your data, and the crash reports it sends never include your contacts, notes or anything else you've added. With iCloud sync on, your data sits in your own private iCloud database, which app developers can't read.
How do I keep my iPhone, iPad and Mac in sync?
Turn on iCloud sync. It's off by default: turn it on in Settings → iCloud on each device you want to sync, then restart Local CRM. Those devices then share contacts, notes, todos, tags and plugin settings through your private iCloud database, which h2made can't access.
What happens if I turn iCloud sync off?
That device keeps everything it has and stops syncing. What's already in iCloud stays there and on your other devices. Switching never deletes anything, because both modes use the same storage on the device.
Does Local CRM work without an internet connection?
Yes. Everything is stored on your device, so contacts, notes, todos, the timeline and search all work offline. With iCloud sync on, changes you make offline sync when you're back online. Loading the map, syncing the Shopify plugin and buying Pro need a connection.
Can syncing create duplicates?
Two devices can create the same tag, or import the same Shopify shop, before they've synced. Local CRM merges those automatically: tags with the same name, contacts linked to the same outside record, and repeated timeline entries. You can also run Settings → Data → Merge Duplicates. Why it happens and how merging works.
Does Local CRM use tracking or analytics?
There's no tracking and no advertising. To find and fix bugs, Local CRM sends crash reports and diagnostics, such as hangs, with the app and system versions, the device model, a random installation ID and the app's recent events, such as which screen was open. They never include your contacts, notes, todos or anything else you've added. What's in a report.
Purchases are handled by Apple and verified on your device.
Does the map send my contacts' addresses anywhere?
To put a contact on the map, Local CRM asks Apple's geocoding service for the coordinates of the address. The result is saved on the contact, so each address is looked up only once. Nothing goes to h2made.
Plans and pricing
Is Local CRM free?
Yes, within limits. The Free plan has every feature except Insights, for up to 20 contacts and companies, 1 Shopify app, 1 Partner organization and 20 active shops. Pro removes the limits and adds Insights.
How much does Pro cost?
Pro is available monthly, yearly, or as a one-time Lifetime purchase. Local CRM shows the price in your currency, as the App Store sets it for your country.
Is there a free trial of Pro?
No. The Free plan is the way to try Local CRM: it has every feature except Insights, for as long as you like.
What happens to my data if Pro ends?
Nothing is deleted or locked. Limits only stop you from adding more: everything you have stays readable, searchable, editable and syncing, and you can still share contacts as vCards. How the limits work.
Will Local CRM keep asking me to upgrade?
No. The upgrade screen opens only when you reach a limit, or when you open Settings → Plan & Billing yourself. It never appears when the app starts.
Can I share Pro with my family?
Pro isn't available through Family Sharing. It does cover all of your own iPhones, iPads and Macs signed in to the same Apple Account.
Shopify Partners plugin
What does the Shopify Partners plugin do?
It turns your Shopify apps' installs into clients. Each sync reads your apps' events from the Partner API, creates a client for each new shop, adds a timeline entry for every install, uninstall, charge and credit, tags the client, keeps its plan and billing fields up to date, and adds a follow-up todo for new installs. How it works.
What access does the Shopify plugin need?
A Partner API client with the Manage apps permission, which you create in Partner Dashboard → Settings → Partner API clients, and the IDs of the apps you want to track. The plugin reads only those apps, straight from Shopify to your device, and keeps the access token in your Keychain.
Can Local CRM get my merchants' emails and countries?
The Partner API doesn't provide them. Instead, Local CRM imports the merchant CSV that the Partner Dashboard emails you (Apps → your app → Export), matches each store to its client and fills in the store email and country. It never reads the Partner Dashboard itself.
Will I get a notification for every install?
You get one for each new client, and for clients that come back by reinstalling or reactivating an app. When a single sync finds more than three, you get one summary instead.
This website
How often is Research updated?
We publish a note whenever we've worked through a problem worth sharing. Subscribe to the Research feed to get new notes as they come out.