Mesh, the relationship manager and personal CRM acquired last year by Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, is now available to users on Android devices. The software allows users to privately visualize and track people in their personal and professional networks, add notes to people’s contact information, and remind them when to contact them.
On Android, the company customized Mesh’s app to work with key platform features such as split screen and pop-up views. This allows users to access mesh while working in other apps such as Messages and Email. It also supports keyboard shortcuts for foldables and tablets, in-app search, home screen widgets (with Material You colors that match your Android wallpaper), and real-time sync across devices.
The company’s broader plans for Mesh could eventually tie it more closely with Beeper, Automattic’s all-in-one messaging app. Beeper provides a way to connect with people across platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Signal, Messenger, X, LinkedIn, Slack, Discord, Google Messages, and more.
Mesh and Beeper already interoperate to some extent, allowing Mesh users to draft text to someone in Beeper, or click on deep links within the app to access a Mesh user’s profile. The company hopes to eventually add additional AI features that will make relationship management more productive for users of both products.
“We’re thinking a lot about how AI can help you be a better friend and have better work and personal relationships,” Mesh co-founder Zachary Hamed told TechCrunch in an interview earlier this spring. “We have users with 10,000, 20,000, or 50,000 connections across multiple social media apps and work products. Thinking alone and being honest with each of those people is an impossible task,” he noted.
Mesh’s Nexus AI is currently in early access and provides a way to navigate your network using AI. That is, users can ask questions such as who do they know at a particular company, who lives in a particular city, or who has expertise in a particular topic. The company is also experimenting with using AI technology to provide a voice-based hands-free experience and improved business card scanning capabilities.
Importantly, the company says that because the product is supported by subscription, no personal information stored in Mesh is shared or used for ad targeting. (Free for up to 1,000 contacts, then higher tiers apply for unlimited contacts and other features.)
In time, Mesh may consider bundled subscriptions with Beeper or other Automattic products, but there is no announcement in that regard at this time.
Currently, the majority of Mesh’s customers, approximately 70%, use the app for some business purpose. Mesh co-founder Matthew Acharam says Mesh’s sweet spot is executives who run larger teams or have a tight network of contacts. But he notes that the company is still thinking about consumer use cases.
“The benefit[of serving business users]is that the same things they use apply to all individual consumers, so any features we think of should apply to both,” he says.
Mesh (formerly known as Clay) for Android is rolling out to Google Play for phones, tablets, and foldable devices as a free download with in-app purchases.
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