Satchel

Completely frustrating. I put in calendar appointments and then they don't sync to Backpack. They simply disappear. I've tried finding info. on the Stand Alone website website only to find a lot of canned responses. I'd like my $10 back! I'll just use the actual Backpack website until someday another app actually works. I just wish Basecamp would create an iPhone app instead.

Satchel is an example of the very worst of independent software. Charge $10 for a decent looking app, then provide no updates or bug fixes whatsoever. Unless you know the developer very well, I recommend sticking with commercial vendors.

As a web developer and designer, I tend to ignore apps that were merely built and not designed. Then when I find the best user interfaces I compare the features. The logo was thrown together I imagine in a few minutes with the outdated silver lining, icons are blurry, and the interface is all gray and washed out.<br/><br/>Fortunately, the features are all present. So yes, I recommend that you purchase this app, and write the author to hire a user interface design to design an interface for their app. Then will be an untouchable app.

This is one of my most used apps. Backpack is awesome but wasn't designed for a mobile interface. Satchel fills the void by putting an iPhone GUI on backpack. The author is actively developing the app and it is improving consistantly. Worth every penny.

With Satchel, anywhere I go I have my BP lists, reminders, notes, &amp; calenders. It's searchable so it's easy to find a name or an article I've pasted into BP.

Backpack clients for iPhone are pretty universally terrible, so I was pleasantly surprised to find Satchel to be nicely usable.<br/><br/>The Good:<br/>Auto-syncing to website (mostly), lots of options for customizing your view (though not persistent), and handles multiple accounts very well.<br/><br/>The Bad:<br/>App crashes are not unusual, aesthetics are pretty rough, and I have to manually force a sync more often than I should.<br/><br/>I do hope the developers are working on improving stability and making it so that when I come back to a page, my view is persistent. And I'm still waiting for a Backpack client that has the polish of something like Things or even Ember for 37signals' Campfire, but don't let all my griping fool you. Overall Satchel was definitely worth the price and I can easily recommend it.

Satchel makes it very easy to use notes and todo lists, you may find you're cramming more into each Backpack page than before. It works great as a todo list app ... actually, may be one of the best available. Doesn't support notes on todos, Writeboards, or sharing pages, however.

Satchel is a 3-legged-dog version of Backpack because of 37Signals' shortsighted limitations: you cannot view or edit your own Writeboards! The rest of the app functions beautifully, a usable and accessible mobile connection to your Backpack account. <br/><br/>37Signals would be wise to support Writeboard access and updating through Satchel -- they're about two years behind the curve on this one. (I've found the Writeboard division of 37Signals is notoriously obstinate and slow to change or admit mistakes... so I'm not hopeful for basic mobile functionality anytime soon.)