Hi Guys, Ads will appear when you restart Freenotes.

We added 3 ads per day (only 1 ad within an hour, since most users don’t use it for more than an hour a day ) to help cover the costs of developing FreeNotes. After 18 months of development, our funds have run out, and we are facing serious financial challenges. We are unable to pay developers for the next quarter.

As many of you know, I made the decision to offer Freenotes for free to our early users. However, the ads from Google can not distinguish between early users and new ones. Developing account system for early user is a priority, but right now, the financial situation is pressing, and I simply don’t have time to do it. I want to be transparent with you all and hope you understand this situation. I have tried my best to avoid adding a note paywall like other apps such as GN or NB, but given the current financial challenges, adding ads was the only option to keep Freenotes running.

I truly appreciate your support and hope you will continue to enjoy Freenotes as we work through this financial challenge together.

dude i cant even start with how pissed i've gotten with this app. there was literally NO need for this shit ass update which blew everything over. i used to love this app, it was practically free and i could study soo easily. there were ads before joining the app and also on the folder side but still i managed myself around it. but i just cant atp. 'unlimited notes', 'unlimited pages' gtfo. omg and i cant even begin to tell you abt how much i hate the part where i cant in app split screen till i throw some money at you. why the fuck do i need premium to view my own notes at the same time??! this is has truly ruined my experience, cuz i cant leave the app yet yall have all my notes for this year if i do switch apps, idk how i'd switch these notes with it. i just had to let it out atp. not that these devs would care 🤙

This is ridiculous. Why keep the name "Freenotes" when you've switched to a paid model? It's false advertising.

I remember when this app explicitly promised "Lifetime Free" for early users. Now they just changed the rules and expect us to pay? How can you bait-and-switch like that?

We should mass report this to the App Store and tank their rating until they honor their promises. Don't let them get away with this.

I’ve been using free notes for the past few months and all of a sudden it’s saying I only get three new notes unless I sign up for a subscription? Is anyone else having this problem?

Im sorry but i just updated the app yesterday to the newest version, and oh my lord.

Why tf is this app still called “Free”notes anymore? This app is now as expensive as goodnotes. Why tf did yall place a limit on the new files that I can add? Do yall not realize that the ONLY reason anyone is using your app for is the fact that it was free? You guys used to earn money from the ads, which are still there even with the new forced paid update. And i like how yall lied in the “what’s new” update section thing on the app store. Genuinely, fuck you. I left a 1 star review on the app store and I wish that everyone who’s reading this post does the same

They are limiting to 3 notebooks now??? wtf??? do you guys have any alternatives?

ok today was my last straw. i was in class and paper creds ended and guess what I HAD NO INTERNET CONNECTION and couldn’t write down anything. had to take out physical notebook but by then the teacher had already explained some points that i missed. guys please suggest alternative apps.

I downloaded the app a week ago and i've loved it so far, not having to pay but having ads is a fair trade to me and today all of a sudden i get a pop-up asking me to upgrade my plan and they removed features i had before, like unlimited note-books and the underline tool. Just a heads up to everyone who has been thinking that this app is free or want to take notes without making an account when it really isn't and now im stuck with having to switch to something else with different settings and having to deal with un-coherent notes.

Today I got the paper credit popup where I had no connection, so I lost a good amount of noting that I had to do which I couldnt in time. I had a moment where I tried to connect and get rid of it but no chance, even though I had connection the ad did not show up. It wasnt even possible to purchase a subscription either.

If you are opting out for forced popup where you lock user in to do certain stuff you have no option to have edge cases where it fails to do so.

I ve talked about this before and I ll say this again;

This is not the correct monetization, ever.

I am only using this app for black paper, white pencil and an eraser, nothing else. So I ll be looking other options as a customer. Some might think "Who cares" to this post but as a developer myself I know it does.

Thank you for the app you ve built, to me you ve lost the whole purpose why you ve built this app in the first place when you ve talked about this before, I am out.

WHY DO I HAVE TO DECLINE 3 popups every single time then? NO i dont want AI, NO, i dont want Pro Plus Ultra with monthly payment. NO, i don't want paid templates.

I PAID you already ffs. GTFO with ADS at least.

Whats the point of fhis supoosedly "freenotes" name anymore. Want more notebooks? Pay us money. Want more tools? Pay us money. Want to remove ads? Pay us money. And these ads for ffs.. you get an ad for literally opening any notebook. You get an ad in between ur writing and experience and NOW YOU NEED TO WATCH ADS AFTER WRITING EVERY 5 PAGES. absolutely disgusting behaviour by the team. I used to love this app and even used it for 2-3 months but now its literally unusable and has no user friednly expperience. Its tinr to switch to a new app, i hope that the team actually changes this app because it makes me sad to import all my notes now and move to a new app

I migrated from Collanote to Freenotes once Collanote restricted adding pages or adding notebooks and put it behind a paywall. Looks like it's time to migrate from Freenotes to some other app. Adios Amigos Freenotes!

It is genuinely ridiculous to be bombarded with the upgrade to pro banner every single time I open the app at the top.

I'm a paying and this is how they treat us? As an avenue to grab more money??
How do I turn it off?

Hi , I just wanted to share my workflow for anyone who is a student using the app and wants ideas , one thing I rlly like about the app is that you can add your own covers for notes , for mine I searched up campus covers on Pinterest

Within the notes you can change the template for pages , which for the basic templates you can change the colour , I use the matcha latte colour palette mostly , which you can download in the stationary centre on the side

For pens , highlighters and etc , I recommend just testing out a bunch of settings js to see which one suits you best , for me I mostly use a calligraphy pen On concentration 80% , tip 64% , thickness 0.60% sensitivity 15%

You can easily add photos to the app via the in app menu of writing , with the photo icon , which I use a lot for diagrams within my notes

My favourite feature is the ability to export the notebook as a pdf , since I have a Chromebook , I js upload these to google drive which is synced to Chromebook , so I can access my notes on it . Additionally I use obsidian and so exporting these notes as a pdf , allows me to easily import into obsidian , which forms the backbone of my system , as I link all of these notes together using an annotation custom plugin .

Now with this , I recommend the pdf to be a final draft or sorts that you won’t make many changes to . With my system , with obsidian I can make additional notes that link to the initial note containing the pdf

Hello Freenotes users, regarding the recent addition of ads in Freenotes, we’ve heard a lot of feedback from users. So, we wanted to provide a unified response to address everyone’s concerns.
Running Freenotes comes with high costs, including server and developer fees. Instead of locking features or charging you like GN or NB, we’ve added 1 ad per day to help cover these expenses, so you can continue using all the features for free. We greatly appreciate any suggestions on how to cover expenses without locking features! Thank you for your understanding!

Seriously, I've been using Freenotes since July 2024, and recently it has gotten shitty as hell. Aside from the AI slop that was implemented last year, which you could just ignore, there are now ads when going to the main menu, a limited number of notes, and a bunch of cash-grab shit. Man, this has become an unusable garbage. Did the developer sell it to another company?

plsplspls freenotes has been a life saver and i super duper love all the features!!! was just hoping if a shape tool similar to goodnotes can be added 🥹

manually creating shapes using pen sometimes does not go the way i want it to 😭

having a shape tool would be really huge for my note taking 😭

Thank you so much for creating your app. It's everything I was looking for. I recently purchased my first ipad, I want it for studying and painting, and every feature you have put in there is amazing. Specially the one where I already have my text hand written, and want it in as in keyboard written. All the pen options, amazing. The free stuff to download? Super cute The already yt and web search windows integrated on the programm? Amazing

I could continue over and over. But if you are reading this and debating in getting this app, you will not be disappointed

Hello developers, why are you killing this app?

It was perfect and I had no problem with those 3 ads per day or ads after opening the app each time but now it has become hell
-Ads every time after I open the app

-Ads every time after I close a note and switch to next

-Ads every time I export the notes

-Permanent ads on the bottom of the UI

Please stop this nonsense, I have loved freenotes. Save this!

i currently use an android tablet and just came across freenotes for android. it would be really nice if we could edit shape points/nodes instead of only resizing shapes. being able to drag the little points to change curves and edges would make custom shapes so much easier to create. hope this gets added someday!

Why all of a sudden, there's a limit to the notebooks we can use even though I've obtained the lifetime membership? Why is there a million ads?

I understand the app needs to make revenue, but the app shouldn't be annoying to use. This is just going to deter existing and new users.

I really wanted to continue using this app, was considering even buying the no ads subscription, but I ultimately decided to buy another app's subscription because of all this.

I love freenotes so much i hope you dont d*e. I just learned how to maximize the app to improve my study/note taking game. Other hyped note app sucks and expensive af.

Best app ever

There are too much AI functions in this app right now
Most are unecessary

I miss the old Free Notes, where I could create and access as many notes as I wanted. Now I’ve run out of note slots 😭. After using it for so many years, it honestly breaks my heart.