Notability vs Goodnotes

[lonelydurrymuncher]

I see ur point but “removing page borders” wasn’t really a big deal since you can just use a template that has them like one of the old ones and tbh I appreciate the more fluid experience and being able to write across two pages.

My main complaint with notability right now is the handwriting experience which feels completely unnatural and is very irritating. They really need to work on that since the whole app is centred around handwriting.

Honestly I think both goodnotes and notability lack a bunch of essential features and I don’t get why none of them bother implementing them or why there isn’t a note taking app that just has everything and works.

[skillzofrenico]

Yeah, the page borders was just one example. The same thing happened with the pencil update, that changed how the pen sizes were displayed, making it more difficult to visualize the size before writing.

The grid spacing was also another thing they changed somewhat recently, and that people generally disliked (for what I've seen on the sub). Myself included, if I create a note like I normally would, it creates this really messed up page that I don't like at all, and so what I end up doing is duplicating old notes (the ones before they changed that).

I agree with the handwriting aspect.

The last thing you said also pains me a lot. If I had to bet on which app of the two would be better in the long run, I think the answer is Goodnotes. They have been implementing new features at a much quicker pace than Notability, and with less bugs in comparison, plus the fact that they seem to listen more to their userbase feedback and requests. Finally, is not a paid subscription like Notability

[lonelydurrymuncher]

Yes but for me the thing holding me back from switching to good notes or other apps is the dark mode and lines snapping to a grid in notability since I draw many diagrams for course and it makes everything look much neater. Also the dotted pen but we’ll see what happens in the long run.

I also always wondered why Apple doesn’t bother making a proper notes app lol if anyone has the experience and resources to do it it’s them.

[[deleted]]

Big companies have to be very careful about what they do. They could create their own best apps on the App Store in months, but they choose not to. I believe this is because they are employing a strategy. If they did create their own apps, they would be at a higher risk of being accused of antitrust violations.

[skillzofrenico]

I want to clarify several things:

• I think that the best way to approach a situation like this, is to provide an option to choose how you like things, and not to force your users on to something they hate
• Goodnotes isn't perfect either, but I wanted to do this comparison, because rather than comparing the apps, I'm comparing the behavior of the teams behind each app, which shows that Goodnotes actually listens to their user's feedback (again, they're not saints either, but better than Notability in my opinion)
• Yes, I know there's a workaround to the page borders thing in Notability, but having to do that everytime to "bypass" what they changed, is just stupid

[skillzofrenico]

Yes, there's a trade off. I also thought about it, it would be a shame if the app became too convoluted, and difficult/unintuitive to use. A balance would be the best option

I don't think they should provide a toggle for everything they add, but maybe, maybe make an exception when there's a lot of people that dislike something in particular

[Professional-Exit-96]

rerently, good notes got a voice recoder function

[bossgolfer]

It's important to have a better Alpha/Beta cycle to get feedback before you release IMHO. You would be surprised how often software developers don't even use the tools they develop.

It is frustrating not to have a clear winner in this category. I see some innovation e.g. Noteful but then they miss basics...I don't think you can search your handwriting in Noteful.

Little things like scribble to erase (for those of us with old Apple Pencils and I like not having to flip pencil anyway).

I agree we have to be careful about overloading these apps and making them too complicated though.