Bowlful
Support & FAQ — Bowlful
How to play
How does it work? Touch a thing in the pile, carry it with your finger, and let go over a jar. A jar that wants it takes it; a jar that does not want it hands it back. When the tray is empty, the jars are lidded and go on your shelf.
How do I know what a jar wants? Each jar carries one mark, low on its front — there is no writing on a jar. A filled coloured circle wants that colour. A single outlined ring wants a size: the smaller the ring, the smaller the thing. An outline of a button, bead, pebble, shell, seed or leaf wants that kind of thing. Turn on Show colour marks in Settings to add a small symbol to every colour if colours are hard to tell apart. A jar's lid appears only once that jar is full, so the mark is what to read while you sort.
Is there a timer or a score? No. Nothing is timed, nothing is counted against you, and there is no way to lose. Take as long as you like.
A jar handed my thing back — did I do something wrong? No. It just wasn't the jar for that thing. Try another jar; nothing is lost. Letting go over open space is not a refusal either — the thing returns to the tray and the app stays silent, on purpose.
How do I open the next room? Finish 4 of the 6 piles in the room before it. The room card tells you how many you have done ("2 of 4").
What is Calm Pile? A pile you design — choose the size, the kinds of things and what to sort by. It opens after your first finished pile and never runs out.
Settings and accessibility
Haptics are not working. Check Settings → Haptics is on. Then check iPhone Settings → Sounds & Haptics → System Haptics is on, and that the phone is not in Low Power Mode with haptics reduced. Haptics need an iPhone (iPads have no Taptic Engine).
The pile moves when I tilt the phone — can I stop that? Yes: Settings → Tilt to nudge off. While tilt is on, a small gyroscope mark sits in the bottom row of the play screen, beside Leave. It reports that tilt is on; it is not a button, and Settings is the only place to turn it off. If Reduce Motion is on in iOS, tilt starts off.
I find dragging hard. Turn on Settings → Assist mode: tap a thing to pick it up, then tap a jar to place it, or tap the tray to put it back. Assist turns on by itself while VoiceOver is running. It responds to an ordinary tap, so it should also work with Switch Control and Voice Control; we have not tested those two, so please write to us if something does not work.
Sound is off. Settings → Sound on, and check the ring/silent switch — the app respects silent mode and mixes with music you are playing.
Text is too small / too large. The app follows your iPhone's Dynamic Type setting (iPhone Settings → Display & Brightness → Text Size, or Accessibility → Larger Text).
Your progress
I left a pile half-way. Is it lost? No. Leaving saves what you have sorted; the pile card reads Continue and picks up where you left off.
I deleted the app and my shelves are gone. Deleting the app deletes its progress file. If you restore your iPhone from a backup made while the app was installed, the progress comes back with it. Progress does not sync between devices in this version.
I got a new iPhone. Download Bowlful again from the App Store with the same Apple Account — there is no charge. Progress transfers only if you restore the new phone from the old one's backup.
Purchases and privacy
Is there anything to buy inside the app? No. There are no in-app purchases, no subscriptions and no ads. You paid once.
Can I get a refund? Refunds are handled by Apple: https://reportaproblem.apple.com. The developer cannot issue refunds directly.
What data does the app collect? None. It never connects to the internet. See the Privacy Policy at /privacy.
Does it work offline? Always — it has no online part.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| A thing is stuck outside the tray | Wait two seconds — the app returns stray things to the tray on its own. If not, tap Leave and reopen the pile; your sorted jars are kept. |
| The pile looks frozen | Return to the Home Screen and reopen the app; a pile pauses while the app is in the background. |
| The app closed unexpectedly | Reopen it; progress is saved after every finished pile, every settings change and whenever you leave a pile. If it repeats, e-mail us with your iPhone model and iOS version. |
| The jar lids look the same colour to me | Settings → Show colour marks. |
| Nothing happens when I touch a thing with VoiceOver on | Use the VoiceOver actions on the pile ("Pick up the next thing") and on a jar ("Place the held thing here"). |
Contact
app.contact.support@gmail.com. Please include your iPhone model, iOS version and what you were doing. We read every message; there is no bot.
Template written 2026-08-30 (app-005 Day 0).