First Look: Handshake for iPhone

How many times have you been away from your computer and wanted to give someone your contact information? With a new app called Handshake [iTunes Link], you can send another iPhone (or iPod touch) user any contact information stored on your iPhone. The application works by using Core Location coupled with other technologies to send address book cards over the air.

When you first launch Handshake, it will attempt to find your address book card; if it can't, it will ask you to specify a card. Handshake will then connect to its servers, and you will be able to send either your card, a contact's card, or a picture -- just by tapping on one of the main three buttons. You can also change your default card by tapping the wrench in the top-right corner of the application and choosing the blue arrow under "My Card."

This is a very simple application, with a very simple idea, that just works. The application will send data over WiFi, 3G, and EDGE connections. Since the application uses Apple's Core Location framework, it relies on GPS, cell triangulation, or WiFi positioning. The lack of GPS on the iPod touch makes the app less reliable than the iPhone, but a new feature in version 1.1 hopes to fix this by allowing users to search for others who are sharing cards. Version 1.1 will also give users the ability to send industry-standard vCards through email to other people, regardless of whether they're using an iPhone or not.

Handshake is currently at version 1.0.1, and can be downloaded from the iTunes Store in two flavors: free or paid. The paid version removes the ads. Version 1.1 should be out sometime this week. You can look at our gallery of screenshots to see the additions to version 1.1.


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Thanks to Kyle Richter and Ian Baird for the information, and their help!