Address Book unlocks contact-powered social features for Unity games without custom native plugins
Essential Kit's Address Book feature lets Unity teams read device contacts, detect friends already playing, and power invite flows without maintaining platform-specific code. This tutorial covers setup, permissions, core APIs, testing, and troubleshooting so you can safely build contact-powered experiences.
Using PlayMaker? See the PlayMaker guide: PlayMaker.
Looking for a working reference? Open the demo scene at Assets/Plugins/VoxelBusters/EssentialKit/Examples/Scenes/AddressBookDemo.unity and the companion script at Assets/Plugins/VoxelBusters/EssentialKit/Examples/Scripts/AddressBookDemo.cs to see the full API in action.
Request contacts access with a custom rationale screen and handle every permission state
Read and filter contacts with ReadContactsOptions plus pagination for large address books
Load contact properties (names, numbers, emails, thumbnails) and recover when access is denied
Social Growth: Find friends already playing and drive invite-a-friend loops or referral rewards
Faster UX: Autofill player names, email fields, or support forms directly from saved contacts
Cross-Platform: One API spans iOS Contacts and Android Contacts Provider, including limited access states
Setup – Enable the feature, configure permissions, and assign placeholder assets
Usage – Handle permission prompts, read contacts, filter data, and load images
Testing – Validate behaviour in the simulator and on real devices
FAQ – Troubleshoot permissions, pagination, and missing data
Detect friends already playing and light up invite buttons in onboarding
Trigger referral rewards when a player texts or emails selected contacts
Show contact pickers inside support flows to auto-fill recipient details
Populate co-op lobbies with verified phone numbers or emails for quick invites
Unity project with Essential Kit v3 installed and Address Book enabled in Essential Kit Settings
iOS targets require a clear NSContactsUsageDescription explaining why contacts are needed
Android targets rely on system-managed permission prompts; plan supporting UI copy in-game
Test devices (or the Essential Kit simulator) to validate permission flows before release
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