Bento
I have been using Bento for the longest time as a personal data manager. I’ve been fortunate that it has worked this long after FileMaker discontinued it a few years back. I struggled with the decision of what to do once Bento was no longer viable on my system. I used Filemaker for years and considered using it again but it really is overkill for my needs and the cost is prohibitive, I just couldn’t justify it. I’ve waited in vain like many others for Apple to include a database program to their productivity suite, but that never came to be, so my search continued.
Tap Forms
Basically what I needed was Bento running on all my devices and synced to iCloud. I started to hear good things about Tap Forms, developed by Tap Zapp Software, Inc. “Bento like—mobile versions for iPad and iPhone, easy import of Bento forms and data, iCloud syncing”. I’m thinking this may be the answer so I downloaded the Mac version just prior to upgrading to El Capitan and moved all my data over.
A few features in Tap Forms that I really like that were lacking in Bento are Automatic Backups. Just schedule and set the number of backups and it will handle the rest. Tap Forms also has a Photo field. You could link a photo file in Bento and get a thumbnail preview, but I saw no way of actually adding a photo to a database record in Bento. Tap Forms handles this nicely. Tap Forms also has a Files field that allows you to link multiple files to a record and they take it a step further by allowing you to add a file alias and Show the file in Finder.
A few weeks later I downloaded the iPad version of Tap Forms and so far so good. Regardless of which device I’m using, data is saved to iCloud and is accessible from anywhere on any of my devices.
One thing I’m always concerned with whenever purchasing an important piece of software is the Customer Support. I have not personally had the need yet to contact them, but I am encouraged if the need arises. Tap Forms has seven reviews in the App Store. All seven are 5-star reviews and each raves about the quality, speed and responsiveness of the support for this product. That was the deciding factor for me, so I am now a Tap Forms user.
If you’re in need of a database solution for your Mac and iOS devices that does not require a degree in computer science or a rich uncle, you owe it to yourself to check out Tap Forms.
