Review Insights · App Store
Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF
Goodnotes Limited · 422,195 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
422,195 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 57 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
"notes"
17 negative reviews mention this · 30% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Good App, poor deployment!. I have been using Goodnotes for a long time and unfortunately, on Mac, Goodnotes would fill the entire RAM and cause a freeze! Hopefully, this bug will be solved in future releases!" - Student_nobody
2
"goodnotes"
10 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Good App, poor deployment!. I have been using Goodnotes for a long time and unfortunately, on Mac, Goodnotes would fill the entire RAM and cause a freeze! Hopefully, this bug will be solved in future releases!" - Student_nobody
3
"subscription"
8 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Why does everyone think their product deserves a subscription?. Just imagine if EVERYTHING, which we’re already headed for, required a subscription? It’s already hard enough to afford to even be alive in 2026, now it’s almost impossible to afford to even be organized and productive. I don’t care if it i…" - Anonymous1738?
4
"paid"
8 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I paid for this years ago. I paid for this app about 5 years ago. Why do I need to buy a subscription to take new notes?? It's a notes app. This is ridiculous" - Supersecretperson11
5
"every"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Why does everyone think their product deserves a subscription?. Just imagine if EVERYTHING, which we’re already headed for, required a subscription? It’s already hard enough to afford to even be alive in 2026, now it’s almost impossible to afford to even be organized and productive. I don’t care if it i…" - Anonymous1738?
6
"does"
6 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Why does everyone think their product deserves a subscription?. Just imagine if EVERYTHING, which we’re already headed for, required a subscription? It’s already hard enough to afford to even be alive in 2026, now it’s almost impossible to afford to even be organized and productive. I don’t care if it i…" - Anonymous1738?
7
"already"
6 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Why does everyone think their product deserves a subscription?. Just imagine if EVERYTHING, which we’re already headed for, required a subscription? It’s already hard enough to afford to even be alive in 2026, now it’s almost impossible to afford to even be organized and productive. I don’t care if it i…" - Anonymous1738?
8
"working"
6 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Won’t open documents. This app has worked great for years but has now stopped working entirely and I have not received a response from the support team. The app freezes any time I open a document which is very frustrating and makes the app unusable." - Bpeach01
9
"write"
6 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Bugnotes. Goodnotes needs to stop downloading every language on earth. I’ve turned off writing aides and spellcheck. It’s also set to English, but the app keeps recognizing other languages. It only does this if I write in cursive. It recognizes cursi…" - Deezanutsa
10
"able"
6 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Won’t open documents. This app has worked great for years but has now stopped working entirely and I have not received a response from the support team. The app freezes any time I open a document which is very frustrating and makes the app unusable." - Bpeach01
11
"feature"
6 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Bugnotes. Goodnotes needs to stop downloading every language on earth. I’ve turned off writing aides and spellcheck. It’s also set to English, but the app keeps recognizing other languages. It only does this if I write in cursive. It recognizes cursi…" - Deezanutsa
12
"ridiculous"
6 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I paid for this years ago. I paid for this app about 5 years ago. Why do I need to buy a subscription to take new notes?? It's a notes app. This is ridiculous" - Supersecretperson11
📋 All 57 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").
Why does everyone think their product deserves a subscription?
Just imagine if EVERYTHING, which we’re already headed for, required a subscription? It’s already hard enough to afford to even be alive in 2026, now it’s almost impossible to afford to even be organized and productive. I don’t care if it is only $1 a month for the cheapest subscription, y’all crazy. Great app, but insane for it to it to require a subscription for files over 5 mb. Plenty of apps that are one time buys that make a killing. I will easily pay for an app that is worth while, but not monthly. Do better.
Good App, poor deployment!
I have been using Goodnotes for a long time and unfortunately, on Mac, Goodnotes would fill the entire RAM and cause a freeze! Hopefully, this bug will be solved in future releases!
Cannot access
The original email that my account was under I can no longer access therefore I cannot even create a new account under Goodnotes But I’m not getting any responses and there’s no contact information. I didn’t even care if I got a refund. Just wanted to create a new account and it won’t even let me.
Poor AI notes
Not good with recording audio and then translating it to notes like it says it does..
狗屎調整
新介面超爛 為什麼一定要這樣大改呢？
錄音功能被強制鎖在附屬功能的用意是什麼？
聽錄音一半的畫面被錄音頁面佔走到底在幹嘛？
我不用每二行就調整一次我要用的筆欸 為什麼還要多一行在上面佔位置 到底在想什麼 一大堆破調整 就讓我好好做筆記這麼難嗎還是重新適應一次
錄音功能被強制鎖在附屬功能的用意是什麼？
聽錄音一半的畫面被錄音頁面佔走到底在幹嘛？
我不用每二行就調整一次我要用的筆欸 為什麼還要多一行在上面佔位置 到底在想什麼 一大堆破調整 就讓我好好做筆記這麼難嗎還是重新適應一次
Won’t open documents
This app has worked great for years but has now stopped working entirely and I have not received a response from the support team. The app freezes any time I open a document which is very frustrating and makes the app unusable.
Greed lost u a long time customer
It was great before they had to jump on the subscription train. Phuk off!
Bugnotes
Goodnotes needs to stop downloading every language on earth. I’ve turned off writing aides and spellcheck. It’s also set to English, but the app keeps recognizing other languages. It only does this if I write in cursive. It recognizes cursive writing poorly. It shouldn’t recognize any language if I have this turned off.
Also I set ai response language to English, and it goes back to auto.
We need to be able to turn off ai completely. I don’t use it, and like most people I’m sick of having useless ai feature shoved in my face without my consent.
Also I set ai response language to English, and it goes back to auto.
We need to be able to turn off ai completely. I don’t use it, and like most people I’m sick of having useless ai feature shoved in my face without my consent.
I paid for this years ago
I paid for this app about 5 years ago. Why do I need to buy a subscription to take new notes?? It's a notes app. This is ridiculous
Please fix flashcards
Flashcard feature needs ability to search cards in decks and option to edit card while you are in the studying feature. I would also love to be able to draw on top of images in the flashcard setting.
Crashing in A16
Do plz fix it
Bad
I can only write one story with this app. What’s your problem? I keep running out of space after ONE NOTEBOOK 📓. THAT’S IT! No more than ONE. Do not download this. 😔👎
Greedy and terrible. Already paid for app years ago now they want to charge a subscription
A mess. Used to get me through my college years, now has become unusable and greedy
Issues
There’s a problems in laser using
Sign out problems
It wont quit logging me out
Nexus
Continuous Nexus error when using stylus.
No more AI
I don’t want ai I just wanna take notes
Disappointment from a 15 year user
Ive had this app for almost 15 years on an older device. I paid for it fair in square. Now that I got a new ipad, I have to pay again? You lost me there. So upsetting!
It’s ok
Personally I like the app, I think it’s great for high school and college use but I hate how every single note taking app needs a membership or a free trial, I find it stupid. STOP MAKING A FREE APP ACTUALLY COST MONEY ONCE YOU DOWNLOAD IT.such a waste of time, I can barely even write notes because it only gives me three canvass what’s the point.
Ridiculous
Having to pay a subscription to have more than 3 documents on my documents app is insane.
This is not what I paid for.
This is not what I paid for. I would like a refund. I paid for Goodnotes 5, not this, not 5 with this slapped over top of it so the reviews carry over. A lot of the reviews here are for 5, that's why such a high rating. Even in Version 7.0.52. My review still stands. So which version was the update for with the bug fixes and everything?? I do love how you remove the number from the name though…
Not working
I had this app not to long ago and I tried to redownload it but every time I open the app it closed off on its own and it’s not an issue with my iPad because only this app does that what should I do
Unusable for so long now
Too buggy
Bring back localized searches please - not every search should be Global
In this recent update, the search function was changed to search globally, across all content, rather than respecting the folder I’m currently inside. It’s a shame to lose such a useful feature. This does not make the search “more powerful” - if I wanted to search through ALL content I could always just use the search function from the Home page and search ALL folders. Now sadly, when i try to search within a single folder, it searches through ALL my content, not just the folder I’m already in. Please bring back localized searches!
Amazing app, but currently useless
I love this app, but it’s being useless right now. I am trying to do a homework but the app closes itself every a couple of seconds. How the hell I’m supposed to do anything of the app keeps crashing and no error is shown. I tried every troubleshooting the website suggest and no5ing is working.
Glitchy note-taking in favor of useless gimmicks
When I first downloaded the app in 2022 (on brand new ipad air), it was great. Unfortunately, looking at this from the perspective of a “note-taking app”, i.e. an application whose main purpose is to take notes, the app keeps adding more and more random features that have frankly barely any purpose while its core feature keeps getting glitchier and glitchier. It is infuriating getting on this app and having my ipad behave like a 2013 tablet that I just jailbroke. Truly ridiculous. Instead of enabling an AI note taker, how about you actually focus on the note-taking experience being better?
Technical issues
I paid for the pro plan but completely unable to access it. Waiting on technical support to see if they can fix it.
Don’t buy goodnotes again
I bought Goodnotes to edit my docs, 3 times! now u have taken editing away? so that i have to buy it again… I’m not…..
Unsaved notes on exam day
There are a lot of things that have gone wrong previously but nothing like this before. For the last 2 weeks I’ve been working on notes for a huge exam. Unfortunately, for the last few days the app has been crashing, it went from a few times a day to every few minutes. The app started to distort any words I would write, feeling confused I checked additional apps to see if it was my pencil, but it worked completely fine. It was just on Goodnotes that it decided not to work. The day of my exam, hours before, the app started glitching again to where I was unable to go on without getting kicked out every few minutes. I decided to make sure all my notes were backed up, then uninstalled the app. After I uninstalled, the app would not reinstall. After an hour, it was able to reinstall but my notes were gone. I checked google drive, and found no notes. Even though I have auto-synch on, it still didn’t save anything. This has been a super stressful situation and in disbelief.
Too many unnecessary “features”
I got this app because my classmates used it, and it started good.
But over time I noticed these unnecessary “features” that annoyed me.
When I tap the 4 squares to show all pages in a list, goodnotes will start at the top then scroll down to the page i’m currently on. This is cool and all, but it’s a good half second delay each time i press the button to find a page. Please, just give me the page I’m on.
I also like to organize my notes in folders and subfolders; but every time I open a folder there’s another half second delay while I wait for the contents to slide in from the side of the screen. Maybe this is just to hide the loading time of the files, but it’s just file browsing, it shouldn’t even need to have a delay. If it’s not, please get rid of this animation and just show me my goddamn notes.
What made me write this review:
After updating to the latest iOS, a new bug appeared. Every time I switch tabs between 2 different files, Goodnotes will scroll me up to the top of the page. But if i’m already there, it will scroll me up to the previous page. Literally nobody asked for this; I can scroll my own damn screen. This bug apparently was found 7 months ago online and it still isn’t fixed.
Please Goodnotes, stop implementing these bloated animations and features that only waste time and interfere with actual note taking.
But over time I noticed these unnecessary “features” that annoyed me.
When I tap the 4 squares to show all pages in a list, goodnotes will start at the top then scroll down to the page i’m currently on. This is cool and all, but it’s a good half second delay each time i press the button to find a page. Please, just give me the page I’m on.
I also like to organize my notes in folders and subfolders; but every time I open a folder there’s another half second delay while I wait for the contents to slide in from the side of the screen. Maybe this is just to hide the loading time of the files, but it’s just file browsing, it shouldn’t even need to have a delay. If it’s not, please get rid of this animation and just show me my goddamn notes.
What made me write this review:
After updating to the latest iOS, a new bug appeared. Every time I switch tabs between 2 different files, Goodnotes will scroll me up to the top of the page. But if i’m already there, it will scroll me up to the previous page. Literally nobody asked for this; I can scroll my own damn screen. This bug apparently was found 7 months ago online and it still isn’t fixed.
Please Goodnotes, stop implementing these bloated animations and features that only waste time and interfere with actual note taking.
Family Membership
My family is unable to access more than 3 notebooks, I am able to have as many as I want. I cannot reach a person to help my family. The program is great otherwise.
Bugs everywhere
Too many bugs all the time. For a software that is not free, I guess you should level up your game or the next company that appears with a similar, better and cheaper product will have all your clients, including myself.
Copy paste not working
It is difficult to select text from PDF and copy paste is not working, even w or w/o shortcut, pls fix. Thanks
All Greed No features
Ever since owning the full version f the app all they have done is spend so much time on pushing ai and not fixing the bugs and glitches in the app like stickers crashing the app. But my biggest issues is ever since the recent update gifs or animated photos are no longer supported which is insane since that’s a update they put out almost 9 months ago and they updated it to break now. but hey spend $35 a year and get to use their high tech ai tho. on top of that it’s ridiculous they never implemented the handwriting features the apple notes app have considered how bad the in app one is it doesn’t recognize uppercase letters somehow because the word is not the first word of a sentence. but again we have ai features though.
actuaciones
Estas actuaciones de las página no me gustan cuando escribo no queda centrada en la línea y es incómodo ver que queda la escritura. En verdad no me gusta ante estaba mucho mejor
Refuses to lock
Although the settings are to lock after 2 mins, it won’t
Old opened files show on startup
App keeps showing old deleted document on startup. Trash bin already emptied of that file.
Battery Usage in Most Recent Update
Love the app, but the most recent update seems to be devouring my iPad’s battery-like 20% in an hour, when that used to take maybe 5-10%. I just noticed this today, and I’m heavily concerned my iPad will not make it through my 6 hours of lectures on Monday.
once an amazing app, now a glitchy mess
i’m sooo glad you guys prioritize your ai so much! the app just deleted what i was writing out of the blue, and i haven’t gone a day without noticing glitches, but that’s totally fine, because your ai is just as bad as the rest of them! you sure did improve your app, guys, great job! :D
Goodnotes Deleted Everything
All of my notes deleted with an app update. I have lost everything, and this happened the week before university finals. Words cannot describe how incredibly frustrated and upset this app has made me.
How do you mess this up that badly
If you’re gonna make notetaking software, make the software SAVE THE NOTES. it’s ridiculous that I paid money for an app that’s functionality is nonexistent
Over priced junk
Feel like windows xp Buggy and old they need handwriting feature like notes and less ai junk
Lost Everything
I am not able to download purchases from the marketplace and one suggestion was to reinstall the app. I deleted and reinstalled the app and EVERYTHING IS GONE! Now I am off to research why I am not able to install my purchase and then need to rebuild everything! FRUSTRATING!
Subscription based
I was really disappointed when I opened my Goodnotes app to see they switched to a subscription based service. This used to be a great app to take notes in, but I will be moving on to something else. Unfortunate.
NO AI SLOP
stop shoving ai slop into everything, we don't want it
Payment
I’m not gonna pay for a moth to write about my oc’s backstories and details just to waste my money on that
Mac
Doesn’t work on Mac, in this case a new Mini M4 with the latest MacOS
Lag with Apple Pencil
I can’t believe that there is this much lag. iPad mini with Apple Pencil Pro
Paying for it but it’s not working
Even when you pay for it it’s not letting you have the upgraded things
Wish there was a tutorial
New to digital notes either no background. Tutorial would be so nice to have!
+ 7 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
93%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
5%
Negative (1-2★)