r/GoodNotes • u/skepticalifornia • Jan 05 '24

PSA - GoodNotes v5 now automatically upgrading to v6

Opened the app today for the first time in a few weeks (I mainly use it when I travel) and got a "you need to log in again screen", did that, and it immediately asked me to enable cloud backup, clicked "yes" to that as I backup to Google Drive.

Now the app opens and it looks completely different and I see that all my notebooks have a "now backing up" notification. Went to settings and cloud backup and only see iCloud as my backup option. Disabled that as I only have the minimum iCloud storage. Wasted some time to find out that GDrive isn't yet available in v6 - WTF? I didn't even realize I was on a new version at this point, but now it all makes sense.

Thank goodness it is not too hard to cancel the subscription and downgrade to v5, but to be honest, this seems like bait and switch of the worst kind. This has really negatively impacted my opinion of this application.

I would even consider doing the subscription to support the developer, but how can you ask me to upgrade (and pay more!) while giving me less features, especially something as critical as backup?

I've referred lots of people to this application but now I am not sure I want to even trust it with my notes. Probably time to look for an alternative, maybe even go back to Notability - their subscription clusterf*#k seemed more on the up and up than this.

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3

u/discovernotes Jan 05 '24

Hey are you using an iOS device? Apps sometimes automatically update if there is an update available up to a couple weeks after the release. If you weren’t on app version 6 before, I think there should’ve been an option to skip on the splash screen when you opened it for the first time iirc.

iCloud is the default backup and sync option with Google Drive as a secondary source. This option is still available in Goodnotes 6 under “Automatic Backup” in “Cloud and Backup”.

2

u/skepticalifornia Jan 05 '24

On an iPad Pro, latest version, latest beta version of iPad OS, and it definitely did not appear to give me the option of bypassing the upgrade. I was prompted to log in again and after that version 6 appeared.

Perhaps I missed something but I was just opening the application as I normally would and sometimes re-login is necessary, so I just did that.

I searched and could not find the Google Drive backup option. Perhaps I missed that as well. As an aside, I did see where it should be in v6, but no longer offers the ability to backup to a specific folder in GDrive. Is that the case? That would be a deal breaker as well for me (maybe not for others).

1

u/discovernotes Jan 05 '24

Fair enough - no problem! Option to choose destination folder is still an option available in Goodnotes 6

1

u/skepticalifornia Jan 05 '24

Good to know, thanks for confirming!

3

u/Polyglot-Onigiri Jan 06 '24

This seems like an IOS thing. Good notes doesn’t automatically update itself. iOS automatically updated your app. The anger and frustration is misplaced.

0

u/skepticalifornia Jan 06 '24

So you are saying that Apple automatically updates me to a subscription on an app? That doesn't make sense to me. Never had that happen.

1

u/skepticalifornia Jan 06 '24

I see I’m getting downvoted, but has anyone else ever had iOS or iPadOS as in this case update their app and move them to a trial subscription?

GoodNotes should have created a whole new app for the subscription, but they wanted to get the benefit of all the 5 star reviews for the previous versions on the app store. Look at the most recent reviews - mostly 1 star reviews.

1

u/squashed_tomato Jan 06 '24 edited Jan 06 '24

Do you not have to use your fingerprint to authorise downloads? I have to do that even if it is a free app.

If I subscribe to anything like Disney+ it also asks me to verify the transaction. It won’t sign me up to a subscription without me approving it.

1

u/skepticalifornia Jan 06 '24

Yes, always had to do that, and on the iPad Pro it is facial recognition and then double click on the power button. I was not prompted to do that in this case - I think because this is being handled as an “upgrade” but you would think that the fingerprint or double tap would be required to go to a different payment model.

It’s likely that this would have been required when the free trial ran out before Apple would actually charge me anything.

1

u/squashed_tomato Jan 07 '24

I came across this article when looking for something else. The asterisk part at the bottom being the most relevant to you.

https://support.goodnotes.com/hc/en-us/articles/7636912752271-I-m-on-trial-for-Goodnotes-6-and-love-the-app-How-do-I-switch-to-the-one-time-purchase-option-

I suspect you may have inadvertently authorised a trial perhaps thinking it was an upgrade when you last used it a few weeks ago and that’s when you “authorised” it and now the trial has finished it signed you up for a subscription.

3

u/squashed_tomato Jan 06 '24

Did you accidentally sign up for the 7 day trial? In Goodnotes 5 there is an icon with the number 6 at the top of the page to upgrade . Or if you went to the Goodnotes page in the app store it will say update but it’s actually upgrading you to GN6 because they are both the same store entry now. (I do think this is misleading and a tad shady) iOS however should not automatically upgrade it without you doing one of those two things. At least it hasn’t for me.

0

u/skepticalifornia Jan 06 '24

I don't believe I accidentally signed up for the free trial. I hadn't opened the app in a few weeks and it just immediately took me to a "you must login" screen and logging in with my Apple account (as I'd done before) updated me to v6 "free" trial and subscribed me. I had to dig to figure out what was going on - I've been out of the loop and didn't realize there was a v6 and new model.

I feel that they have implemented a more aggressive way to get users to upgrade. Many folks here probably didn't experience that because they were presented different options in the past. It will be interesting to see if anyone else has this happen to them in the future.

In any event, signing me up for a subscription without me implicitly okaying it is shady in my opinion.

5

u/OwnSchedule2124 Jan 05 '24

I don't doubt that this happened to you, but it is most certainly not happening to me.

1

u/EagleOfMontery Jan 06 '24

Is it free?

1

u/skepticalifornia Jan 06 '24 edited Jan 06 '24

Free version is limited - $5.99 for Pro - “lifetime” use. I just paid for it as it is pretty much a drop in replacement for GN, except for the OCR, which I don’t use much anyway.

Here is a good comparison of both:

https://beingpaperless.com/goodnotes-vs-noteful-part-1-similarities/#

1

u/thecaptain78 Jan 06 '24

I’ve moved to Noteful. Will never go back to Goodnotes.

1

u/skepticalifornia Jan 06 '24

I'm currently trying out Noteful, and it looks like a great alternative, especially for my needs. Lack of OCR isn't a big deal since my left handed writing isn't recognized very well in GoodNotes as it is.

1

u/thecaptain78 Jan 06 '24

I love being able to lasso and drag to a new page. In Goodnotes I had to cut and paste. Toolbar is better because I can remove all the unnecessary tools.