# People and "Who Is This About?"

> File what you capture to the people it is about.

Source: https://groupthink.com/docs/ios_people/
Last updated: 2026-09-30

Groupthink is built around people. Every capture — a recording, a note, a link — can be filed to the person or people it's about, so what you learn lands in your relationship with them instead of a pile of undated notes.

## "Who is this about?"

After you record or write something, Groupthink asks **Who is this about?**. Two things happen here:

**Pick the people.** Search your relationships, tap the ones this capture involves, or type a name that isn't there yet to add them. You can pick more than one.

**Choose the type:**

- **Interaction** — you actually connected (a call, a meeting, an email). This is logged as contact and counts toward how recently you've been in touch. Pick the channel (Call, Email, and so on).
- **Private note** — a thought or observation about them, not contact. It's kept, but it doesn't count as reaching out.

Tap **Save**. If you're signed in, the capture is filed to each person's timeline. If you don't pick anyone, the capture still saves — just to yourself.

## The People tab

The **People** tab is your relationship list: everyone you keep track of, with the notes, observations, and open threads you've logged on each. Open a person to see their history, their email, and what you've been meaning to follow up on.

### Adding a person

You can add someone yourself, without waiting for a meeting or a capture:

- Tap the **add person** button at the top of the People tab.
- Or tap the **+** in the middle of the tab bar and choose **Add a person**.
- Or search for them. If nobody matches, tap **Add** followed by the name you typed, and the name is filled in for you.

Enter their name and, if you know it, their email. Adding an email lets Groupthink connect them to your meetings and messages with them. If that email already belongs to someone in your list, Groupthink opens that person rather than creating a duplicate. Their page opens as soon as they're added.

The People tab is server-backed, so it needs sign-in. Tap **People** and sign in with Apple or Google to bring your relationships onto the phone. Until then, recording and notes still work on the device without an account. See [Sync and signing in](/docs/ios_sync_sign_in).

## Texts

The iPhone app can't read your text messages. iOS doesn't let any app read Messages. Texts reach Groupthink through the [Groupthink desktop app on a Mac](/docs/messages_back_catalog), which reads the Messages history on that Mac and files each conversation onto the right person. Once a conversation is filed, it shows up here too: on that person's timeline, and in when you last talked to them.

A few things decide whether a text shows up:

- **The Mac has to do the reading.** Turn on Messages in iCloud on your iPhone and your Mac so your texts reach the Mac, then keep the desktop app running there.
- **It isn't instant.** The desktop app checks for new messages about a minute after it opens, then every six hours while it's running. A text from this morning can take until the next check to appear.
- **Only conversations you picked.** On the Mac, you choose which conversations Groupthink imports. A conversation you never picked is never read.
- **The number has to be on the contact.** A text is matched to a person by their phone number or Apple ID email, never by name. If the number isn't saved on their Groupthink contact, the conversation arrives without a person attached and doesn't move their "last talked" date. Add the number on their page on the web or desktop with **Add phone**, or file the conversation to them from the import.
- **Group texts aren't read.** Only one-to-one conversations are imported, so a message someone sent to a group text won't show up on their record.

## A note on where tagged people show up

When you're signed in, the people you pick in **Who is this about?** are filed to their timelines on the server, and that's where an interaction shows up as part of the relationship. Captures you don't file to anyone stay on this phone and still show up on the Interactions tab. When you're signed in, they're marked **Only on this phone** so you can tell them apart from what's in your account. See [Your recent interactions](/docs/ios_getting_started#your-recent-interactions).

_Related: [Recording conversations](/docs/ios_recording) · [Sync and signing in](/docs/ios_sync_sign_in)._