Blog
Thoughts on relationships, personal CRMs, and building YourPond.
Written by Emily Hyeamang, founder of YourPond.
Meet Ripples: a living map of your relationships
Ripples turns your contacts into a map — grouped the way your people actually cluster, with the strongest ties and the degrees of separation between anyone in your life.
Behind YourPondIs a “Personal CRM” Actually a CRM? I Build One, and I'm Not Sure.
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management — but your mom is not a lead. On the borrowed name this category wears, why none of the alternatives fit, and an open invitation to name it better.
Behind YourPondThe Wedding 'Singles PowerPoint' That Got a Couple Married
I made a regency-style deck of the eligible singles at my wedding. Two guests met because of it — and now they're getting married. Here's the story, the template, and how to make your own.
ComparisonsThe 7 Best Contact Tracker Apps in 2026 (Tested)
We tested 7 contact tracker apps on what matters: how fast you can add someone, what they remember about them, and whether they nudge you to follow up.
ProductWho Do You Know Who Golfs? Filter Your People by Hobby
Tag the people in your life with their hobbies, then filter — so 'who wants to go golfing?' takes five seconds, not a scroll through your whole contact list.
Why It's Called YourPond
The naming story: why a pond and not an ocean, what LilyPadLabs means, and why the whole point is a small, curated world of your real people — not a feed.
ProductHow to Keep Track of Gifts: Ideas, Given, and Received
Meet Gifts in YourPond — keep gift ideas, gifts you've given, and gifts you've received organized per person, with automatic thank-you reminders.
Never Forget to Check In: Recurring Reminders in YourPond
Set one-time or recurring reminders to check in, follow up, or send a thank-you — tied to the people they're about, delivered as iOS notifications.
Just Talk. YourPond Does the Rest.
You can now add contacts to YourPond by talking. Open the iOS app, tap the mic, describe someone you just met, and watch it become a structured contact with a name, location, job, relationships, and more.
Never Forget the Moments That Matter
Birthdays, anniversaries, and the marathons your friends trained for — how YourPond uses reminders and push notifications to make sure you show up for the people you love.
Your Contact Book Hasn't Really Changed Since 2008. We Built the Upgrade.
The way you keep track of the people in your life is stuck in a phone-call era. YourPond is the modern contact book — now on iOS.
Behind YourPondA Note on Your Privacy
YourPond holds the details of your life — who your people are, where they live, how they're connected. Here's how we think about keeping that private.
Why YourPond Has a Paid Tier
If you don't pay for the product, you are the product. YourPond charges a monthly fee so we never have to sell your data, show you ads, or make money from the most personal information in your life.
GuidesHow to Map the Relationships in Your Life
Your contacts app tracks your relationship to each person. But it can't show you who knows whom, who introduced whom, or how everyone connects. Here's why that matters — and how to actually do it.
GuidesHow to Keep in Touch with Friends (Without It Feeling Like a Chore)
Practical strategies for staying connected with friends when life gets busy. Based on survey data from 129 people and real systems that actually work.
ProductNow You Can Track Their Pets Too
YourPond now tracks pets for every contact — name, breed, type, and notes. Because remembering someone's dog's name is the kind of detail that matters.
The Little Details That Make You a Thoughtful Friend
Birthdays are just the beginning. YourPond's new Contact Preferences feature lets you track dietary needs, gift preferences, communication style, and lifestyle details for everyone in your life.
GuidesTurn Your Wedding Guest List Into a Contact Book (In 5 Minutes)
Your wedding guest list is already the most curated list of people in your life. Here's how to turn it into a living contact book — with one CSV upload.
Behind YourPondWe Surveyed 129 People About How They Track the People in Their Lives. Here's What We Found.
84% rely on memory. 93% have been embarrassed forgetting a detail. We surveyed 129 people about how they track their relationships. Here are the results.
GuidesSix Degrees of Separation in Your Own Life (And How to Actually See It)
Everyone knows the six degrees of separation theory. But have you ever actually mapped the connections between the people in your life? Here's what happens when you do.
ComparisonsHow to Remember Every Trip and Who You Were With
A simple system for keeping track of every place you've traveled, who was there, and what happened — so the details don't disappear a year later.
ComparisonsBest Apps for Tracking Where Your Friends Live
Your friends are scattered across cities and countries. Your phone doesn't track where anyone lives. Here are the best apps for tracking where friends live.
ComparisonsThe 5 Best Personal CRM Apps in 2026, Tested Hands-On
I tested 5 personal CRM apps hands-on in 2026 — what each one does well, where each falls short, and who it's actually for. Includes free options and what most roundups leave out.
Behind YourPondYour People, Your Places, Your Moments
YourPond started as a contact book. It's becoming something bigger — the one place where your people, places, and moments all live together.
GuidesHow to Actually Keep Track of the People in Your Life
Your phone stores names and numbers. Your head stores everything else. Here's how to build a system that actually captures the stuff that matters about the people you know.
Why We Built Natural Language Contact Entry
Most contact tools start by importing thousands of contacts you'll never look at. YourPond starts with the people who matter — and lets you describe them in your own words.
ComparisonsPersonal CRM vs. Spreadsheet: When It's Time to Upgrade
You built a contact tracker in Notion or Google Sheets. It worked for a while. Here's how to know when you've outgrown it.
GuidesWhat is a Personal CRM?
A short guide to personal CRMs — what they are, who they're for, and why the best ones feel more like an address book than a sales tool.
Behind YourPondMeet the founder
Emily Hyeamang built YourPond because she couldn't find a tool that showed her how the people in her life were connected.