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Freenotes®: AI Notes Taking

Free Notes AI Note Taker LTD · 53,881 ratings · ★ 4.7

4.7
★★★★★
53,881 ratings
5 ★
45,727 (85%)
4 ★
3,988 (7%)
3 ★
1,514 (3%)
2 ★
639 (1%)
1 ★
2,029 (4%)
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Top complaints - extracted from 38 negative reviews

Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.

1
"free"
20 negative reviews mention this · 53% of all complaints
★★★★ "not free anymore. Love the app but I won't pay $10 year for it, maybe $10 for lifetime. Until then I'll be using other apps" - Lord Gameplayer
2
"notes"
11 negative reviews mention this · 29% of all complaints
★★★★ "Subscription based. Before it only has a few ads. Now? Subscription based. Do not waste your time in this app, they limit the amount of notes you can have and pay locked essential note taking accessories. Please avoid!" - OPENING IV
3
"been"
10 negative reviews mention this · 26% of all complaints
★★★★★ "They Sold Out…. I started using this app two years ago for school because it was completely free at the time. I remember a year ago we were told that the original adopters of Freenotes would be able to keep all of the original features of the app even when…" - PiousJo
4
"anymore"
8 negative reviews mention this · 21% of all complaints
★★★★ "not free anymore. Love the app but I won't pay $10 year for it, maybe $10 for lifetime. Until then I'll be using other apps" - Lord Gameplayer
5
"features"
8 negative reviews mention this · 21% of all complaints
★★★★★ "They Sold Out…. I started using this app two years ago for school because it was completely free at the time. I remember a year ago we were told that the original adopters of Freenotes would be able to keep all of the original features of the app even when…" - PiousJo
6
"subscription"
7 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★ "Subscription based. Before it only has a few ads. Now? Subscription based. Do not waste your time in this app, they limit the amount of notes you can have and pay locked essential note taking accessories. Please avoid!" - OPENING IV
7
"years"
7 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "They Sold Out…. I started using this app two years ago for school because it was completely free at the time. I remember a year ago we were told that the original adopters of Freenotes would be able to keep all of the original features of the app even when…" - PiousJo
8
"lifetime"
6 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★ "not free anymore. Love the app but I won't pay $10 year for it, maybe $10 for lifetime. Until then I'll be using other apps" - Lord Gameplayer
9
"money"
6 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "They Sold Out…. I started using this app two years ago for school because it was completely free at the time. I remember a year ago we were told that the original adopters of Freenotes would be able to keep all of the original features of the app even when…" - PiousJo
10
"paid"
6 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Freenotes isn’t free anymore!. I’ve been using Freenotes for 2.5 years now and I really used to love it, it used to be perfect. But now the paywall has become so limiting it’s more annoying to use than useful. I understand having some features needing to be paid for such…" - itsmemichellel
11
"year"
5 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★ "not free anymore. Love the app but I won't pay $10 year for it, maybe $10 for lifetime. Until then I'll be using other apps" - Lord Gameplayer
12
"until"
5 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★ "not free anymore. Love the app but I won't pay $10 year for it, maybe $10 for lifetime. Until then I'll be using other apps" - Lord Gameplayer

📋 All 38 negative reviews

Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").

★★★★ OPENING IV 6/26/2026 v3.39.0
Subscription based
Before it only has a few ads. Now? Subscription based. Do not waste your time in this app, they limit the amount of notes you can have and pay locked essential note taking accessories. Please avoid!
★★★★ Lord Gameplayer 6/25/2026 v3.39.0
not free anymore
Love the app but I won't pay $10 year for it, maybe $10 for lifetime. Until then I'll be using other apps
★★★★ alomi:P 6/24/2026 v3.39.0
Used to be free
I've been using this app ever since it was free!? There was no need for an upgrade in order to continue usingbthe app! Like what the heck?! I had hopes for this app being free for those who afford or don't have money to buy a monthly/ year plan. This is a betrayal to those who have been with this app since it was free.
★★★★ bounce271008 6/24/2026 v3.39.0
Changes to the premium versions of the app
I have used this app consistently since its launch and have enjoyed all of the great features and updates introduced. Additionally, I have never had any issues with the app up until now. However, the pro version of the app has recently downgraded to the free version and the app is essentially locked behind a paywall. Though I have been a loyal user for the past couple years, I now have to pay a never-ending subscription in order to access basic features. I am totally unhappy with the directions the app developers have taken and I believe that at the very least a lifetime purchase option should be offered as well. I will not be using this app anymore and I recommend everyone else to find somewhere else to take their notes.
★★★★ Rea0303 6/22/2026 v3.39.0
Change your app name atp
The name is deceiving now. You basically have to pay to use this app. I understand if you want to earn money, you’ll limited some of the features. However, you just limited most of them making the app useless at this point. I’ve been using the app for little over a year now. It was amazing for schoolwork and I never had a problem with anything. Now I can’t say the same. It’s honestly disappointing that I have to look elsewhere when I truly loved this app. It was fun while it lasted…
★★★★ technetium-99 6/20/2026 v3.38.0
no longer free - has several limitations now
i have been using this app for 2 years like a lot of people have said previously. it was originally great and a wonderful alternative to paid notetaking apps. over time, they've started putting in useless AI features and limiting the amount of notebooks you can make before paying. even IF the "free" in freenotes meant freedom like they claim, it's still deceptive at the end of the day. i will be switching to an alternative.
★★★★ Jungle_fever21 6/20/2026 v3.38.0
Lost my Profile
I had this app since 2023/2024. I’ve used it for a very long time. When I went to use it again, I’ve lost my profile. I haven’t received an email to reset my password and I now have to pay this account before using it again. I don’t have an issue with paying however, the app told me that I had the app free forever. Now I have to pay and have a limit on the use of this app. I will probably uninstall and find something else but it’s very disheartening to loss access and haven’t received an email or anything. Also when I use the app and ai feedback feature, it disappears when I leave the app and go back to it. Very disappointing.
★★★★ yas1940 6/16/2026 v3.38.0
What the heck?
Updated the app and now I can't expand a page unless I pay $10. This is outrageous.
★★★★ Notingtingtang 6/15/2026 v3.38.0
Lost my account despite signing up for lifetime
When I signed back into my account despite me signing up for the lifetime access, it later kicked me out then said I had to upgrade
★★★★ Harry2489H 6/15/2026 v3.38.0
依托lj
删除个软件 里面文件全没了 绝了
★★★★ o why did the 6/13/2026 v3.37.0
弹窗烦人
总是弹窗通知送VIP,打开就显示过期,但是还反复弹
★★★★ Mary anna 2345 6/11/2026 v3.37.0
A review
It was a good free app to use and rely on till it became paid
★★★★ MK2398$ 6/10/2026 v3.37.0
It was great until it wasn’t free anymore
I’ve used this app for almost 2 years now and it has only gone downhill. They started with adding in ads and then put in the AI features that were needed to be paid for. I didn’t mind that but now they have made it impossible to use the app without buying some sort of subscription. The only reason why I haven’t deleted the app is due to needing it for school for the next few months. This used to be a 5/5 star app. Please stop forcing people to pay for an app that says free in the name.
★★★★ Jianna Granda 6/9/2026 v3.37.0
This app is not free anymore and should change their name
This app was good for students that can’t pay for an app, until they asked for subscription to get more ability to have more features, now I can no longer have more notebooks. I would recommend buy an app that already has all these features without lying to people saying that is free
★★★★ MiMinnnjh 6/8/2026 v3.36.1
Annoying :\ I would rate 0 if I could
It doesn't work whenever I try to open a new blank page; it only works if I use ruled lines. Honestly, I don't understand why the screen freezes every time I try to open a blank layout. I don't like the lines, unfortunately they make me dizzy-I just want to work on a blank page. Is that too much to ask? EDIT: I even tried to pay, to see if that was the problem, cuz a don’t care to pay for any app that makes my life easier, but this app keeps freezing every time that I want to either pay for a subscription o create a new note like ????
★★★★ no-thanks_ 6/7/2026 v3.36.0
Free notes? This name doesn’t apply anymore
App is ok. Used to be free, till they started a subscription just to keep the app being usable midway through the school year. They keep adding tiers and unnecessary AI features. I only paid their subscription because I already had notes on the app. I wont be giving my money to a company that will take away existing features and lock behind paywall, especially when their branding is “free”. I don’t trust they won’t take away more. If you are gonna pay for a notes app, choose one that is forthcoming with their charges. Oh and please don’t demean your customers about the meaning behind the name. We aren’t stupid and know the original intention was free of charge, not freedom to create. Your decisions already clash with your branding, don’t make it worse. Please rethink your approach
★★★★ iwizzz 6/6/2026 v3.36.0
not free anymore
lol
★★★★ chiuluon:)))887 6/5/2026 v3.36.0
viết không smooth, làm đổi nét
làm nét chữ xấu đi
★★★★ Rose23145 6/3/2026 v3.36.0
To many adds
I used to like this app but there are now SO many adds you can’t do anything without having to sit through and add, I literally can’t delete a not without it playing and ad EVERY TIME ne it has completely ruined the app, do better
★★★★ spoingus22 5/28/2026 v3.35.0
“Free” notes
> calls app Freenotes
> exorbitantly strict free tier
Couldn’t think of anything better to paywall than the basic parts of a notes app?
★★★★ Kikihaso 5/28/2026 v3.35.0
双标的恶心app
里面一堆广告就不说了,系统非常臃肿,而且对用户双标,我必须付费才能使用而我朋友就是免费的😅 吃相难看
★★★★ jvxsnmnf boofdsnkutvmitr 5/21/2026 v3.34.1
NOT FREEZ
Why call the app ‘free notes’ if you have to pay. Talk about a scam.
★★★★ John Reviewer1 5/18/2026 v3.34.0
Pay for no ads just to get ads
As the title says you can pay to get rid of ads but it won’t actually do that. $10 one time payment but since you aren’t subscribed to their super awesome AI helper, annoying banner ads telling you to upgrade will show up every time you open the app. There’s just a clear downward trend in how “free” this app has been advertised as over time.
★★★★ Ks_Rose11 5/15/2026 v3.34.0
DONT BUY IF YOU WANNA USE POWEPOINTS
I purchased the lifetime subscription so that I could edit my PowerPoint for my anatomy of physiology class but when I imported it does the same thing as the free apps and doesn’t use the correct picture for the slide and doesn’t correctly line up the labels to the images properly. I wasn’t able to test this out beforehand because my PowerPoint was too big to test it out on the free version and I’ve tried to get a refund and Apple has denied me twice. I will be disputing with my bank because this is very upsetting as a college student, I do not have time to waste trying to find an app and also waste of money on one that doesn’t even work!
★★★★ Teddyyyyyysj 5/14/2026 v3.33.1
Lifetime membership
Paid for it but never got it. Sent an email and did not receive a reply
★★★★ ugg*bs 5/10/2026 v3.33.0
what
انهو ليس فيه العربيه
★★★★ Jose Colberg 5/9/2026 v3.33.0
Sucks
Cant place my hand on the screen while i write. Writing starts going crazy making extraneous lines. Really unfortunate bc it has usually been reliable. You have to fix your app bc its currently borderline unusuable
★★★★ surewhynot_ 5/8/2026 v3.32.0
WHY NO MORE NOTEBOOKS????
Can only creat 3 notebooks before the app asks for money smh
★★★★★ PiousJo 6/25/2026 v3.39.0
They Sold Out…
I started using this app two years ago for school because it was completely free at the time. I remember a year ago we were told that the original adopters of Freenotes would be able to keep all of the original features of the app even when it went freemium. Unfortunately the devs have gone against their word for whatever it was worth.
I’ve been forced to subscribe for a year because I don’t have time to transfer my notes to a better platform, but come next year I likely will be switching to a better note taking app for the money.
★★★★★ 🌺🦋✨ 6/23/2026 v3.39.0
Hard to use
I downloaded this to take notes for college on my iPad. I’d be helpful to have a thorough tutorial of how to use it and how I can take notes.
★★★★★ itsmemichellel 6/22/2026 v3.39.0
Freenotes isn’t free anymore!
I’ve been using Freenotes for 2.5 years now and I really used to love it, it used to be perfect. But now the paywall has become so limiting it’s more annoying to use than useful. I understand having some features needing to be paid for such as the custom notebooks or certain writing tools, but limiting the amount of notebooks we are able to have is so frustrating. I can’t organize my notes now and have to dump all my notes into 1 notebook. Very disappointing now.
★★★★★ lemon_honeytea 6/12/2026 v3.37.0
No longer free…
I used to adore this app! I started using it when it had first come out. I’ve been using it all throughout my two years so far of college and it’s been the best! However, they now are starting to charge. Maybe because it’s gaining more traction, however I cannot stay using the app knowing I have to pay. I will switch to Goodnotes or Notability now. Such a shame and a sad thing to happen :(
★★★★★ vishu7389 6/11/2026 v3.37.0
Amazing until the update
I’ve been using this app for 2 years to take notes for college. Now im studying for the MCAT and they just updated it so now you have to pay to add more notebooks. This was an amazing free option but now there’s no reason to use this over good notes as they’re the same price.
★★★★★ 𝓝𝓽𝔂 5/31/2026 v3.36.0
Decent
I think this is a good app.but I can’t find the image button.
★★★★★ Hal.M.B 5/18/2026 v3.34.0
Mehhh
I liked it, it works well and has good functions. There are ads but that didn’t bother me. However, you only get a certain amount of free separate notes you can create. Even if you delete the ones you don’t need anymore you don’t receive a replenished amount. So I can use it anymore without paying for the upgrade or combining my notes together. Which I refuse to do.
★★★★★ Shadowharbinger 5/15/2026 v3.34.0
30 minutes for live recording
Too many things not part of the lifetime plan
★★★★★ rxqttv 5/14/2026 v3.33.1
was good, got ruined
really has all the options you could need, was perfect all til the paywall, i liked it alot because of how accessible it was and as a school student i couldn’t afford to pay just for a note taking app to do my assignments, so i was really happy with finding this app, the paywall really ruined it, i mean its called FREEnotes no??
★★★★★ D.M.0099 5/13/2026 v3.33.1
Horrible
Free notes yet you still have to pay wow, just wow

Sentiment summary

92%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
5%
Negative (1-2★)

✓ Strong positive sentiment - clone path is harder, users like the existing app.