You can remember a person’s face, the conversation you had, and even where you met—then draw a blank on how they fit into the rest of your life. Was Alex Maya’s colleague or her brother? Did Maya introduce you, or did you meet independently?
Dextr gives those connections a place to live. Record how someone relates to you, connect people who know each other, and keep the person who introduced you alongside the story of your first meeting. Over time, your contacts become easier to recognize and reconnect with.
Know which relationship you are recording
Three details answer three different questions:
- Relation to You: How does this person fit into your life? Maya might be your Close Friend.
- Relationships: How does one contact relate to another? Alex might be Maya’s Colleague.
- Introduced By: Who connected you with this person? Alex might also be the person who introduced you to Maya.
A tag describes another kind of context, such as running-club or volunteer. Sharing a tag helps you organize people; recording a relationship tells you how two particular people know each other.
1. Set someone’s Relation to You
Tap Contacts in the bottom menu and open a person’s profile. Below the Message, Call, Email, and Request actions, tap the current relation label. It may say Acquaintance, Close Friend, or another relation already assigned to the contact.
Choose the relation that best describes the person’s connection to you. Types are arranged in groups such as Friends, Business, Family, and Other. On an existing saved profile, selecting a type updates the relation directly; check that the new label appears on the profile.
For example, choose Close Friend for Maya if that describes your relationship. You can still record that Alex is her colleague in the separate Relationships tab.
Dextr AI can also help you classify people as you review your contacts. Choose a group and specific relation, then tap Set Relation to Me. Follow the Dextr AI walkthrough for that flow.
2. Connect two contacts
Start on the profile of one person in the connection. In this example, open Maya Chen to record that Alex Morgan is her colleague.
Tap the Relationships tab beneath the relation and tags controls. Its icon has three dots connected by dotted lines; it sits between the reminder bell and the tag icon.
Then:
- Tap Search Contacts in the Relationships section.
- Type the other person’s name and choose the correct contact.
- Read the question at the top of the relation selector.
- Choose the relation that answers that question.
- Check the new row in the Relationships list.
For Maya and Alex, the question is Who is Alex to Maya? Choose Colleague. Selecting the relation adds the connection and returns you to the profile.
If the other person is not in Dextr yet, type their name and choose Add followed by the name. Choose the relationship, then open the new contact to fill in their phone number, email, and other useful details.
You can also use the plus button beside Relationships to open the add-relationships screen. The inline search is a convenient starting point when you already know whose connection you want to add.
Read the direction before choosing a type
Some relationships read the same way from either person’s profile: Alex is Maya’s colleague, and Maya is Alex’s colleague.
Others have an inverse meaning. If the question asks Who is Alex to Maya? and Alex is Maya’s parent, choose the appropriate parent relation. From Alex’s side, Maya is the child. Dextr uses the direction of the connection to show the appropriate meaning.
Add the connection once, then review it from the other person’s profile. You do not need to create a second copy just to represent the reverse direction.
3. Review or correct a connection
Return to the person’s Relationships tab to see the people connected to them. Tap a person’s row to open their profile and see the connection from their perspective.
On iPhone, touch and hold a relationship row to see the available actions. Use Change Relation when offered. For a directional relationship, you may see Inverse relation, change from source; open the other person’s profile and change the relationship from that side.
Choose Remove Relation when the connection itself is wrong. This removes the connection while keeping both contact records. If that connection also supports an Introduced By attribution, removing it clears that attribution too, so review the introduction afterward.
Keep the surrounding context useful as well. A job title, workplace, First Met note, or relevant tag can help you recognize why a connection matters when you return to it months later.
4. Remember who introduced you
When Alex is the person who introduced you to Maya, record that on Maya’s profile.
Select the contact-info tab, shown as an ID-card icon, and find Introduced By beneath First Met. Search for Alex, choose the relationship if Dextr asks, review the selection, and tap Save beside the section heading.
If a relationship between the two contacts already exists, Dextr can use it without asking you to choose the type again. The saved row lets you open the introducer’s profile later.
Use First Met to keep the occasion alongside the introduction: the date, an Event, a Place, and a short note about the conversation. In this example, the design workshop includes 12 people and an Austin Central Library venue.
For the complete setup and correction steps, read Keep Track of Who Introduced You to a New Contact.
5. See the connections in your Social Graph
The Social Graph gives you a visual way to explore your recorded connections. From a contact’s profile, tap the connected-nodes button in the top toolbar to open the graph centered on that person.
You can also open the Social Graph from the controls at the top of Home on iPhone, or from the navigation on Mac.
Start with a person whose connections you know well. The graph becomes more useful as you add accurate relations, introductions, and context to the surrounding profiles.
If someone seems to be missing, check the graph’s relation filters and Minimum Connections setting, then review the underlying contact. Archived contacts and their connections are excluded from active use. The main graph and a graph centered on one contact show different perspectives on your network.
6. Give several contacts the same Relation to You
When a group of people all have the same connection to you, use bulk selection instead of opening each profile.
- Open Contacts, or start from a relevant tag or relation list.
- Tap the bulk-select icon and select the contacts you want to update.
- Tap the filled-circle action for Set Relation to You.
- Choose the relation that fits everyone selected.
For example, you could classify 16 running-club contacts as Close Friend if that is accurate for each person. Dextr applies the label to those contacts and clears the selection.
This changes each person’s relation to you. To record that two club members are siblings, colleagues, or partners, add that connection through their profiles as described above.
See How to Bulk Edit Contacts in Dextr for captures of entering selection mode and choosing the relation action.
Turn the connection into a useful next step
Start with one person whose context you remember. Set their Relation to You, connect one person they know, and save who introduced you if relevant.
Then add a Journal Entry for a conversation you want to remember, or a Stay in Touch reminder for your next check-in. Those details help you move from recognizing a name to continuing a relationship.
Ready to build networks for clubs, organizations, or professional communities? Continue with Advanced Ways to Create Relationship Networks for custom groups, counterpart types, and ways to explore overlapping circles.
