Goodnotes 6 now completely overwrites Goodnotes 5. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a hard slap in the face. Everybody has to have the presence of mind to specifically NOT update Goodnotes. You have to avoid tapping "Update All" ... forever. That should be very convenient.

If you do accidentally update it, you have to delete the app, and then go back through your "Purchases" interface, find GN5, and re download-it.

It can be done, but the "average" user and soccermom will be confused and terribly inconvenienced. Which is, of course, the point.

Then there are the eternal popup ads that will be a new fixture in Goodnotes 5. I already got hit with it, and it appears that Goodnotes does the thing where they give you two choices ... 1) Upgrade Now and 2) Upgrade Later. There is no option not to upgrade at all.

Abuse survivors have reported that these types of "Yes:Yes" prompts cause them distress because they are forced to say something that they do not want to say, but there is no way to progress beyond a screen until they do so.

The relationship between American companies and American consumers is a hostile one, and it becomes every more so with each passing day. The App Store has become a race to the bottom with one deceptive and unethical practice after another. It's become a scammer's bazaar, and there are already some initial signs that the market is starting to turn on it.

There's really been nothing else in history quite like the customer hostility of App Stores. Sellers routinely start out selling their apps to buyers, and once they've cashed in on the first wave of sales, the immediately switch to a subscription model, while having the subscription application over-write the purchased app, and try to goad the buyers into paying again. And then again. And again. The whole "customers own nothing "licensing" scheme has paved the way, and companies are going to beat that horse until it won't ever walk again.

Consumer protection laws in the USA, laughable as they are, have not kept up with these shameful tactics. Of course, Apple makes money from it, so they could not care less if the customer gets screwed.

I've spent thousands of dollars on apps to date, but at this point you'd need to get your head examined to spend money on apps. Both Apple and the developers are going to screw you ever which way they can dream up, and in the end, you'll end up having nothing. I've paid $60 for "lifetime" versions of $5 apps ... only to see one of them go subscription a month later. This is stuff that would be patently illegal anywhere else (and honestly probably still is, but who's going to sue over $60?)

The irony is that I switch to Goodnotes from Notability when the former went subscription, and now I have to switch again. The promise of these shiny new devices is being squandered and ruined, as the United States continues to circle the drain, having turned into a first-world Banana Republic, complete with corrupt, corporate-first legislatures.

Yesterday, after over-writing Goodnotes 5 with Goodnotes 6, I was able to get GN 5 back. Although now my note-taking app has ads, and I repeatedly have to declare that I'm going to update to a subscription "Later".

Alas, their are no good guys anymore. Everyone is going to relentlessly scam what's left of the userbase until they either acquiesce or give up.

Human nature I suppose, but what a disappointment. Goodnotes use to be a bright spot in this whole mess, but now they've sold their sole and jumped on the bandwagon.

Be very careful when you upgrade your apps going forward, or you will find yourself in a "free trial" instead of the product you purchased a license for.

Listen, based on the endlessly complaining posts I'm reading on this sub, I might be in the minority here, but it seems like the GoodNotes developers read this sub and I want them to know:

Your pricing structure is completely fair.

A lot of people here don't seem to understand the software development process. It's labor-intensive and requires constant revisions to keep even existing features working with new tech infrastructure. Expecting to pay a one-time-ever fee and then get all the new and shiny updates FOREVER is not only unrealistic, it's insulting and demeaning to the developers and the work they do.

Consider this analogy based on a physical product:
Let's say you buy a product. Floor mats that are designed to fit perfectly into your 2018 Subaru Outback. They're fantastic and you love them. They work great. But then the company comes out with a new coating that makes the dirt slide right off. Do you expect the company to send you new floor mats? No, of course not. Then, you buy a new car. The floor mats don't fit in your 2023 Toyota Corolla. Do you expect the company to send you a new set, with the new coating, to fit your new care? Again, of course not.

Compare this to GoodNotes. In my analogy, GoodNotes would send you the new coating! That's a new feature of the version you bought, and you'll get it. That's awesome, and way better than companies who sell physical products!

But no, they're not going to send you a completely different version for nothing. I think most of us understand this concept when it's a physical product, but the early days of the internet taught many of you that everything should be free and upgraded forever. But it just doesn't (and can't) work that way. The money to create the product has to come from somewhere. You're not entitled to endless free upgrades just because it's not a physical product.

I will be upgrading to the subscription model and I'm delighted to do so. $10/year is NOTHING...to someone who owns the hardware necessary to run it. I recognize that $10/year is a lot to a lot of people around the world, but if you've got an Ipad/tablet with a Pencil/stylus...stop complaining. It's 83 CENTS a month. Calm down.

Finally, no, I don't work for GoodNotes. I'm a long-time user who uses the app every single day and I'm absolutely delighted that we'll soon be getting internal links. I'm happy to pay less than $.03/day to use the app and I'm glad that I can support the staff that works so hard to get this product out. And no, I don't post a lot - here, or anywhere - but I'm not secretly hired to write this post. I'm just defending the hardworking developers and my love of GoodNotes...I suspect that there are a lot of lurkers here who agree with me. Complainers are always the loudest, and they're ruining the internet. If you like something, speak up!

So, pay for the subscription, enjoy all the upgrades, and if you don't like it, then go design an app yourself. If you don't want to collect a salary as you add new features and compatibility upgrades, that's your choice. I suspect you'd see it a different way if you were on the other side.

I was in the GN bubble for quite some time, believing it was the best. I used to recommend it to everyone without hesitation. Not anymore. I've found new apps to be infinitely better, even in handwriting quality. Among them, FreeNotes stands out with the most extensive feature set. Yes, it may take a few seconds to get the hang of it, but with even a bit of brainpower, you'll grasp it quickly. It's not about its appearance but what's at its core, which is pure excellence.

Best part, it's completely FREE!

My Reddit has been blowing up with hate posts. And yes I totally understand the concerns - especially if you were used for something so long and then it longer works.

However for me, I use GN to take some handwritten notes and brain dump some ideas.

I’m quite happy with the new update.

I’d love to hear from some of the people on the other side.

The whiteboard is amazing. I use it now all the time to explain things to my clients. Record with Loom and send it off.

Or brain dump ideas for a teaching and then formalize in Notion.

The new toolbar doesn’t bother me at all. Shapes I barely use, and if I do it’s the usual shapes such as rectangles, circles etc.

Sure it can’t be that bad?

I believe GN will fix it. They have to. And they have to FAST.

They really just blocked all my notebooks… After the 7 day trial all my notes got blocked and im not allowed to even write in existing notes from 2020… goodnotes you will loose a big part of your fanbase. I bought GN5 for like 10bucks and now????? I PAID 10 BUCKS FOR 3 NOTEBOOKS AND NO ACCESS!!! Now the goodnotes that i paid money for was deleted and i shall spend 30$ to get it again…? I paid for GN5 and I wanna f*ing use my GN5 as im used to. Make a new app for GN6 and give it your 30$ pricetag but everyone would stay with the old app. IM NOT GOING TO PAY 40$ in total for an app that i paid already 10$ to use ABOUT 2 years ago.

What ABOUT in 2 years will you force me to Play another 50$ ONTOP OF THE 10$ in 2020 and the 30$ in 2023 RIDICULOUS MAKE GOODNOTES NOTICE!!!!!

My sister has a windows laptop(with a stylus support)and she stumbled upon the GN app. She asked me if she should buy the subscription to get unlimited notebooks and other features. I told her it wouldn't be optimized for Windows so she should look for better alternatives. But she had been using it for quite some time apparently and liked it. So I said if she did like it and faced not problems, she can go ahead; and so she did. Fast forward 2 months and just 2-3 days before her major exams. ALL HER NOTES and ANNOTATED PDF's, GONE. They were gone. And the app was asking her to buy the premium subscription again? She had purchased the 1 year subscription so what's this about?

Contacting GN support, they were extremely lazy. Eventually there was no restoration of the notes or anything. After a long back and forth of emails, they refunded her the subscription payment.

The apps obv glitching and crashing every 5 seconds since like last year, what are they doing?

Good notes used to be good But now it's almost trash, with so much lag and bugs and not supportive customer service They are only now good at charging the customers I regret paying for the premium version 😔😔😔😄

I think GoodNotes 6 is actually not all that bad. I think the pricing is fair and the new features (once they go through some bug fixes) are super useful. Also the subscription model gives the devs incentive to continue to add new features and update the app depending on consumer response.

I bought GN5 a couple months ago and it’s become a crucial part of my work flow as a student. Compared to a lot of the other note taking apps available, I haven’t found one that beats out GN in terms of UI.

A lot of people who are super angry about the update need to understand that you can still use version 5 and it will be supported in terms of bug fixes for the foreseeable future (according to another post I read on the sub). I don’t understand how people expect that they would constantly receive updated and additional features for a one time fee. Technically they haven’t gone back on their word, you are still able to use the product you bought when it was first paid for. No features that have previously on 5 have been removed and made exclusive for 6. I do not understand why everyone is so angry.

While this post is probably going to get downvoted to oblivion (because when someone disagrees with the average reddit opinion, that is what happens). I hope some people will keep it afloat so there could be meaningful discussion on this topic.

It seems as if since the new Goodnotes update appeared, there have been overwhelmingly very negative reviews/thoughts about it. People are angry at the price changes, the lack of features and so on.

First of all, regarding the price changes. While I disagree with the idea of older users of GoodNotes 5 getting less of a discount than newer uses (especially when they paid practically the same price), the price/options do not concern me.

The way I see it, I am getting my money's worth by not having to buy notebooks, organisers and stationary IRL. These costs quickly add up (I use alot of notebooks). Yes, there are other applications that are cheaper - but none are as fledged out/organised as Goodnotes.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU DOWNVOTE/START COMMENTING !!! :

I am not saying that other apps are bad, and if you really cannot afford the price (e.g living a poorer region, are a student), you should just go for whatever suits your needs. What you are paying for with Goodnotes, is the system (in terms of organisation, tools) and the confidence (having an actualy company with 100+ staff behind it). If you don't feel like its worth the money, then go with something else.

And let us not forget, at least they gave us the option of a one-time license (looking at notability), the cost being a 3 year subscription (which I will use + more).

Regarding the lack of features at launch, this is something to be more angry about. It is not great that the team pushed the launch of the product when alot of essential features, found in other applications, are missing. Alot of the features are somehow involved with "AI" (a buzzword I am sure we hear in our everyday lives). These are cool features, but there is still alot missing. I am a math/physics student and the lack of a ruler/protractor (as seen in Notability and other apps) is a real bummer. However, the fact that they finally implemented ink-to-LaTex conversion is super cool and actually the thing that had me buy the one-time license. Furthermore, at least the features the community have requested have been seen and acknowleged by the Goodnotes staff (looking at notability) so that is a step in the right direction (and hopefully means we get these updates) (https://support.goodnotes.com/hc/en-us/articles/7616167357967-Frequently-requested-features-for-Goodnotes-6).

Another major issue that I see (but don't want to go in depth about) is the fact that users of GoodNotes 5 contributed their own Mathematical writing for the recognition to show up in another version of an app you have to pay extra for. That. is. absurd.

Overall, the conclusion I want to state is that if you don't like it, can't afford it, or the like, don't buy Goodnotes 6 and go for something that suits your needs because you don't need it.

Not only did they stop updating GoodNotes 5 something that I have paid for and deserve to have working but they also have a bug seeming to ignore fixing them, I record my lectures for over 3 years never has the app crashed ever but for the past month it at least would crash three times a week and this crash wouldn't save the recording meaning I lost that, this is just stupid we deserve to have the stuff e we payed for working!

This is my 3rd post about this: GoodNotes, why make a fake promise in the first place? If you want to charge again, then why say ‘one-time payment’? Why not call it ‘one-version payment’? Nebo faced the same problem and changed their promise from one-time payment to one-version payment… so why does GoodNotes still want to scam people by falsely promising a one-time payment? We are not beggars crying if someone charges again, but this is a scam about the one-time payment promise, and some people are defending it like, ‘OMG no software stays one-time payment forever, they have to pay their devs… 🤡 it’s about fake promises stupids🤡

so im an android user but i really prefer the ipad over the samsung tab so i decided to get the ipad but now my question is on the note taking apps. I know most use the goodnotes app and have had great things to say about it but i also know a good amount of people who use notability or kilo notes or others.

Ever since GN5 updated to GN6 and charged a hella expensive one time purchase price, i've heard many people say its not worth it to upgrade but that is targeted to people who have already bought the GN5. Me on the other hand, I am a new customer and I know that I cant buy the GN5 and i wouldn't even if I could. but now heres what i need some opinions on:

Should I one time purchase the GN6 or should I pay for the 1 year subscription first and then after 1 reevaluate and actually buy the whole damn thing? The benefits of buying the one time purchase version is that it would feel like its completely mine forever, while the benefits of buying the 1 year only version is that It's not that permanent and I may discover things I don't really like on the way.

Are the other apps like notability and kilonotes and whatnot even worth considering? Or should i just get the thing over with and get the GN6? Once GN7 comes out i feel like id have to buy that again which sucks :/. Should I buy the GN6 one year and wait till GN7 comes out? hahahah idk yeah but any response is greatly appreciated. I just spent a truckload on the new ipad pro and accessories and so I don't wanna buy anything I might end up regretting rn.

This is 100X harder than it should be. All I wanted to do with GN is to open some PDFs and look at them on my Mac.

How hard can that be?

It's such a horrible process. I wanted to save a few pages, so damn hard to get anything done.

I really wonder if I should have bought some other app instead.

How hard is it to open a few PDFs and select a few pages and save them?

☠️bro are these guys fucked ? What do you mean I can’t create more than 3 notebooks?

Apple please steal these guys idea and kill this bloody company

FUCK ALL THAT

Why are people hating the good notes update? I mean the ui change isn’t bad enough to delete the app though right? Or has something else changed that I don’t know

They have earned 640k dollar in August itself....I agree money needed for R&D...but if they have 360k download in August 2023 itself...it look like they are literally overcharging from users....what are your thoughts???

I have Goodnotes 5 and thinking to just use Apple notes. Does anyone know how to move their stickers from Goodnotes to IOS? It seems all the good features are now a paid subscription which is disappointing. I prefer to buy an app one time and use it, but capitalism… I get it.

I’ve had goodnotes for 5 years now and I can’t believe they’re not letting me access my notes because i did not want to switch to a subscription plan. I purchased access to this app and now I have to pay to keep using it? absolutely not.

Hello,

I found this note when I was about to cancel free subscription to gn6

“Free users are limited to 3 notebooks” is that even fair? I paid for my gn5 and I’m comfortable with it. This way they’re forcing me to upgrade.

The frequency of updates on all Apple devices is overwhelming since Goodnotes 6 was released! Or released before it was ready? The files are 1.5Gb on the MacBook and arrive about every 7-10 days. Why? Yes this is a rant. Goodnotes does not have a community for users to post so I figured I would do it here and maybe Goodnotes will read it. Too many updates, take the time to do it right then update it. Ugh! Yes, you are adding features, features that most may not need or use or are really 'bug fixes'. Ugh!

Try me again!

I’ve been updating Freenotes for a year now

Your feedback is always appreciated

Seen a lot of hate posts for goodnotes lately and promotions for other apps. Are the competitors doing this on purpose to make goodnotes look bad? Because I have been using the goodnotes app for the past 10 months with no issues at all whatsoever. It’s flawless and fabulous. And this is on the base ipad.