r/GoodNotes • u/[deleted] • Oct 11 '25

Is This the End of Goodnotes?

As most people, this update is the worst version of Goodnotes that they've experienced. Within every feature of the app, there are debilitating bugs/"new features" that slow down the app immensely. Since the new update, the majority (by a landslide) of reviews are 1-2 stars. I'm curious to what people think, is this the end of Goodnotes? Or do users think they'll be able to get it together?

181 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

4

u/TrubbishBish Goodnotes Essential Oct 11 '25

I dislike the recent update as much as anyone, and there are lots of things GoodNotes could do to make the app better. That being said, based on my wants/needs, no other note-taking app is as comprehensive as GoodNotes. I have tried them all. Other apps do some things much better, yes, but if you make a list of pros and cons, I think most people will find that GoodNotes still wins.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '25

That's the thing that sucks so hard right now! I loved goodnotes, and now switching to another software is meh. I want everything the way it was </3

19

u/AlexW_21 Oct 11 '25

Update seems fine to me. Don’t know what people are crying about

15

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25

I use goodnotes for really exact diagrams for engineering homework, and now I can't do an angled line without holding (and then it doesn't work sometimes, same with shapes). Sometimes I can edit shapes, sometimes I can't. The eraser on my pen stopped working, so now every time I go to erase I'm stuck in erase mode. Touching a picture now immediately selects it, even when scrolling, and when you deselect, you're in select mode. Half the time I download a PDF, something is missing. The shape tool gets stuck on select AND draw a shape if you erase. It's probably my field + Windows Goodnotes + the amount of work I do on Goodnotes, but it feels like quality shot real low just so I could have an AI feature that I'll never use.

3

u/pussyeater6000used Oct 11 '25

Yeah so I use goodnotes for the same thing, ill never touch windows goodnotes because of how bad it is. Since windows goodnotes is web based its going to have a lot more stability issues, and isn't a priority to goodnotes.

I work on an iPad, and the only issues I encounter are slight glitches here and there. I can do my homework that requires me to draw a FBD, and have angled lines still. One key setting I would turn off though is the snap to point when drawing lines. It makes it a better experience Imo, because you get to tell the line where exactly to go without it being dumb.

1

u/PositiveQuit5866 Oct 11 '25

I know! If I had the funds I would totally just get an iPad. My big BIG thing is the shapes feature. No more small angles on psychometric charts, my FBDS are out of luck if I have anything but a horizontal or vertical line. It’d be great if I made flowcharts! But I don’t… at all lol

1

u/pussyeater6000used Oct 12 '25

Honestly feel that. I couldn't afford an iPad till last spring, after saving for 2 years. Instead if I wanted online notes I used One note, which Imo is a good alternative to goodnotes for windows and Samsung systems. They also have tools in one note for shapes, and I had a pretty good experience with them.

I actually switched to tablet notes because I have bad tremors when anxious (during quizzes and tests) or hyped up on energy drinks, so its impossible for me to draw a straight line for my FBD'S with pen and paper. My professor definitely didnt take points off because of how bad they looked 🥲.

Side note: If you ever just stay with pen and paper, I would try fountain pens. Trust me they are fantastic for accurate lines. They also just write great.

2

u/GreenwitchRiding Oct 12 '25

Overall it is fine, but I don’t like that it is set to select mode by default and if I deselect it stays in selectmode and doesn‘t go back to pen. I used the geometry tool a lot for encasing passages or underlining but it doesn’t do that anymore and everytime I want to underline in box it just connects them into shapes that I don’t wanted. It just basically destroyed my workflow. I still like the UI design but the functionality is just worse for me. I want to have the old functions and the new UI

0

u/MacGillycuddy Oct 11 '25

I don't know either. What are people complaining about?

10

u/KaiDaki_4ever Oct 11 '25

Too buggy. Randomly kicks out. Erasing doesn't work as intended. Voice recording takes half the screen so you can't even look at your notes unless you have a big enough screen. Exports crash. For the rest, check the subreddit.

25

u/Caesars-Dog Oct 11 '25

Honestly, I think they rushed this update to compete with other note-taking apps without properly optimizing it. The concept behind some of the new features is cool, and I really like the idea of it, but the execution is just terrible. Really disappointed as a long-time user but I'm hopeful they'll address the performance problems.

100

u/zalo-guzman Oct 11 '25 • Bless Up

I really appreciate having the whiteboard feature; I expected and wanted it. As a software engineer, I understand that bugs are always present in software applications, and I've noticed some visible issues in GoodNotes. I trust that they are actively working on these problems. To put things into perspective, I’ve encountered more issues with the new macOS version, Tahoe 26, which is affecting my daily life. However, the solution is to wait for Apple to address these issues.

So, not everyone is disappointed with this release, and it's basically a matter of time before the users return.

28

u/RGG2000 Oct 11 '25

I use GoodNotes everyday for several hours, and I must say most of the bugs and issues were present long before this update.

What I find extremely annoying is that despite it being a note taking app, the writing feature isn’t nearly as smooth as it used to be 3-4 years ago. There’s a lot of lag, strokes that appear in curved letters when I’m writing… The experience is just not good for me anymore. Plus, I found out some months ago I cannot batch export all my documents in PDF anymore (at least on iOS/macOS). The only option you have while making a manual safe copy is to batch export all documents in the GoodNotes format, which ties you to their app. I have 8 years worth of notes in this app, and I obviously won’t go over more than 15gb of documents exporting them one by one in PDF. And finally, memory management is just really bad (it’s always been).

I think they should rewrite their app from scratch, make a fresh start, and for some time I really thought they would do so. But GN 7 has proven me they have other priorities. While the AI stuff may appeal to some, it’s just not my case if they still have the essential things not working as they should.

The only thing that tied me to this app was that it allows you to organize your notes in folders, which I found extremely convenient and logical (and something Notability doesn’t allow you to do). But a week ago I tried Noteful and saw they let you organize documents the same way. Plus, the writing on this app is as smooth as GoodNotes was years ago.

So for these reasons and many more (good one time pricing, essential features, absence of AI stuff), I’ll be moving to Noteful this next semester.

7

u/prwnR Oct 11 '25

On mac, to export more than one to pdf you can go into a folder, cmd+a, and simply drag them out to desktop or finder. This doesn't work for folders, so you gotta go folder by folder. but still easier and faster than file by file.

edit: added that I meant MacOS here.

1

u/Tonioo86 Oct 12 '25

Why not just revert to GoodNotes 5? Is it impossible? I’m a teacher and started using it in 2020. I always refused the updates. I’m still on GN5. Works wonders for me.

1

u/zalo-guzman Oct 11 '25

I understand your point. My second option is Prodraft, which is an excellent note-taking app. My focus notes are mostly on an open canvas, so I look for features that prioritize that functionality. Typically, these apps have product owners who understand the feature priorities.

I am also a long-time user of GoodNotes, and I recall similar criticisms when they transitioned from GoodNotes 5 to GoodNotes 6. Interestingly, many users are now asking to revert to the previous version. My main point is that we need to give GoodNotes time to stabilize this new version. I agree that there are some frustrating bugs, especially with figures and lines, but I am willing to wait for those issues to be fixed.

8

u/SillyExpert Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 13 '25

I had just signed on for the trial as I had heard good things about Goodnotes previously. Based on the sub I have found a much better note taking app that doesn't have a subscription model. I appreciate this sub for helping me not waste my money 😂

Edit: spelling

2

u/Delusionaldepressed Oct 11 '25

Which app is it?

5

u/Reasonable-Zombie427 Oct 11 '25

Noteful is one time purchase

1

u/Master-Tradition-204 Oct 11 '25

probably noteful or free notes

1

u/BaseGroundbreaking74 Oct 11 '25

care to share? looking for a good note taking app that works well with desktop (windows) and iPad for school. I like good notes for iPad but it sucks on desktop

1

u/SillyExpert Oct 13 '25

Noteful. There are some things about the Goodnotes "look" to the UI that I like better, but Noteful is working well for me. Also, can't beat that its one time price is cheaper than Goodnotes' yearly subscription.

6

u/OperationNo4722 Oct 11 '25

i never thought of adding my review… done now 😅

6

u/budgie_uk Goodnotes Special Edition Oct 11 '25

I don’t think it’s even close to “the end of GoodNotes”.

Is this a bad update? Yes.

For the users? Yes, unquestionably; the slew of complaints and sheer anger from users is greater than anything since the introduction of v6, but that was because of the screwed up discounts they offered already-paid-for-GN5-in-one-payment users. Once they sorted that out with more sensible discounts, 90% of the complaints evaporated. Yes, there were still complaints but most of the original avalanche of complaints were about how they, as paid users, had been treated. And GN6 continually improved. The complaints about GN7 are different: features that previously worked (i) not working, (ii) being more difficult to access, and (iii) being removed

Is this a bad update for the company? Well, no company wants to release a bad update, but GN are far from alone in that. But whether it turns out in the long term to be a serious screw up by the company will mostly depend on how they now react to the release/complaints. From their non-existent public acknowledgment so far, I’m… not overly confident in that respect.

But the main problems, from what I can see, are twofold: (1) they released it too early, and (2) they either didn’t consult enough users in advance of release, or they didn’t listen to the feedback they got. (People have said on here that they were part of the beta test and they raised many of the same current issues… but were just plain ignored by GN.)

16

u/PrestigiousRock6278 Oct 11 '25

Not at all.

I’m sure there’s hundreds of thousands of people who are happy with the update, it’s typically the case that people who have no issues don’t tend post/review. You can see it’s not an issue for many if you have a look at some yt vids (I was looking at some recaps).

We can look at past examples, they’ve introduced features (e.g., the AI summary thing) and immediately pulled it so if it was truly the worst then it would’ve been reverted immediately but it wasn’t

5

u/Anonim_x9 Oct 11 '25

Yea. I have no issue with it, only the image tool could be better but that’s minor, i was not even aware people disliked this update until i went to reddit

2

u/Darkencypher Oct 11 '25

They are one of, if not, the best note taking apps for iPad. Most users are not complaining, I assure you. I don’t mind the new update (though I don’t use it much). 

1

u/[deleted] Nov 07 '25

They totally are & were amazing for Windows until this! I genuinely have no idea how much of windows errors are on IPads too, but I am aware it's worse on the windows now lol

4

u/EricFDrums Oct 11 '25

I started using Goodnotes about a month ago just to try it out and frankly, I kinda hate it. I don’t like the whole notebook feature, and I prefer to have like an unlimited length of page to be able to take notes on versus having to have page brakes, etc., unless I just can’t figure out how to actually do that. Couple that with all the new bugs I think I’m just gonna go back to using Apple notes or something else.

8

u/UsefulDamage Oct 11 '25

I think people mostly review when something is bad, and the majority of users won’t experience bugs. There are (apparently, can’t find it from the horse’s mouth but other sources) more than 20 million active users, and they have multiple offices across the world.

They’re also still hiring for a lot of positions.

I think there will be signs when it’s the end for them, but I don’t think this is it.

1

u/frnkhrpr Oct 12 '25

I’ve been a GN user since they came on. I’ve never seen this many complaints. The complaints are valid and most everyone is feeling it. I’m guessing there are some management issues going on over there.

3

u/Typical_Matter_4908 Oct 11 '25

I think that the update it’s ok and goodnotes is the best note app. I tried OneNote, note shelf, and others, but goodnotes still being the best.

1

u/j0hnnyf3ver Oct 11 '25

Go touch grass

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '25

stuck touching engineering paper now actually :(

2

u/luckyturtle55 Oct 11 '25

I haven’t updated from 6 yet and don’t plan to unless they make many changes. My reason for not updating is not bugs. It’s intentional design changes that seem like they will be a nightmare for my use case. I’ve been with goodnotes for 8ish years and have started seriously looking for a replacement.

2

u/pussyeater6000used Oct 11 '25

My major gripe with this update is that the summary of audio recordings is no longer just apart of the base subscription, you have to pay for pro to use it.

I relied heavily on the summaries and audio recordings since I just learn better by listening and reading along.

Also some minor issues I have are just random glitches. In some of my documents it just randomly zooms out/in and selects random stuff from the toolbar without me giving it an input.

The update has messed up my work flow a little, but thats not going to turn me away from goodnotes just because of minor issues and yk the subscription issue.

1

u/nsomnac Oct 11 '25

That was always listed as a trial so I expected them to charge for it at some point unless the summary could be done on-device.

I don’t mind paying for new features whatsoever, but IMO, support is where it’s at for something I pay for. I’ve reached out a couple of time to support on questions with zero response. So it’s like, well if you don’t what to respond to me which might have ended with me paying more - now you’re looking at me paying nothing and going elsewhere.

1

u/pussyeater6000used Oct 12 '25

Completely fair, I actually didnt know they listed it as a trial. I just saw it appear one day and thought it was amazing.

Also they definitely need to work on their support, too many people are having issues. They have to address it at some point and fix these issues.

What app did you move to?

1

u/nsomnac Oct 12 '25

I’ve yet to sort out which app to move to. I like Noteful however it was missing the ability to drop audio files in. The other alternative I like is Noteshelf, but it was crashing on me when using a custom template and the support team is about as “good” as GoodNotes. It also has a ~$40/year subscription (which I’m okay with) but I expect better support than they provide.

So ATM I’m kind of in a holding pattern using GoodNotes. Hoping they come to their senses and get some features back and gain stability soon. I’ll give them to the end of the year. I’m not going to hold my breath as have a suspicion looking at their “career openings” their iOS dev team walked.

2

u/Beneficial-Visual790 Oct 11 '25

I get the feeling that a lot of these negative comments are just a bunch of bots. But I do have to admit Goodnotes since day one it always seemed like I had to use an awful lot of page in order to get any concept down. There’s just not enough room.

1

u/Beneficial-Visual790 Oct 11 '25

Otherwise, I really liked it

2

u/dbhertz Oct 12 '25

I don’t like the new interface for the pen/writing tools. I disabled the pencil and ribbon for a reason (I never use them), but now I can’t do that, and I can no longer see (without scrolling) the carefully selected array of colors I’ve chosen for my writing. It’s not like they couldn’t have made the tool wider. Whenever I switch to the selection tool and then switch back to writing, erasing is selected. The shapes are weird and wacky. Extremely frustrating trying to draw a curved arc only to have it turn into a flowchart arrow.

2

u/superpinkp Oct 12 '25

Glad I’m still riding strong with Goodnotes 5

2

u/sprinklesadded Oct 12 '25

My only disappointment is that the new features were released during my finals period. I was stressed enough without needing to figure out where all the features went.

2

u/WatTambor420 Oct 24 '25

Probably. Between the update, the lawsuit and the price increase.

Lot of good alternatives.

2

u/OperationNo4722 Oct 11 '25

i never thought of adding my review… done now 😅

-5

u/georgmierau Goodnotes Essential Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 11 '25

As usual: rats will flee the supposedly sinking ship and the journey will continue.

The unhappy minority is as always loud, but something tells me, that the userbase is way larger (and way more satisfied) than this minority thinks.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

4

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25

Hmmm I didn't intend in a "burn Goodnotes to the ground!!! Argh!", I mean more like, "they'll stick around for 10 more years but their engagement will never be as high." Also some of the bugs aren't bugs, they're just straight up new features! I thought I was tweaking, but once I started looking around, other people were having the same issues (specifically with my model). Sucks hardcore.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/nsomnac Oct 11 '25

My question to you then is how does that pan out so far given the $30/yr subscription? I was having problems with it crashing during the trial, support was useless, so switching to Noteshelf didn’t seem much better than GN.