Notability Users Frustrated By Switch to Subscription Model Claim Violation of App Store Guidelines

[msackey]

Yeah. That’s an insta-delete for me. I happily pay subscription fees for things that keep delivering new content, but to charge me for something I already bought? Really? Hard pass…

Oh yeah! I insta-deleted Notability from my iPad. I haven’t used it in years but it’s worth deleting now.

I use OneNote because my institution has an Office 365 subscription. But yes, if I move away from the institution, I’ll need to figure something out.

 

[swarlos]

Wow I just used the Notes app for my class right now and it’s really good for my needs! Bye bye notability!

 

[a.jfred]

Ditto. Used Awesome Note for years which synced with Evernote. Was gifted a RocketBook and then bought a paid subscription to Evernote. Abandoned the RocketBook and moved to an iPad Pro with Pencil and migrated all of my notes to Apple Notes.
Timing of this is interesting because I was thinking of moving my notes to Notability since is had purchased the Desk and iOS versions; just never really used them. With over 4000 notes in Apple Notes, I'm glad I didn't start the migration.

I was another happy Awesome Note user. Seems like the developer has pretty much abandoned it, tho. I'm actually moving most of my notes to Pages docs (thank you, iPad sync).

It's unfortunate, because it does exactly everything I needed it to do - most notably, locking individual folders instead of having to lock everything & iCloud syncing between devices.

Last updates were 2 years ago (tho they list iPhone 12 support, and the 12 isn't that old). I figure it's only a matter of time before it's completely unusable.

 

[axcess99]

That's some nasty bait&switch. Especially since it sounds they have IAPs that will be inaccessible as well.

Also, how can "unlimited notes" be a subscription-only thing for a note-taking app. That makes the basic app a crippled piece of demo-ware.

I sympathize with developers and the situation they are in. But they should have just put the existing app out to pasture, and released a "Notability 2" with the exclusive subscription model. Then at least you aren't expiring what people already paid for even if they eventually stop receiving updates.

 

[NufSaid]

AND If you are in for some ranting entertainment....go check out YNAB's twitter.
They just doubled the price with 2 months notice.
Dumpster Fire

https://twitter.com/x/status/1455165255328350208

 

[BigMcGuire]

All these people deleting Notability - to be able to do that, you never really relied on it before? I've got 300+ notebooks in Notability - even if I decided to move, I'd keep it on my iPad just for a backup for all my data lol. (Yes I back up my notebooks to OneDrive).

From Notability's perspective, they're not losing anything when people uninstall the app. No I'm not defending Notability, just sayin...

For me? I've tried Apple Notes and GoodNotes. Nothing beats Notability's real pen feel for me - I write slanted and fast and I prefer landscape - Notability handles that perfectly for me. It matches my pen/paper handwriting almost perfectly. Apple Notes - the pencil tip kinda works but it's way too thick ( I write with .34 pens or smaller ).

 

[sprintsucks]

The concept of software as buy once use forever is flawed. Nothing else in society works like that, precisely because it is unsustainable. The amount of entitlement from users such as quoted below is incredulous.

Astonished that @NotabilityApp is moving to a subscription model. I happily paid for the Mac and iOS versions of Notability separately all the way back in 2015, and it's accompanied me through 3 degrees now. Very disappointed there is no grandfathering in; will be switching. — Colin Whaley, MSc (@colin_whaley)

You paid for a car, rent, education for 6 years. And you have to pay to get those benefits. We can argue about the tenets of pay to play in this world later, but that is the world we currently live in. You got 3 degrees that increased your earning potential multiple orders of magnitude, and yet you complain about a subscription that is just $1.5 per month. Whereas your Netflix subscription, which provides questionable value in your life is 10.5x more per month.

 

[Traverse]

What's the app you used for this list?

It's actually just a table I made in Numbers. I've built out an entire budgeting system using Numbers. I'm a CPA, so I'm used to use spreadsheets for almost everything.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

This is outrageous.

Apple has been pushing subscription models hard, because they want their cut, but they need to clearly establish that this is absolutely unacceptable or my App Store purchases will end.

Apple is not pushing subscriptions. Developers pushed Apple into this functionality like the IAP option. From the standpoint of the developer, how can you expect them to continue to support an app with no new revenue? It just isn’t sustainable. The subscription model is an answer to that.

 

[axcess99]

Agreed. I moved to Notebooks by Alfons Schmid for my typed note taking / work logs. Been using that for awhile now.

Notebooks for Mac • Notebooks

Notebooks for Mac is a writing app, a text and markdown editor, a file organizer, a task manager, an eBook creator and more.

www.notebooksapp.com

Notebooks looks pretty nice. Is it another lock-in situation for content though? Are the various files directly readable outside the app?

 

[BigMcGuire]

Notebooks looks pretty nice. Is it another lock-in situation for content though? Are the various files directly readable outside the app?

Checking - looks like html files - cool! lol (I learned something new).

 

[Thomas Davie]

All these people deleting Notability - to be able to do that, you never really relied on it before? I've got 300+ notebooks in Notability - even if I decided to move, I'd keep it on my iPad just for a backup for all my data lol. (Yes I back up my notebooks to OneDrive).

From Notability's perspective, they're not losing anything when people uninstall the app. No I'm not defending Notability, just sayin...

For me? I've tried Apple Notes and GoodNotes. Nothing beats Notability's real pen feel for me - I write slanted and fast and I prefer landscape - Notability handles that perfectly for me. It matches my pen/paper handwriting almost perfectly. Apple Notes - the pencil tip kinda works but it's way too thick ( I write with .34 pens or smaller ).

I have Notability and ~400 notes. A fair bit of those are related to my dialysis/associated treatments. I’ll be exporting those as PDF’s and importing them into Collanote. I’ve always got backups in case another notetaking can eventually read them natively. I’ll just have to annotate all of my PDF’s that I import.

Having Notability on my Macbooks and iMac makes this a bit easier.

What pisses me off is that I bought Notabiity/Goodnotes to make my dialysis easier.

Tom

 

[BigMcGuire]

I have Notability and ~400 notes. A fair bit of those are related to my dialysis/associated treatments. I’ll be exporting those as PDF’s and importing them into Collanote. I’ve always got backups in case another notetaking can eventually read them natively. I’ll just have to annotate all of my PDF’s that I import.

Having Notability on my Macbooks and iMac makes this a bit easier.

What pisses me off is that I bought Notabiity/Goodnotes to make my dialysis easier.

Tom

I tried Collanote last night and the pencil feel was almost identical to Notability. Freaked me out a little when I opened the public notes and saw people writing in them... but the pencil feel is probably the most important thing to me.

Good luck with your move! I have always had GoodNotes - so I'm trying that again too.

 

[B4U]

What's scary is that you have to dumb it down like this.

This is what is great about a forum with open-minded discussions, so that we can see each other's take on the same matter.

 

[TriBruin]

I understand that subscription is the better revenue model for the developers. However, they should’ve done what some here suggested, ie. feature freeze the current app, rename it to version 1 or classic or something, and then do a new separate version with the subscription model from the get go. That way there will be no confusion. Purchasers of older version can still use theirs fully functioned as they bought it, while at the same time, they and new users can use the new subscription version if they want new features.

Seems like an easy move to avoid backlashes. Hopefully it’s just a lapse of judgement (ie thinking it’s easier to just maintain one version of the app)

I agree that would be the option with the least friction. But there is big issue of what responsibility of the developer to fix bugs and/or ensure the existing software works with new versions of iOS?

 

[darngooddesign]

Netflix, Hulu, Paramount + etc. I subscribe and unsubscribe as there are shows I want to watch. I don't like how segmented TV has become, but that's the licensing world we live in.

Not that different from tv channels.

 

[mikethemartian]

I’m all for supporting developers. Don’t mind subscriptions if the price is right. But this is a clear violation of the guidelines. You can’t takeaway features that a user already paid for.

Like Coverflow.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

It's actually just a table I made in Numbers. I've built out an entire budgeting system using Numbers. I'm a CPA, so I'm used to use spreadsheets for almost everything.

Nice work. I use Numbers a bit, and use Pages and Keynote a lot — all excellent apps.

 

[Thomas Davie]

From Notability's perspective, they're not losing anything when people uninstall the app. No I'm not defending Notability, just sayin...

They lose goodwill and people referring Notability. When I moved to another province 4 months ago, I gave my sister amd old iPad/pencil/installed software. She will complain that she can’t edit her files after hitting an editing per month limit. It’s broken, she’ll say. can you fix it?

Goodwill is something you can earn or lose. At the moment, Ginger Labs is not earning goodwill.

Tom

 

[msackey]

[deleted. Apologies, quoted the wrong thing.]

 

[darngooddesign]

Is it really that iOS is "locked down?" Or is it rather the makers of aText, Keyboard Maestro, or Alfred and Typinator have not deemed iOS to be a platform for which they wish to support, for any reason?

Yeah. If one 3rd party app exists then the os isn’t preventing other apps, those developers just haven’t released one.

 

[Radeon85]

Going to a subscription model after a huge amount of people would have paid money for is absolutely disgusting, it's a completely dick move and and a massive middle finger too your customers. I'm really getting fed up with all these subscription based apps lately, even a simple decibel app has a subscription model, seriously wtf.

If it carries on like this you'll end up with hundreds of mini subscriptions costing a lot of money and that is not only disgusting it's not sustainable. I want to buy an app and that's it, if the dev wants to keep it updated for a while and then release a v2, v3 etc later on that you have to buy then that's fine, at least you still have a 100% functioning app and the option to upgrade the app and support the dev.

 

[BigMcGuire]

They lose goodwill and people referring Notability. When I moved to another province 4 months ago, I gave my sister amd old iPad/pencil/installed software. She will complain that she can’t edit her files after hitting an editing per month limit. It’s broken, she’ll say. can you fix it?

Goodwill is something you can earn or lose. At the moment, Ginger Labs is not earning goodwill.

Tom

Very good point. I think a lot of companies forget this.

 

[darngooddesign]

The grey area is that did you buy lifetime use on just the current main OS version, or on all future OSes. Based on the price points you are actually buying the app twice a year so does that mean that the app was that badly priced last month or they are being greedy now.

 

[msackey]

All these people deleting Notability - to be able to do that, you never really relied on it before? I've got 300+ notebooks in Notability - even if I decided to move, I'd keep it on my iPad just for a backup for all my data lol. (Yes I back up my notebooks to OneDrive).

From Notability's perspective, they're not losing anything when people uninstall the app. No I'm not defending Notability, just sayin...

For me? I've tried Apple Notes and GoodNotes. Nothing beats Notability's real pen feel for me - I write slanted and fast and I prefer landscape - Notability handles that perfectly for me. It matches my pen/paper handwriting almost perfectly. Apple Notes - the pencil tip kinda works but it's way too thick ( I write with .34 pens or smaller ).

I’m deleting Notability from my i-Devices just to be sure I don’t end up accidentally using it. The likelihood of that is low, but still why not delete if I have barely touched that app? My deleting of the app isn’t to “I’ll show you, Notability!”. It’s just a functional action.