Comparison

Benchpad vs SELECT

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Benchpad

Features
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Benchpad is a scratchpad, not a second brain. Three pads. You name them — Work / Personal / Scratch, Today / This Week / Someday, whatever fits your head. No folders, no tags, no filing decisions. Open, type, close. WRITE WITHOUT DECIDING Every note app asks "where does this go?" before you've written a word. Benchpad doesn't. Three pads means the decision is already made. WORKS ON A PLANE Offline-first, not offline-tolerant. Every keystroke saves to your device before any network request. Sync happens in the background when you're online — and merges conflict-free if you edited on two devices at once. CONSTRAINT IS THE PRODUCT Benchpad is for people who want to write things down — not maintain a system. A note app that knows when to stop. When you can't create infinite folders, you write instead of organizing. Constraint isn't a compromise. It's the product. A REAL EDITOR Headings, checklists, tables, code blocks with syntax highlighting, images, file attachments all with slash commands and a block editor. NO AI. NO ADS. NO DATA MINING. Nothing reads, summarizes, or trains on your notes. Notes are encrypted at rest. Plain markdown — copy everything out anytime, no lock-in. FREE FOREVER, REALLY One pad, the full editor, offline support, sync, and an archive of 100 notes — free, no credit card, no time limit. Pro ($10/year flat) unlocks all three pads, all six themes, attachments, voice-note audio, and Markdown/PDF export. Benchpad is for people who want to write things down — not maintain a system. A note app that knows when to stop.

About

SELECT

Features
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SELECT is a hyper-minimalist launcher app designed to free you from home-screen information overload and "choice fatigue". It was built to reduce cognitive load and improve daily efficiency for people with ADHD and anyone losing time to app hunting or notification surfing. ■ Why "minimalist"? The average iPhone home screen has 80+ apps lined up. "Wait, where was that one?" "I tried to open this, but got distracted by something else..." These "tiny decision fatigues that happen every time you look" quietly chip away at a day's worth of focus. SELECT solves this by surfacing only the apps you actually need right now in a widget, so you can: ・stop hunting ・stop hesitating ・stop having unnecessary icons enter your visual field ■ Designed around ADHD cognitive patterns The developer is openly an ADHD-diagnosed person and built this for their own daily-life ergonomics first. Individual experiences vary, but ADHD users and their families have found the following points especially helpful: ・Limited choices: each tab shows only the "do-it-now" apps, capping information processed at one glance ・Mode switching: switch entire app sets per situation ("Out", "Work", "Night"), making it possible to physically hide social apps during focus time ・Minimal app-to-app jump: tile tap routes directly to the target app via Shortcuts — SELECT itself never appears on screen ・Text mode: hide icons entirely for a pure text list, cutting visual noise even further * ADHD is a medical diagnosis. This app is not intended as treatment. It is positioned as a daily-life efficiency aid for users who self-identify with these traits. ■ 5 tabs to organise life scenes ・Receive: things that come to you (email, messages) ・Record: things you write or save (notes, photos, calendar) ・Communicate: things you broadcast (social, calls) ・Settings: device and service preferences ・Enjoy: entertainment (video, music, games) Create a mode that hides the "Enjoy" tab to fully shut out distractions during work hours. ■ Key features 【One-tap launch】 Tap a tile and the target app opens directly — SELECT never gets in the way. 【Bulk operations】 Select multiple items → Delete / Move / Copy. Drag-to-select works the same way as Apple's Files app. 【Per-mode display preferences】 Each mode owns its own "show app icons" and "hide Enjoy tab" toggles. Focus mode and leisure mode become fully separable. ・Light / Dark / Match-device widget colour ・Designed to remain readable under iOS 18's "Tinted" Home Screen mode ・App artwork keeps its original colour even when the system tint is applied ・Multiple modes (scene-specific home screens) ・Sub-categories (folders) ・iCloud sync (auto-syncs across your Apple devices) ■ Best for ・People overwhelmed by too many apps on the home screen ・ADHD users who struggle with searching or get distracted easily ・Anyone who wants to hide social media from view during focus time ・People who switch app sets between scenes (Out / Work / Night, etc.) ・Minimalist or digital-minimalism enthusiasts ■ Privacy ・Zero personal information collected (everything stays on-device) ・No analytics SDKs, no ad SDKs ・Data lives in SwiftData (local) + App Group only ■ Requirements iOS 17.0 or later, iPhone / iPad (Large home-screen widget supported). Privacy Policy: https://ryoheihoriuchi0000.github.io/Select-PRIVACY_POLICY-ios-en.md EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Service: See "Settings > Terms of Service" inside the app

Screenshots

Benchpad4 screens
SELECT4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: SELECT at daily against Benchpad's fortnightly. Benchpad's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Benchpad sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per year and SELECT sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Benchpad ships an update fortnightly, SELECT daily. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
Benchpad versus SELECT: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBenchpadSELECT
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightlyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size113 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGagandeep SinghRyohei Horiuchi

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Benchpad

Subscriptions1
  • Benchpad Pro$9.991 Year
1 purchases

SELECT

One-time1
  • SELECT Pro$5.99

Questions

Is Benchpad free?
Benchpad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SELECT free?
SELECT is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Benchpad or SELECT have ads?
Neither Benchpad nor SELECT shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Benchpad or SELECT?
Benchpad ships an update fortnightly, and SELECT daily. Most recently, Benchpad was updated on October 14, 2026 and SELECT on October 7, 2026.

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