Dentity, an app that essentially redesigns phone contact books, is reinventing and streamlining the process of exchanging contact information. Particularly for fraternity and sorority members, it allows users to easily network with one another.

The app relieves the user of the task of updating contacts, making it much simpler to obtain contact information. Created in May of this year and still in its beta phase, Dentity has experienced a growth rate of roughly 50 percent per month, expanding to include about 150 Greek chapters and over 10,000 people.

App users include members of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at NYU, whose vice president of finance SPS junior Ashwin Mathur, interned with the company over the summer.

“[Dentity] is way better than posting in a Facebook group or sending messages via GroupMe,” Mathur said. “It is a very practical application for large groups or clubs to use. However, I can definitely see the application grow into attracting a larger target market in the business sector.”

The app is available on iOS, Android and the Internet. The users on Dentity are only responsible for updating their own contact information, and then the app sends out contact requests, which are similar to Facebook friend requests, to other people.

Once the request is accepted, one can gain access to a variety of information such as phone numbers, addresses, emails and social media accounts, all of which are automatically updated if they change. Within the app, users can also create groups among contacts in order to mass text or email.

Co-founder of the app and Northwestern alumus Ashish Singal was inspired by his own poorly organized contacts.

“I came up with the idea in 2013 because my contact book was just a mess,” Singal said. “I was in Hong Kong and trying to contact my friend Bella, but I had multiple numbers in my phone under her name and didn’t know which one to call. I thought to myself, ‘There’s got to be something better than this.’”

The app’s other co-founder and Punjab Technical University alumus, Savinger Singh, worked on the development while Singal handled feedback, marketing and product design. Within a month and a half, the app was completed.

“The main problem with creating an app isn’t the idea, it’s possible to build an idea,” Singh said. “What’s difficult is getting people to use your app.”

Dentity’s initial targets were sororities and fraternities because those organizations often use Excel spreadsheets to record member information, which is difficult to keep track of and share.

Mathur said the app developers are receptive to feedback and continually update the app.

“I think a big feature to add is a calendar where events can be posted and everybody in their group will receive a notification that the specific event is happening,” Mathur said.

Dentity has also incorporated privacy filters so that users can control which of their contacts or groups are allowed to see certain information. For example, users can set it so that all co-workers do not have access to one’s Twitter account name, but close friends do.

Evan Moskal, Poly junior and member of the recruitment selection committee in Sigma Phi Epsilon, said he enjoys using the app.

“It’s an almost fool proof way of getting information out to our brothers both in advance or on short notice,” Moskal said. “The experience aspect of it is valuable because its simplicity makes it to where there is no confusion when communicating.”

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Oct. 30 print edition. Email Amanda Morris at [email protected].