Remember One Thing
Be the person who remembered, at almost no cost.
Being remembered is rare enough that it lands as unusual care. It usually is not care. It is a note.
You will forget things you genuinely cared about hearing. One detail written down after a conversation, and read before the next one, means the interest you already had survives the gap. The cost is thirty seconds. It is an aid to attention, not a substitute for it — if the interest is not real, a note will not manufacture it and people can tell.
Write one thing straight after
Their kid's name, the trip they are taking, the thing that was worrying them. One line, in your phone, immediately.
Store it where you will see it
In their contact card, not a separate app. It has to appear when you next message them or it may as well not exist.
Open it before the next conversation
Ten seconds before a call or a coffee. That is the whole method.
Ask about it naturally
How did the trip go. There is no need to narrate the method, but it is not a secret either — keeping a note about people you like is ordinary, not a trick.
Go deeper
What the paid version adds to this one.
What is worth noting and what is noise, which decides if this survives
The contact-card setup on both phone platforms
How to use this at scale without it feeling like a database
A filmed pass across a real contact list