Review got refreshed while I was writing, so here’s a shorter one.I like the app’s simple methodology. Privacy respecting always a plus. Main two reasons I bought it.Major gripe is that it’s unintuitive and clunky. I never triggered the timer intentionally before, until I realized the >> button on the side starts the timer. I guess the >> was meant to be interpreted as a “let’s go (do this task)” but to me it’ll usually mean “edit more details in this submenu”. Swiping through the bentos, if my thumb lingers even a bit the app interprets it as a tap. A lot of my experience using this app has had unintentional clicks.The timer notifications are buggy. After (accidentally) starting the timer, I come back to turn on my phone and I see 10, 15 notifications all from 29 minutes ago telling me time’s up. Okay.My biggest problem is, I had wondered why my battery’s draining faster today. I check and Bento’s been in the background playing audio for 16 hours. Bento has no business doing anything for 16 hours. And, surprise, I didn’t start a timer… I just don’t know what to say.Well, please just take this review into consideration. I’ve never made so many “mistakes” in one app or attempt to exit out of things I didn’t intend to use before. I really hope you guys take another look at the user friendliness etc of this app. As it is now, the app frequently stands between point A and point B of using it.

I’ve tried a million time mgmt apps, note taking apps (u know the regular ones) GTD, Eisenhower matrix, etc etc and while they all have their place and value, I’m at a point now in life where I just need simplicity and flow state. Just downloaded this app after researching the medium articles written by developer company and so far it’s been working. To be objective, you could just use Evernote or drafts or notes and just limit yourself to 3 tasks but it’s those little intentional nuances that make this app great as it’s focused on ONLY three tasks vs having to use your mind power to limit yourself to three tasks. My current setup is using drafts for quick easy capture of ideas in head, Google keep purely for their text grab feature from pdfs/images as I also use good ol handwritten notebook a lot for idea capture (like Leonardo da Vinci) but for Macro top level planning and scheduling, am using Bento to stay focused on what’s most important vs getting lost in the weeds of my thoughts. Keep up good work devs!

UPDATE: So the developer responded to my comment citing a new experience and I got around to checking it out, the app looks cool but I paid for it already and now I’m on a “free” plan and they want an additional subscription. Incredibly frustrating that as an early adopter I now am expected to hand over more money. Honestly in a world where subscription this and that is taking over the simplicity of the original apps pay once and enjoy the serenity of the app while getting things done was so relieving, disappointed to say the least.Original review:I love this app and the methodology. The graphics are great, the idea is awesome and I thoroughly enjoy it. The problem is that it runs in the background constantly for absolutely no reason, so it’s using way more battery than it should be, and there’s no option to toggle background app refresh or any other settings because notifications on or off. I want to keep it and use it but I want my phone to have a normal amount of battery, as of now I haven’t decided but I’ll probably have to delete it unless an update is pushed through that fixes this issue.

Bento is pretty straight forward it allows me to keep my tasks to a minimum. Normally if the app allows I would make a huge list of tasks and timeframes that never actually works out. I can switch between bentos depending on what’s feasible. I am postpartum so I can’t stick to a perfect schedule this helps alot especially without applying dates and while my baby sleeps I can focus on the task I listed as a priority. One suggestion: the music is great I can’t seem to play it out loud i can only use my AirPods. Alternate sound options would be awesome my favorite scene is the cafe and I would love for it to be some scenic sounds like cooking sounds light murmurs leaves falling etc.