Formbook

Formbook is one of the nicer database apps for the iPhone. Runs smooth even on my older iphone XS in 2025. The interface is clean with many field type options. Import and export supports CSV (even in free version), but the app does not export of image attachments. I did not try the collaboration in-app purchase. The search feature is extremely limited. It is currently a single search bar that is general keyword across all fields. There is no field-specific search option. For example, User cannot search specifically for Author: Stephen King. Instead when the User types “King” into the search bar the results will include Author: Stephen King and JRR Tolkein’s Title: The Return of the King. Also, there is a field for barcode with in-app purchase. Unfortunately, while the barcode can be added via iphone camera scan into the database the user can’t actually search via a scan to locate the object! Don’t make the same mistake as me and pay for that field if you expect to search by barcode using your iPhone camera. Other little things: a. A “Home” button would be useful b. Read-only mode would help prevent errant changes to field items. I have accidentally changed star-rating because that field is quiet sensitive. c. Allow image export along with CSV in relational folders. Overall, Formbook looks nice and would be an excellent database after some feature additions, but most importantly there needs to be the ability to search/query fields.

Nice app. Supposedly privacy preserving, can export your data for using elsewhere... But if you are here to really manage your data / process, you will run into gaps quickly. Dev, perhaps consider... - date math in calculated fields (i.e. 'days to arrive' based on 'order date' minus 'arrival date'). right now you can only do math on number fields. - system variables (i.e. 'days until harvest' based on 'today's date' minus 'expected harvest date'). no way to implement as far as i can tell. - more complex reporting functions, such as 'average germination rate' not being the average of my germination rate field (this is possible today, but 'wrong'), but 'sum of all germinated' divided by 'sum of planted' across all notes in a notebook - dynamic fields, where if a condition is met, the field appears, otherwise, it is hidden. (consider the 'days until harvest' 10 years from now, we would have huge negative numbers here, unless we could say 'disable if 'harvested?' = yes, or something along those lines. or how about 'if the user said x, then they also should be asked to provide y?) - minor graphical glitches resolved. unsettling to have obvious bugs where something important may be managed. - moving 'groups of fields' at once. maybe by section, if using the section functionality.

I’ve been looking for a simple, yet customizable, and easy to use database for planning and tracking group Bible studies. I just downloaded this. I like it so far. But I see a few glitches. There are some editing problems. For example, I have separate “notebooks”, which seems to be the equivalent of a table / form. I’ve referenced my Names notebook from my Attendance notebook. When I modify a name in the Names notebook, it doesn’t change in the Attendance notebook. And there’s no unselect. I can recreate a NEW name with the same spelling as the 1st name, and then unselect the original entry in the attendance, but that’s an annoying work-around. It seems this app has a lot of potential. I’ll continue playing with it for now.