We've been getting a lot of positive feedback, both privately and as public reviews, from practitioners all over the world who use Bencao in their clinics or in the classroom.
One request we repeatedly receive is for an option to add your own formulas. Rest assured that will be coming one of these days in a free update. We've already submitted version 1.1 to Apple and waiting for their approval. Version 1.1 adds search functions, fixes minor compatibility issues with iPhone OS 3.0 and add more formulas. Stay tuned for more!
Because users can only see reviews from their own country's iTunes store, we though we'd share with you all the reviews we've got till today, from everywhere. Thank you for all reviewers and keep them coming. We'll be letting you know when we have those "Bencao is my daddy" T-shirts ready.
"Outstanding Work!!" by Acu-Student, USA, Apr 19 2009I have been waiting for an application for Chinese herbal medicinals and this app gets it right. As an advanced student of Chinese Medicine I highly recommend this for students and practitioners alike.
"BenCao" by Chinesische Kräutermedizin, Switzerland, Apr 19 2009Ein sehr schönes Programm, in dem Syndrome, Symptome, Einzelkräuter und Rezepte der chinesischen Medizin aufgeführt sind. Man kann sehr gut von einem Programmteil zum nächsten springen.
[Roughly translates to:
A very nice program, in the syndromes, symptoms, individual herbs and prescriptions of Chinese medicine are listed. One can very well from one part of the program to the next jump.]
"Fantastic!!!" by iamCarlos, USA, Apr 22 2009 Currently in school for Chinese Medicine, and have been looking for a program like this in the app store at least once a week for the past 6 months. Wonderful application. Maybe a "testing" feature in the future? Regardless, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!
"Bencao is my daddy" by Acu997, Apr 22 2009This app is what I've wanted for a long time. Worth every penny.
I would add:
Add herbs and formulas to a favorite list.
"very good" by Douglas Eisenstark, USA, Apr 24 2009 Very, very good application. I'm sure it's use will be limited to the student and practitioner of Chinese Medicine. This is not for the consumer or casual user of herbs. Licensed acupuncturists will appreciate how it gives formulas and individual herbs that are easily found by category, Pinyin or English name. Seems to follow standard Bensky. Some very nice features such as listing the formulas that each herb is found in. Also for those of us teachers and students in California, it flags California State Board formulas. Listings can be found through a menu or either herbs, formulas, symptoms or syndromes.
"Worth the big bucks!" by katykate, USA, Apr 29 2009 Actually I am just a consumer who wanted to know more about TCM in an easy to use format. I am so pleased to have this a reference when I go for my acu-treatment. I am not a student or practitioner but I like to be well educated about my health and what's going into my body. I wish there was a place to document my treatments and how I felt while on specific herbs/formulas . Then it could provide me a more personalized health history of my own TCM experiences. Simply more places to take notes really would make it even better! Love it and am learning just for personal enrichment everyday! Thx so much!!
"an amazingly great start..." by Sean Michael Hall, L.Ac., USA, May 1 2009 A little pricey, but considering the limited audience, it's a fair price. Highly recommended for students or practitioners, especially those that practice in multiple locations, and would rather not lug heavy books around. This app is not for the layperson, but designed for professionals. It's a very complete collection of herbs, formulas, symptoms and TCM patterns... with each easily cross-referenced in the other categories.
"I LOVE IT!" by mehall7, USA, May 7 2009 Best formula app out there by far!!! It is pricey and I just noticed it went up in priceup so buy it before it goes up again. Well worth the money for students acupuncturist!!! Better than carrying around a huge book and the best part is you can add your own notes and comments. My favorite app on my itouch!!! Will use it for years to come.
"one of the best apps i've seen but." by acustudent, USA, May 8 2009 This app is a great supplement to both herbal study on the go and howning in on the best formula to use when in clinic.............With that said there really needs to be a favorites option and a way to access CA board material without going through the whole Bencao app.
"Amazing" by Lovely11, USA, May 10 2009 I'm a second year student and stumbled across this application. This has been an amazing help. I've showed it to several other students and they are also impressed. I have already suggested that there be a way to add your own formulas like for Dui Yao and your own creations. They are working on it!!! Test questions would be great too.
"This is a must-have for any student or practitioner of TOM" by aimcstudent, USA, May 12 09A friend at school recently turned me on to this app. I'm so glad she did. It has really changed the way I study herbs. Now when I'm in class, and a teacher mentions a formula, I look it up right away on my iPhone. If there are herbs in the formula that I'm a bit rusty on, I click on those to go right to a screen with info about each single herb. I can even add notes to both single herbs and formulas. Another useful feature is the ability to highlight which formulas are on the CA State Board exam. This will be very helpful for studying purposes. My only complaint is that it's not yet possible to filter/sort formulas based on whether they're on the State Boards, but I emailed the developer about this and he responded promptly and said this would be a feature added in a future version. Fantastic!
"Finally" by hexil, Australia, 16 MAy 2009 A materia medica for the iphone
"Good app just needs tweaking to be great" by Blueskymedicine, USA, May 18 2009 This is perfect for info at your fingertips. Great clinical tool. Needs to be able to let the user add herbs and formulas to the app that are not in it. I use a lot of herbs and formulas not listed. Other apps allow that so should be here since this one costs the most. But very great tool. With the addition of what I said above this app would be excellent.
"EXCELLENT !" by Michael UK, United Kingdom, May 21 2009 This is a great application, it is very comprehensive and covers a wide range of herbs their use and what they do and what they can be used in the treatment of, great for students and practitioners of TCM.
"Useful clinical tool" by Daifu, Australia, 24 May 2009As herbalist, this is the tool I have been waiting for. It holds a generous amount of information and is quicker than going through websites. I justified the cost of this app by comparing it to a small reference book which would cost more.
"High on Herbal Ap" by Dr. Tian Hua, USA, May 26 2009Very nice to be able to cross reference many different ways! The bottom line is that this app SAVES lots of time and energy for the student or for the Physician putting together patent formulas.
"Great" by Tcm herbalist, USA, Jun 5 2009This was a wonderful app studying for the Colorado boards. I agree, tho, that we need to be able to include our own notes, formulas and modifications. Still worth the money!! Don't hesitate to get this one!""
"Best App about Chinese Herbs" by BluAzn, United Kingdom, Jun 11 2009This is the best app on iphone, it would be even more better if there were a chinese version :-)
