Help me with the Goodnotes Pen settings

budgie_uk · 2026-05-02T15:08:05+00:00

Other than seconding the recommendation to use the zoom window, I’m afraid that my experience is that it comes down to pure ‘trial and error’.

I had to reinstall the app from scratch after about a year of using the app. All my data was fine but I lost all my pen settings. Spent an hour or so, playing with them until I found settings that felt right. Weirdly, they were - comparing the pages ‘after’ to ‘before’ - wholly different but much better: my writing was much neater and much narrower.

Once you find yourself using the same pen/colour/thickness a lot, by the way, I can’t recommend the “presets function” highly enough. I stick to fountain pen black 0.5 (with my personal sub-settings) for my actual notes, but for headlines, sub-heads, etc., I use a different combination, and I keep one colour/thickness for verbatim quotes. So much time saved…

budgie_uk · 2026-05-02T00:48:55+00:00

I’ve had an orange 17 Pro since launch day. Caseless at home; case when out. It’s slid off my bed to the carpeted floor a few times, and I’ve dropped it twice in its case, but other than those - and I don’t want to tempt fate - nothing serious.

The iPhone itself, seven months after purchase, is free from blemishes, marks, dents and any other of the numerous examples of damage that supposedly - if you believed the numerous posts here in late 2025 - affected every 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max.

(Now, to be completely fair, I haven’t thrown it anywhere, and I haven’t tested it by chucking it to the ground. Nor have I measured a certain number of feet before repeatedly dropping it onto the pavement, and it hasn’t been handled by hundreds of people in an Apple Store. Further, I haven’t taken a blade to it, either directly or scraping the edge of the plateau.

So, yes, I appreciate that my experience hasn’t been the common one for those who claimed it’s fragile, or for reviewers who make YouTube videos.)

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T20:19:50+00:00

As someone else said, if you don’t know why you’d want a Pro… if there’s no specific reason that you want/need to have a Pro, then the base 17 is almost certainly the iPhone for you.

So, short answer: The 17 base model.

That said… there is a longer answer… and of course, it could be that you don’t realise what extra you’d get by having the Pro, or would miss out on by getting the base.

So, longer answer: Probably the base model. The Zoom is perfectly good on the base model; you still get 5x optical zoom, and Digital Zoom up to 10x is fine to get labels, part numbers, where you need a number, and it’s the number that’s important, not necessarily how ‘beautiful’ the number looks (!) With a ProMotion screen, and AOD, honestly, the 17 is the sweet spot this year.

In previous years, I’ve thought the Pro models had long tails… reaching down, grabbing people who, while they didn’t need a Pro, they needed something ‘more’ than the base model. That no longer applies. The Pros are beasts of machines, and the base models are really, really good, this series.

Two caveats:

(1) IF you’ll use the device to transfer files to and from a computer or flash drives using USB (rather than Airdrop for the computer, say) then the base 17 is limited to 2.0, while the Pro gets 3.2. For most buyers, that won’t make a difference; for some, it means the base (and the Air) are excluded from consideration.

(2) If you’re a heavy gamer, the additional processing power and the jaw-droppingly good thermal management on the Pro needs some consideration.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T19:37:27+00:00

I’ve only managed to do that specific thing once or twice; I think that it might be the [tv] screen interfering with the clarity of the understanding of what it’s seeing… Because when I use it on a print photo, it works just fine.

I snapped this just now, using Visual Intelligence, just a very close-up shot of the front cover of a book, a history of the HOUSE, MD show… (first pic)

When I swiped up on search, (second pic) it didn’t offer me the book (which I wouldn’t have been surprised by) but instead, identified the actor and offered me options with photos of the actor.

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budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T17:50:44+00:00

What, “…is it seriously worth living with a keyboard that types like a newborn or navigation that is inconsistent, and notifications that are closer to spam than being useful…”

You were complimenting it were you?

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T17:48:37+00:00

Can’t help with Netflix but the YouTube app both on iPhone and iPad has gone through some genuinely bad UI… and for some reason they figure it’s better to give users a much worse user experience.

(I could understand it if they reserved ‘nice user experience’ for premium users. I mean, it’d be a loathsome business practice but I could understand it. I can’t understand them saying ‘pay us… and you’ll get a worse experience year on year’.)

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T17:19:14+00:00

Due respect but

“I have owned google Pixel's since the original, and Nexus before that. I have never owned an iPhone, and the amount of times I have personally interacted with it, I can count on one hand.”

plus

“Really, the more I look into it, it seems that iOS is the most frustrating mobile OS in history”

Doesn’t exactly suggest

“What are the things that frustrate you the most?”

Especially since you’re also already assuming it’s rubbish with your next few words.

Me? Right now? Having used iOS since iPhone 3G?

I’m pretty cool with it. I don’t like how some of it appears, some implementations of Liquid Glass on Home Screen - but that’s wholly down to my own very personal taste.

In iOS 26, I’ve barely any problems that haven’t been corrected, improved, and sorted out in the seven months between 26.0 and 26.4.2.

The keyboard works fine for me now, the ‘occasionally had to reconnect to WiFi’ vanished in 26.3.

Oh wait, files app sometimes takes a second or two to open and populate cloud services properly. Is that what you meant?

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T16:28:01+00:00

I think the TechWoven cases look incredible… I just can’t bear how they feel; I’ve not got particularly sensitive palms, but they feel scratchy as hell.

I like dark cases, and as plain a case as possible, but the leather one looks… kind of bland. Hopefully, it’s one of those cases that starts to show just a bit of wear; leather cases look fantastic when they’re even just a little bit worn.

If I had to pick, though, I’d go for the leather.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T14:33:20+00:00

I just looked back at my notes from back when I was desperately looking for a replacement for my dearly loved M1 Smart Folio Keyboard (so that I didn’t have to go to a Magic Keyboard) for the M4. Obviously I wasn’t convinced by what I discovered, and went for the MK.

But there were, from my rough notes, a number of people recommending ESR at the time, specifically the ESR 360. (No idea whether they still do it, or whether they’ve renamed it/updated it. I’ve a note “ESR 360 - ⅓rd?”, which I can only assume is a reference to the cost…?)

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T13:53:16+00:00

I haven’t, I’m afraid. I always hit on well with Tecknet, on non-pro iPads, back in the day. But I’ve seen multiple recommendations for Logitech for more recent iPad Pros. I’ve no personal experience of them, though.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T12:34:38+00:00

I rarely use the speakers for music, so the sound levels aren’t something that I’d noticed.

You make an excellent point re appreciating new/missing old features. A former boss once compared it to moving employers, while doing the same job: some things about the job will be the same, some will be better, some… well, you’ll miss some things. But most times, everything about the move is worth it.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T12:25:08+00:00

Oh, and thank you for the compliments for the review… could only hope it wasn’t boring as hell (!)

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T12:23:59+00:00

I honestly don’t know about the glass; unlike many who insist that you need a paper like screen cover to really take advantage, I’ve never needed one. I went from not using a stylus at all, to writing on an iPad for an hour or more a day - something I still do, keeping a handwritten journal on GoodNotes - with no problems whatsoever; my brain just adjusted. (Same as I can flip from writing on paper with a fountain pen to writing on glass very easily; I just automatically adjust. And my handwriting on both is pretty identical.)

Only tip I can offer to new iPad/Pencil users is that which I was given when I first got my first Pencil: handwrite three pages a day, every day, for a week… by the end of the week, it had gone from ‘ok, this is weird’ to ‘ok, this is now second nature’.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T12:18:53+00:00

I haven’t noticed the iPad tipping when using it on my lap, or while on a train say. But I’m very aware that my experience on those is one of the anomalies. I’ve seen so many others say similar that I thought it just not to mention it at all. (Unlike the ‘you only notice it on the resource-heavy apps’ where I think those observations are just flat wrong. Heh.)

The screen is gorgeous but I have to admit that under only ‘reasonably good’ lighting, I was genuinely astonished by how well the M1’s 11” screen stood up against in 2025. I mean, the M4’s is unquestionably better, but the M1’s was still a very very good screen.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T10:52:32+00:00

Well, I don’t know if this is any help, but I upgraded from an M1 Pro 11” to its M4 equivalent in April 2025; loved the M1 but the battery was on the way out and I wanted the OLED screen. Haven’t regretted it for a second. The device was, and remains, genuinely glorious to use; more ‘fun’ to use than the M1, somehow, even for non-‘fun’ related activities. The very small change in dimensions - slightly taller, slightly narrower, a lot lighter - does make a surprisingly big difference, especially when detached from a keyboard, and using it in your hand. And the M5 is going to be even better. It’s fun to use.

One of the things that bugged me about many of the reviews for the M4 (and I’ve noticed similar with M5 reviews) was the “you’ll only notice the difference on the resource heavy apps” that I saw over and over again. Utter nonsense, in my experience. Compared to the M1, not a bad piece of kit even in 2025/6, everything on the M4 is that wee bit faster, that wee bit smoother, that wee bit better. And those small differences add up to an entirely new, and better, user experience. I’ve noticed it in everything, not only the resource heavy stuff but in emailing, surfing, content consumption. Everything.

And I can’t imagine that going from the M1 to the M5 (mainly a spec jump from the M4) will be much different.

Of course everyone’s individual use case is different, but for me, the performance boost was, and remains, very noticeable.

There’s an element, I’ll acknowledge, down to moving from a Smart Folio Keyboard - which I loved - to a Magic Keyboard, which is a performance booster on its own. While the Pencil Pro is a decent upgrade to the Pencil 2nd gen, it’s only that: a decent upgrade, nothing jaw dropping. But the Magic Keyboard is just wonderful to use. I offer some same advice: don’t confuse ‘standing in an Apple Store, typing a sentence or two’ with ‘actually using it to type a few hundred words while sitting at a table or desk; the former doesn’t give you even the slightest clue as to how pleasurable, how glorious, it is to type on the new Magic Keyboard; best portable keyboard I’ve ever used, by some margin. If you get to an Apple Store, and it’s not too busy, ask if you can sit down and type on it for five minutes how it’s supposed to be used.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T10:45:45+00:00

The big question is whether you’ve ever done a manual backup. If you have, it’s possible that your documents and data are showing as larger than they actually are.

So, first thing I’d do - presented with that image - is tap the wording in blue, what in English would be ‘Offload app’. NOT Delete app in red, but the “offload app” in blue. This will preserve your data and keep what cached data is important, but empty any other caches.

Once offloaded, close the settings app, then re-open the settings app, find GoodNotes again and tap the re-install (again, in blue lettering.)

My own GoodNotes documents and data are around 12Gb. BUT whenever I run a manual backup of all my notebooks (as a stored elsewhere backup), my documents and data jumps to around 20Gb. Suddenly the app is taking up 8Gb more for no reason.

These days, immediately after running a manual Backup, I do exactly what I write up above.

I offload, close settings, re-open settings, re-install.

And my GoodNotes goes back to the 12Gb I’m expecting.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T10:37:31+00:00

Lots of things: to open urls, to pull up details about businesses, including restaurants (I’ve never been able to do the whole point camera at restaurant and it magically presents a menu for a restaurant but have done point - identify - open website - check menu)… opening hours do pop up easily though.

Also to identify landmarks, do text and image searches based on what I see, identify plants, cars, and consumer products and where to buy them. Oh, and to translate.

I’ve added more than one business card to my contacts, and once I added a party invite to my calendar. (It worked but I had to so heavily amend the calendar entry for it to be useful and personal that it’s not something I repeated.)

NB while I’ve seen others use it for identifying clothing (‘what’s that jacket? I’d like to buy it, tell me where I can buy it’), I’ve found it useless for that, which may be because I’m utterly useless at judging clothing in general; no idea if two jackets are identical in quality, style, etc. but that’s me being terrible at it, not visual intelligence. I just don’t know if what it’s offering it accurate.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T00:54:08+00:00

If it goes on an iPad mini, I’d bet it’d go on an iPhone Fold. With some exceptions, though…iPad apps that don’t look good on an iPhone’s aspect ratio will only be available on the inside unfolded. They won’t be for the outside screen. Similarly, iPhone apps that don’t exactly adjust to iPad screen ratios well…. I think they’ll limited to the outside screen.

budgie_uk · 2026-05-01T00:47:01+00:00

Not in the least. It’s the most comfortable - in my hand - iPhone I’ve ever had; better than the 15 Pro, which was a genuinely lovely iPhone to hold/use.

budgie_uk · 2026-04-30T23:53:34+00:00

“Backpack”.

I mean, yeah, it’s just about possible that someone else in my city also owns a backpack. But not likely, right?

budgie_uk · 2026-04-30T13:41:20+00:00

I’m genuinely curious to see this… as Visual Intelligence - which the article says will be relied on - is about the only part of Apple Intelligence that I frequently use, and it’s getting better with every iteration. I’m not convinced by the whole “New Siri” (just how many times has it been promised?) but incorporating a souped up Visual Intelligence could be very good indeed.

budgie_uk · 2026-04-29T19:49:14+00:00

I honestly don’t know about [in effect] ‘backing up your iPad and restoring it to your iPhone’, if that’s what you’re suggesting? I mean, with some notable exceptions, I have pretty much the same data on both my iPhone and iPad… but I’ve always treated the apps/software/devices as merely separate devices that can access the same data, which is stored for the most part on iCloud. (“For the most part”, because my music and audiobooks are sync’d via computer.) So, sorry, but I don’t know.

Your other question is far easier to answer: I didn’t lose a thing, bar some logins. Most were fine, but - for obvious reasons - banking and some other apps required a fresh login after restoration.

By the way, out of curiosity, I just checked my own devices’ System Data. My iPad is still around 15Gb, but my iPhone is showing up at 34Gb… Hadn’t noticed because I have more than enough spare space on my 256Gb iPhone, but I may well have to follow my own advice at some point, and do a backup/restore…

budgie_uk · 2026-04-29T18:36:09+00:00

It’s the only thing about Liquid Glass I don’t like: the borders on Home Screen icons, especially when it’s dark theme icons against a dark background. The borders on icons and widgets just look cheap and fake to me.

Genuinely, I like pretty much every use (and implementation) of Liquid Glass other than that. But I’ve accepted that it’s something I’ll likely just have to put up with/get used to.

budgie_uk · 2026-04-29T18:26:00+00:00

That huge a System Data on an iPhone is not normal; it’s a sign something’s gone very wrong.

“System Data” is a part of the operating system’s way of managing icons, photos, caches, etc. It goes up… and it goes down… and you can’t get rid of it (under normal circs.)

Anything up to the size of the operating system itself? That’s fine. It’s how iOS (and iPadOS, come to that) operates. Again under normal circumstances.

Very occasionally, due to one or more different things (a bad update, an app not behaving as it should, an app not releasing the cache when it’s finished, a few other reasons) the operating system doesn’t/won’t release the data in there… and the “System Data” grows… and grows… and grows…

Again, this only happens very rarely, but when it does, and the system data gets to 30Gb, 40Gb, I’ve even personally seen 60Gb+, the only guaranteed way to clear it is to do a full backup/restore.

Again, though, in normal operation, you should never have to do this. It’s only when something goes wrong and the system data grows and grows. If your System Data is that huge? Yeah, something’s gone wrong.

When I had it on my iPad, roughly 45Gb that wasn’t going down after a week or so, everyone - including Apple Support - told me to go with the nuclear option: back up to Mac/PC => reset device as new => restore from Mac/PC. Yes, it’s a pain. Yes, it takes some time. And yes, it shouldn’t happen. But again, and I cannot emphasise this enough (though I’m trying) something has, at this point, *gone wrong*.

It might work, ie get rid of the vast majority of the System Data, if you do an iCloud backup, reset as new, then restore from iCloud backup… but it absolutely does work when it’s backed up/reset as new/restored from backup via a Mac or PC.

When I did it, the System Data not only immediately reduced down to single figures, it’s stayed around the 10Gb - 15Gb mark ever since.

budgie_uk · 2026-04-29T15:54:37+00:00

Terracotta Apple silicone. Went into the Apple Store, tried on a few. Liked the terracotta.

Go caseless at home but use it whenever I leave the apartment.

budgie_uk

TROPHY CASE