Deets!

When the iPhone first came out, we were awed by its versatility.

A day later, we complained about all the things it couldn’t do.

Today, while we use our smartphones for everything from reading books to navigating roads, one of its core functions — it’s a phone, remember? — remains a bit clunky.

Sure, I call you. But many other important aspects of communication — organizing and syncing contacts; creating groups like “family” and “work” and “soccer team”; sharing photos, files and calendars — could be much easier.

Deets rides to the rescue.

A Deets screenshot shows a variety of custom groups.

And it doesn’t have far to go. The wildly popular app — recently featured in iTunes’ “What’s Hot” section, named one of the state’s top tech companies to watch, and the recipient of $750,000 in funding from Connecticut Innovations‘ technology fund — is a Westport company.

Founder Linda Miller is local (she was the 20th employee at Priceline, then led development of Hotwire’s hotel product). She’s teamed up with Madison/Mott, the way-cool digital marketing/media company that moved from SoNo to Saugatuck last spring.

Madison/Mott head honcho Luke Scott — a 1991 Staples grad — has teamed up with Linda to launch Deets. The idea is to easily connect people based on group functions, then enable private messages, photos, whatever, to be sent easily. Groups can be permanent (family), somewhat fluid (clients) or short-term (bachelorette party, ski trip, Christmas gift-giving).

Luke Scott with his girlfriend, Marcella Kovac. She helped organize his surprise 40th birthday party, thanks to Deets.

(For Luke’s 40th birthday, Deets helped organize a surprise party. Over 40 people constantly communicated about location, the band’s set, food, and of course how to get Luke there. When Hurricane Sandy caused a last-minute venue change, everyone got a push notification — plus a link with new driving directions.)

Groups are easy to create and manage. Messages can be easily threaded — impossible with most iPhone communication apps. Contact info (once shared with a group) is updated automatically whenever it changes.

The Deets homescreen dashboard makes it easy to see which groups have new activity.

An Android version will be out soon. Because iPhones are not the only smartphones with clunky communication tools.

(Luke Scott is the featured speaker at the next Stamford Innovation Center “Startup Success Series” — Wednesday, December 19, 7 p.m. Click here for details.)