Pushing changes made recently and during the past summer

- New .gitignore file added, so sync of cache will be done to remove unnecessary files from being tracked
- Some of the framework for existing-contact-checking has been done (awhile ago... need to revisit this code)
- Fixed crashing for contacts with apostrophes in the name
- Fixed crashing for null pointers in text messages due to emojis (prefer permanent fix which would fix and send rather than failing to send)
- Added "Failed" status for messages which are not able to be sent