Roadmap
The direction. Bento v1 already saves many kinds of things. The next phase makes boxes more useful after you've saved into them, better organised, more purposeful, and smarter about what's inside. The tagline for this work: Turn saved things into useful boxes.
Opening the Box
Bento started as a recipe collector and grew into a local-first personal library for links, screenshots, notes, files, places, and more.
- Native iOS app, share extension, in-app capture
- Local-first storage: nothing leaves your phone by default
- Full-text search with on-device OCR for screenshots and images
- Boxes, tags, inbox, hidden and locked content
- Export and import for portability
Apple-First Power Features
Bento added richer item types, free iCloud sync, shared boxes, recipes, places, scans, voice memos, smart boxes, and duplicate detection.
- Recipes, places, document scanning, voice memos with auto-transcripts
- Article reader mode with stored text and highlights
- Smart boxes and bulk organisation
- Free iCloud sync across your Apple devices
- CloudKit shared boxes with invites, comments, reactions, and activity
- Bento Pro via the App Store
Time-Sensitive Saves
Bento v1.2 added screenshot reminders so saved tickets, reservations, deadlines, and coupons resurface when they matter.
- Screenshot reminders with on-device OCR-based suggestions
- Reminder chips in Home and a Reminders filter
- Improved recipe cards
- Clearer iCloud sync status, retry, and recovery
- Stability and accessibility hardening
Box Focus
Make every box feel like a proper, purposeful collection. Saved things get more useful the moment they land.
- Pin important items inside any box
- Auto-grouped sections by type: places, links, notes, documents, recipes
- Smarter, more informative box header
- Box templates: Standard, Trip, Recipe Collection, Project, Gift List, Research
Destination Boxes
Trip and travel boxes get their own feel, intentionally different from a standard box, without becoming a separate travel app.
- Destination name and optional date range on trip boxes
- Map mode for boxes with saved places
- Place-aware sections: Places, Reservations, Documents, Notes, Photos
- Shared trip box polish
Intelligent Boxes
Bento starts suggesting where things belong — reducing manual organisation while keeping everything explainable and optional.
- Suggested boxes during save, based on type, source, and existing contents
- Suggested tags from item metadata and source text
- Lightweight item roles for purpose-built boxes
- Smarter search within box context
Annotation & Archive
Make saved content more durable and markable, without turning Bento into a heavy reading app.
- Article snapshot reliability: visible status, retry, honest fallback
- Universal annotation model for articles, PDFs, images, and transcripts
- First annotation surface: PDF pages or source-text highlights
Platform & Deeper Collaboration
Expanding Bento beyond iPhone, after the core iOS experience is proven and stable.
- Safari extension and Mac capture
- Web app and browser extension
- Deeper shared box controls and notification settings
- Cross-platform foundation