Bento: The Do Less To-Do List 4+

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!

I’m liking this app so far but agree with others that a few other choices in music would be nice so that each task in the bento box could have its own unique tune. Maybe one with a faster pace for doing active tasks. It would also be nice to have a couple of customizable templates that could be saved. For instance I’d like to create one for yard-work and household chores without having to type it each time. But this app is great for getting my day organized and accomplishing meaningful tasks that I can be proud of at the end of the day. And it’s simple to use!