Comparison
Met vs Covve
This is the closest comparison in the category, because Covve does the same three things Met does: scan the card, keep the context, help you follow up. So the question is not what they do. It is where your contacts live, and whether anyone has lost them before.
Pick Covve if you need Android, or if its breach history does not bother you and the 20-contact free cap is enough to evaluate it. Pick Met if you want the same all-in-one capture-and-follow-up loop with your contacts in your own iCloud, no enrichment, no third-party data brokers, and nothing on a company server for anyone to leak. Same job. Different custody.
Side by side
| Met | Covve | |
|---|---|---|
| Scans cards | Yes, cards, badges, QR | Yes, well-regarded scanner |
| Keeps the context | Yes, notes + tags + where you met | Yes |
| Follow-up cadence | Yes (Pro), drafts + reminders | Yes, mature keep-in-touch engine |
| Where contacts live | Your personal iCloud, never our servers | Covve servers |
| Enrichment / data brokers | None | Enrichment present; policy lists many third-party processors |
| Known breach | None | 2020, ~23M records exposed |
| Platforms | iPhone | iPhone, Android (no web/desktop) |
| Free tier | Free to start | Capped at 20 contacts |
| Paid price | $6.99/mo or $49.99/yr | ~$9.99 to $12.99/mo |
Prices and features verified from the App Store and Covve's site in June 2026 and can change. The breach figure is from 2020 security-research reporting (Bitdefender, PortSwigger). Covve is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with or endorsing Met.
The one real difference: custody
When two apps do the same job, you decide on the thing they do not advertise. Here, that thing is custody: who holds the names, numbers, notes, and meeting history of everyone you have ever Met, and what else they do with it.
Covve's model is server-side and enrichment-driven. That is what powers some of its nicest features, and it is also what produced the 2020 breach, when researchers found a Covve server exposing roughly 23 million records because the enrichment had gathered contact details from across the web. Covve responded by adding on-device encryption, which is genuinely better. But the shape of the system did not change: a company server still holds and enriches your network, and the privacy policy still names a long list of third-party processors.
Met's model is the boring opposite. Your contacts live in your own iCloud, tied to your Apple ID. We run no enrichment and operate no server that holds your network, so there is nothing for us to mine, sell, or lose. The trade is real and we will name it: you give up the web-scraped enrichment that Covve offers. For a lot of people who have watched one too many breach notifications, that is not a loss. It is the point.
Try the follow-up, no account, nothing stored.
The free follow-up generator drafts a post-event message from the three things you remember. It is a small, honest preview of how Met turns a captured contact into a sent follow-up.
Open the free follow-up generatorWhere Covve is the better choice
Two honest points. First, Android. Covve runs on it and Met does not, so if your phone is not an iPhone, this comparison ends here and Covve wins it. Second, the keep-in-touch engine: Covve has been refining its cadence and streak features for years, and they are good. Met's reminders are solid but younger.
What you are weighing is a mature, cross-platform, server-and-enrichment app with a breach in its past, against a narrower iPhone-only app that holds nothing on a server and sells nothing to anyone. If Android or the cadence depth is the deciding factor, pick Covve. If custody is, read on.
Questions
Is Met a good Covve alternative?
Yes, if you want the same three jobs Covve does well, scan a card, keep the context, and follow up, but you would rather your contacts live in your own iCloud than on a company server. Covve had a breach in 2020 that exposed around 23 million records, and its enrichment relies on third parties. Met stores contacts in your iCloud and runs no enrichment, so there is nothing for us to lose or sell.
What happened with the Covve data breach?
In 2020, security researchers reported that a Covve server exposed roughly 23 million records, including names, emails, and phone numbers, because its enrichment feature gathered contact details from across the web. Covve later added on-device encryption. The episode is the clearest illustration of the trade in any contact app: a server that enriches and stores your network is also a server that can leak it.
Does Covve work on iPhone and Android? Does Met?
Covve runs on iPhone and Android but has no web or desktop app. Met is iPhone-only. If you need Android, Covve is your option here, and that is a real point in its favor.
Keep comparing: the full buyer's guide scores Met, Covve, CamCard, Dex, and ABBYY on one rubric, or see all comparisons.