14/5/2024

Bebop

Jack Cheng has been highly influential in my work with his “The Slow Web” manifest. He recently launched his first app, called Bebop, “an iOS app for capturing notes as text files, saved and synced to the iCloud/Dropbox directory of your choice”.

Earlier this month, I created a shortcut in the Apple app with the same functionality. (I had no idea that Jack was developing Bebop at the time!)

Despite being Jack’s first app, Bebop offers a more tailored solution than my simple shortcut and yet remains lightweight and pleasant to use.

Some advantages I noticed within minutes of using it include:

• It’s easier to set and change the directory where the notes are saved.
• You can revisit previously saved notes.
• The app creates an entry on the share sheet (although this is possible with my shortcut, it’s not automatic as in Bebop).

On the other hand, I like that my solution doesn’t require an additional app and automatically includes the date and time in the file name. (Bebop does offer an option to append the date and time to the end of the note/text.)

Bebop is free and offers more customization options with a one-time purchase of USD 5.

It’s worth checking out Jack’s blog, where he details the process of creating Bebop and discusses his decisions in its development.