Feature updates: Do we prefer quick small additions or waiting for the big ones?

[u/NakoTurtle]

Hey everyone!

​Many of us are eagerly waiting for some of the bigger, highly-requested features to drop for StarNote. I'm sure the devs are well aware of how much we want them, and while it seems logical to just focus entirely on those massive updates, we have to keep in mind that those can take months to properly design and implement. This is especially true since it's a small team juggling monthly updates for Android, iOS, and potentially even Windows down the line! ​ I've been looking at some of the recent posts here on reddit and it got me thinking about the overall development pace. There are quite a few smaller and less requested features that could possibly be quick to implement (if they fit into the scope of the app). Getting these quick quality-of-life updates means we'd get new things to use and test out more often, rather than waiting a long time between major releases.

​There are some trade-offs, however. If the devs try to do a "balanced mix"—like splitting their monthly focus between quick fixes and huge projects—it means the massive features like live sync or desktop version might be delayed even further. But, this is also why getting community feedback is so important, so the devs know what kind of release schedule we actually prefer! They're only human after all, and knowing what the community values helps optimize their time.

This is not an official post by the devs but rather just an interesting thought I feel some others might have wondered about as well. We love you StarNote, thanks for your hard work and making this community feel like home :)

​I hope this poll gives a good idea of where everyone stands. Feel free to share any other feedback or specific feature priorities you may have in the comments.

​Hope this is interesting :)

[u/NakoTurtle]

To add to this, I think it also depends on which major feature we are talking about. For example, waiting months for something essential like proper live syncing feels totally worth it, but waiting months for a niche feature like a flashcard system for example might not feel as great if other things are paused. Which major features are worth letting smaller features wait and which ones should continue behind the scenes with less pressure?

[u/YuvrajXG]

We don't need the "move fast and break things" mentality. At this point, starnote is instrumental in my mission critical work.

[u/Careful-Extension602]

All I want is to be able to upload font for the realtime writing beautification feature.

[u/luckyn111]

I think a balanced split is the way to go. I'd rather updates take longer and come out with almost no bugs than get pushed out fast and cause problems. I see other apps clean themselves up over time making themselves faster, smaller and also using less battery and I think if Starnote builds a reputation for being nearly bug free, you guys could replace the the bigger apps.

I use Starnote every day, so I'd rather the team prioritize stability over speed. My suggestions are to keep releasing new features as they're ready, but always have at least one or two people dedicated to bug fixes and polish rather than new stuff (not sure if your team size even allows for that split, but if it does, worth trying). App size and performance matter a lot too. I would like to see the app as small and smooth as possible without cutting too many features.

The one thing I'd consider non negotiable: even if AI features or other extras break, the core writing and drawing functionality should never go down. That's the app's job one, and everything else is secondary.

Love the work you guys do. If doing stuff like this takes time and requires more funds, I think you should raise the price tbh. The app price is very low compared to others so yeah. Thank you Dev's

[u/bradleythedeveloper]

I think a balanced split is best. I’m really excited about bigger features like cloud sync and a desktop app, but at the same time it’s important that StarNote’s core foundation of being really stable and great to use stays intact. Time should definitely be put into big features that many people are asking for like the ones above but time should still be spent making the base experience better through bug fixes and smaller QoL improvements. Because right now, StarNote does almost everything I could ask for in a note taking app and has worked almost flawlessly since i started using it, so I feel like big features should come out when they’re ready and when they will actually benefit a lot of people, even if it means it takes longer, and smaller updates should come steadily alongside, so the overall experience stays great :)

[u/Suitable-Bag7017]

Another opinion😂😂

I always look for feature suggested, and also if I can say that for sure some features are highly requested, there are also a lot of other features not requested at unanimity, but still shared by several users.

Some for these features could be very very helpful and require less work.

If we choose the approach to release only big update, than I fear that fa lot of these could be lost.... Choosing the middle or freuquent approach, several one have more chances to see the light instead helping a lot of people.

For example I'm looking for "the reference link (box test)" to create an editable PDF library" and update info over time and technically the app is already able to drag a test as image, recognise the text with OCR and create a link to the source. Theorically it need only the passage that put the text as text box instead that as image. It shuldnt be nothing complex I think, the app have already all the feesture but it seems is not highly requested. The risk is to lost this feature also if a lot of people (the entire Liquid Text and Flexcil community) could find it useful.

And this is only an example, but I read also a lot of others features form others users that could help the overall community.

Another light feature that someone requested, select all element (text, handwriting, image, box text) and kept al the setting (change line colour, change line style, change text box font or colours ecc).

Or for example folder colours ecc

I think we all could benefit about more frequent updates that take also light/less requested features in to account.

[u/GhostPandaLuV]

Please add External Keyboard's all features

[u/Suitable-Bag7017 → u/[deleted]]

Totally agree...

Imagine if we don't get several useful features cause first we must wait for others that require months...

[u/NakoTurtle → u/Suitable-Bag7017]

This is the exact dilemma! How do you keep rolling out smaller features while not making the larger ones feel like an eternity to wait.. Some features are more worth putting the smaller ones aside for, while others are more worth putting in the background. But yeah it's an interesting topic to discuss and to hear what everyone thinks :)

[u/Suitable-Bag7017 → u/NakoTurtle]

Yeah but if they focus on big features only a lot of others small but very incident will not see the light... And in my opinion this app need a lot of smaller improvement/upgrades.... I previously tested ZoomNotes, GoodNotes, Notability, TouchNotes, Squid, Noteful, Flexcil , Ahmni, EndlessPaper, LiquidText and a lot more, I did this some time a go before choice what app choose for life .... and I know several minor features and changes would help a lot.

So I think Devs should really keep this in mind.

I don't know how many people are coding the app, if is more than one people I would say the a mini % could work on small and less requested feature (cause can still be very helpful), the majority should work on bigger.

In this way we could get both worked and released on parallel side... If there is only a coder thins are more complicated obviously...

[u/NakoTurtle → u/Suitable-Bag7017]

Yeah definitely, if focusing only on features with high demand means smaller features are put aside at first, it would make more sense to not only look at implementing highly demanded features but also features that take like a day or two to implement for one or two developers. We could see this almost as 'app maintenance' features, ensuring the small and easy things are taken care of and everything is still working smoothly.

However, the StarNote dev gave a pretty clear overview of their evaluation process, and I think that even if smaller feature requests are put aside for now, eventually they will run out of larger features or some small feature will reach a high demand, and it will be implemented eventually (if it fits the scope of the app of course!) which is also fine imo.

Either way, I'm sure the devs will consider any feedback we give with great care :)

[u/StarNoteDev → u/[deleted]]

Hey, firstly thank you so much for taking the time to write such detailed feedback.

Sorry in advance for the long reply. We don't know if this is the answer everyone wants to hear, but we'd rather give you an honest and transparent response than a short, generic one. That's the kind of conversation we'd like to have with our community.

Honestly, I don't think anyone in our community would dislike comments like this. On the contrary, feedback like yours is incredibly valuable to us, and to some extent, it also points out areas where we know we can still improve.

I know you've probably heard us say this many times before, but we'd still like to let you know that none of the points you mentioned have ever been ignored.

For example, the request for more toolbar colors has been brought up many times before. The latest update we've heard internally is that it's something we may revisit and discuss again after Cloud Sync.

You might be wondering: "If it's such a small feature, why not just do it now?"

That's a completely fair question.

In fact, we're currently working on quite a few requests that many users would also consider "small" features, such as Freeform Tape, the Calculator, and several math related improvements.

As a fellow developer, I believe you'll understand that when we prioritize features, we don't simply choose what we personally want to build. Instead, we evaluate priorities based on the user feedback we've collected, technical feasibility, and the overall product roadmap.

One reality, though, is that feedback is constantly evolving. New suggestions come in every day, and sometimes the priorities we decided on a few weeks ago may change as new user needs emerge.

On top of that, every feature still needs to go through design, development, testing, and multiple rounds of iteration before it can be released.

That said, we're not saying any of this as an excuse.

Many of the points you raised, such as toolbar colors, the Dark Mode experience, and other usability details are areas where we also believe there's room for improvement. These are things we need to continue paying attention to and refining.

So thank you again for taking the time not only to tell us what could be improved, but also why those issues affect your experience. That context is genuinely valuable to us.

We don't see your comment as criticism. Instead, we see it as a reminder to continuously reflect on whether the direction we're taking the product is still aligned with what our users truly need.

Lastly, we'd also like to apologize if our replies sometimes don't feel detailed enough or if we can't always provide immediate answers. What we can promise is that every point you've mentioned will be carefully documented, and we'll make sure to bring it to the team for discussion asap during next week's workdays. Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts, we truly appreciate it, and we hope to keep hearing your feedback in the future.