UpNote - notes, diary, journal Reviews

by Mjchap

This looks like it will be a great app, except first I had an issue with the keyboard not working. Finally got that fixed now it wont import photos, it just keeps opening and closing the camera. :(

I have uninstalled this and reinstalled twice, If you click to add a photo it doesnt go to photos, it goes to camera, if you click cancel on camera it just resets back to camera and you have to close UpNote to use it. If you turn off camera you cant use UpNote at all! Can someone Please help ??

by Neeraj1500

A great app should provide superior organization functionality as well as sync between multiple devices like Mac, ipad, and iPhone without costly interfaces / platforms.

UpNote comes with the Mac version and sync is great b/w ipad and Mac. Adding tables is a great functionally of UpNote. However, the ipad version is limited in terms of the table functionality where you can’t merge cells and insert new rows / columns while the Mac version is simply great. Therefore UpNote is limiting on ipad.

I tried UpNote for a month but will discontinue its use because it is important ipad version of UpNote provides table formatting functionality similar to Mac version.

by Nerdy Pete

UPDATE: After a response from the developer I was able to find how to draw on iOS but the option is buried behind a “+” button on the tool bar that you can only see when you’re editing a note. In the iPadOS version it’s much easier to find.

Using a “+” to mean “more tools” is not a common UI choice in my experience. “+” is usually what you press to create a new note and is not usually how you find more tools. Also, there should be a way to customize the tool bar so we don’t have to hit the “+” every time we want to hit the “draw” button.

Still wondering about the notes map. Seeing how your different ideas connect to each other is really helpful to better understand how you are thinking. It’s also pretty cool. Lots of other notes apps have it—like Obsidian and Hypernotes. I hope the developers will add it!

My original review:

Needs ability to draw (like the iPadOS version) and a note map (I think that's what they're called). Otherwise, this seems like a perfectly reasonable app but nothing too special. Add drawing and the map and you'll be an app I've never seen before! (do it do it do it!) 😉

by Laurelivid

I used to love UpNote, it did everything I needed. As a therapist, notes are the second most important part of my job. I need to be able to protect notes, readily access them, and edit/add to them. UpNote was fantastic at the beginning, but they released an update that messed up the ability to edit handwritten notes; when you are finished and close them, they save as a .png so you can no longer edit the content - you can essentially write overtop of them but not erase or add significant information. This is really my only complaint but it impacts how I take notes so much that I need to find an alternate app. Again unfortunate bc I paid for UpNote . I reached out to support and it was weeks between responses and a solution was never found.

by DoctorCrust

I have left a review for this before, and the developer responded by saying it’s Apple’s fault and not theirs. This is not the case, because text selection doesn’t show this behavior in any other app, including Apple’s own notes app.

If you have a large amount of text (too big to display on the screen at once) and you try to select certain parts of it, the screen and selection will jump around all over the place. It’s insanely frustrating and makes it nearly impossible to select the right text.

To recreate this, paste song lyrics into this app. Go to the bottom, select the text starting at the end, and scroll up to select everything except the intro at the top. You will see the issue, it’s basically impossible. The second you leave the top of the screen, UpNote will fly to the top.

How this still has not been fixed or even noticed is beyond me. It’s a frustration I have to deal with every day in my workflow and the one reason I consider leaving this otherwise fantastic app/service. And yes, I am a premium member.

by Fielding58

Apple Notes came on my phone but stopped working after a few times so I came across this. I'm still learning how to use & can't figure out how to high-light & bold text? Otherwise it is user friendly & uncluttered, which I like. Would love to have color choices for fonts & "notepaper", like with paper notepads! 😊

Recently had a problem with UpNote & contacted support; they promptly looked into it & the problem was fixed. Thanks for great customer service; much appreciated when so many "products" are poor quality & CS is terrible or non-existent. Keep up the good work! 😉

by Wdav

UpNote is great but you are unable to set reminder dates. I keep almost all my general notes in UpNote. However, frequently I need to have a note (short and long notes) pop up or remind me on a specific day. It is totally inconvenient to have to use the native reminder app to have it “remind” you to check a specific note in this app. It would be so much easier if this app had an option for this process and you were able to list/sort a set of notes by reminder date. If it did I would give UpNote 10 stars!

by Nick Bentley

I’m sort of like a connoisseur of productivity apps. Real appreciation for them. I’ve got a new productivity app every week or so. I’ve tried every notes app there ever was, including Evernote, Apple’s home-built Notes app, Bear, Obsidian, Joplin, and more and I’ve found this app to be the most functional and practical app while maintaining a great UX/UI. That’s a really hard balance to strike and the dev did it beautifully. Evernote was early in the game and did it right way back when but hasn’t been able to keep up with the times. I found this app rather accidentally when looking through notes apps & have decided to make it my main notes app (moving from Joplin) going forward.

The one thing missing from this app is encryption. I’d like to see all of my notes encrypted with E2EE. I don’t store sensitive information in notes apps, but I still would rather them be encrypted because notes do contain lots of information.

Five stars once encryption is added, keep up the good work!

by Aureliusatreides

I’m sort of like a connoisseur of productivity apps. Real appreciation for them. I’ve got a new productivity app every week or so. I’ve tried every notes app there ever was, including Evernote, Apple’s home-built Notes app, Bear, Obsidian, Joplin, and more and I’ve found this app to be the most functional and practical app while maintaining a great UX/UI. That’s a really hard balance to strike and the dev did it beautifully. Evernote was early in the game and did it right way back when but hasn’t been able to keep up with the times. I found this app rather accidentally when looking through notes apps & have decided to make it my main notes app (moving from Joplin) going forward.

The one thing missing from this app is encryption. I’d like to see all of my notes encrypted with E2EE. I don’t store sensitive information in notes apps, but I still would rather them be encrypted because notes do contain lots of information.

Five stars once encryption is added, keep up the good work!

by Bl@ckbear

As someone who is obsessed with organization and aesthetically pleasing notes - UpNote is amazing. I love all the customization options (especially with premium) and how easy it is to create well-organized bulleted notes. I also love how easy it is to sync everything across all your devices!!

My only suggestions would be more color options for the theme (the whole RGB spectrum please🥺) and being able to customize the headings with different fonts, bold/italic/underline, and colors.

by Swimmer-Bear

I like UpNote a lot. It is easy to use and thought it would be a great replacement for one that has not been updated on my iPhone/iPad in some time. The fonts and other stuff it offers is great. I also found it has a windows app.

Unfortunately I can’t get my to program to load on an older system. If I could download the compatible companion so I can transfer data from it would be great. Then it would be 5 stars and I would own it.

by Jack359821

I’m very picky when it comes to note takers. UpNote checks most of my boxes. It supports markdown, it’s quick and responsive, it’s a one-time purchase, it can publish notes as web pages, it can export notes in a variety of formats. It also features a word count, wiki links and backlinks, a scanning tool, and some nice rich text formatting options.

A few things that could be improved are:
- footnotes. It could support footnotes.
- bookmark banners as opposed to simple links. It’s easier to click a big button for bookmarked pages.
- graph view for interlinked notes (like Obsidian).
- nested tags. Nested notebooks are nice, but some people prefer using just tags.
- the ability to scan multiple pages in a row, like in Apple notes.

I wish I could see these improvements happen one day. Those would really make UpNote the number one note taker in the market.

by Sundaysundown

This is by far the best value, most stable, fully featured note taking app out there. The fact that it is available across platforms, allows you to add images to notes and markdown syntax and also has a beautiful interface is incredible for a small up and coming company. They also offer a lifetime subscription for a low price which is mind blowing. I’m really impressed by the interface- how zippy and clean it works. Love it. One of my favorite apps in my library.

by Dudeinthemirror

After trying several options available in the market today, I discovered this app. Hands down best one for me. Importing notes from Evernote is seamless. The editor is simple, intuitive, plenty of keyboard shortcuts provided. Nested notebooks-check, tags-check, two-way links-check. Notes are synchronized across devices plus automatic backups. Both the MacOS and iOS app are beautifully designed. I am in the process of importing some 10 k notes from Evernote and Joplin. Import markdown notes from Joplin is not finding attachments, reaching out to support, I hope it will be be an easy fix.

by Rogue Sport

Ok, sooo… I don’t write a ton of reviews, but this bang/buck compelled me.

First, it’s a one time cost. Anytime I can get something useful without the forever subscription tail, I’m predisposed to accepting flaws. (Although I wish they’d set up a Patreon or a voluntary subscription model or something… the “support the devs” subscription with absolutely no features behind it or something, as I’m worried the one time cost isn’t a viable model, and I’d happily kick in for that because a) I don’t have to and b) I want to keep it up.)

Second, it’s awesome. The internal linking was super important to me, and I couldn’t find anything else that had that without a significant learning curve and/or price point. Markdown support, cross platform, etc etc is amazing and seamless. Honestly, it’s one of the most useful apps I’ve used it a hot minute.

So, devs, great work. Powerful but still simple is a tough balance to hit, but you’ve done it. Thank you for this beautiful, functional app.

by The Mario Game

This is hands down the cleanest and nicest way to organize your notes I have found! I have looked at all the possible alternatives like Evernote, Notion, Obsidian and many other note organizers and this app is by far the cleanest and best way I found. It has so many features and has a lifetime subscription which I find amazing considering UpNote is worth WAY more! This is the best bargain you can have and I highly suggest you to give it a go before you spend a lot more on other apps that do pretty much what this one can

by M-Brady-W

It’s an amazing product they’ve made. After looking for a go to notes app and trying some of the heavy hitters (notion, obsidian, evernote, joplin, etc.) this is what I landed on.

Overall, no complaints. The only thing I would love is more functionality in the templates. Would be great to have some prebuilt, more advanced templates such as a kanban board or a day planner, though I know this would more than likely require those templates to work outside of markdown. Regardless, a great product I will continue to use for a long time!

by Tslf94945&

Tired of Evernote’s constant subscribe reminders and unwilling to pay its monthly costs for storing less than one gig of material,, I was seeking out a paid solution that would work well with less expense. I upgraded this app immediately to a premium account and I’ve been using it for a week. It works great. The sync works flawlessly across the three devices I use. A lifetime subscription for the cost of about three months worth of Evernote. If you are trying to keep notes that you can access and update across various devices, including windows, it’s about the perfect solution.

by Blossom3124

I chose UpNote randomly, scrambling to find a faster way to take my notes for my online classes, since traditional pen and paper note taking was taking too long, and I am so happy with my choice!

UpNote is so sleek, has a clean design, great almost pastel aesthetic, easy to use, and you can personalize notebook covers to fit your needs!

Not only that, but as someone who cares for the environment, this is a great alternative to traditional notebooks, and takes up little to no storage, no matter how many notes and images you have on UpNote !

Also, if you ever have any bugs or problems with UpNote , simply send a quick email to the developers, and they will fix your issues in a jiffy, and are extremely kind! I can’t thank the developers enough for getting my bug issue fixed when I was on a time crunch in school! XD

I highly recommend UpNote to anyone who not only wants to cut down on their paper usage, but any student, journalist, writer, chef, or anyone who needs to write something down quickly without any hassle, this app is the right app for you! :)

by Really Old Mac Guy

I seem to collect notes apps as I look for the perfect one. I think I might have found it in this app. These are the things I look for in a notes app: * Mac and iOS support * formatting (italic bold etc) * Markdown support (exporting is a premium feature) * checklist * tables (another premium feature) * accepts photos (yes) and PDF (not that I’ve found) The free version is very feature-rich, but since I believe in supporting the apps I use, I think I will buy the premium version. The lifetime version is about 2+ years of monthly version.

Update - one thing to note (see what I did there) is your notes are not encrypted. Add that and it’s perfect.

by JamieVersus

I have tried so many note apps and although several are great, they lacked a couple things that kept me looking. this app is great! It is very similar to Bear or Apple Notes, but neither of them have a good solution for Windows. I have to use Windows for work and I need notes for work. I didn’t want to use a separate app for just that. this app offers a nice organization structure and markdown support. Syncing has been seamless and I have had no errors. Best of all, it’s affordable! Can’t recommend enough.

by Sherylc6

I chose this out of several other notes apps to make mostly bulleted life lists (like workout choices, regular recipes to make, etc). I’m big on keeping things simple and keeping my options open, so I can be healthy and live in the moment. This is a wonderful app to whittle down your lists to simple beautiful uniform ones. I upgraded and it seemed so insignificant at the time, that I don’t even remember how much I paid. But, it was worth it, even if it’s a pretty simple app.

I had a moment of panic when it started crashing each time I pasted anything - went straight to App Store reviews to see if something was awry (it had great ratings when I downloaded), and it turns out my iPad had not updated a new version, yet. So, I updated, and presto! Everything works perfectly again. My confidence in the developer is increasing, and I hope they continue the good work.

by R.Oles

I have been using UpNote for some time now and in my opinion it is a must have! I had upgraded to the full version soon after downloading. The price was affordable and more than reasonable.
The developers love their product and their craft, and it shows! We all have front row seats to an evolving product that is sure to be recognized by Apple. The developers listen, consider, and respond to feedback.
In fact, I wish they had a “tip jar” somewhere, I’d buy some coffee. ☕️
As one who is deep into my own particular craft of handmade items, having a reliable digital notebook to either reference notes, or document something new, is priceless.

by Hikerspath

I used Evernote when they were still in beta ‘09/‘10, and generally loved it, till they really left their first love… the note. Can’t even remember how many times I reached out to support for simple formatting using markdown and adding a block quote option. These were never even entertained by Evernote, even when they redid the whole app!

So after careful investigation, the top four were sucking it up and dealing, Nimbus, Simple Note, and this app! I wanted something that was cross platform, allowed for synchronization, didn’t rob you blind, and kept to the basics. I wanted to take notes, import notes, and save webpages as notes. It’s taking a bit, but Up Note has it all!

by MLRA73

Update: Still a great app! Would love some classic font colors in addition to the pastel colors. And more formatting options (especially bold headings), being able to indent paragraphs (currently only individual lines can be indented), etc. I look forward to what the developers have in the works!

I found what I was looking for! I tried so many note apps (Evernote replacements) - good apps, but not what I was looking for. This one is it! Sync is unbelievably fast across all platforms - iPhone, iPad, PC. The interface is clean and familiar. The features are incredible. I love the info panel with table of contents for long notes, the fact that the creation date can be adjusted. Links and back links are what I wanted/needed, also fast and easy. You can tag notes and add notes to multiple nested notebooks. Importing notes from Evernote was fast and easy.

by LCH23

Having recently been unpleasantly surprised by Evernote’s abrupt limitation of their free version, I have been on a quest to find a note taking app that wouldn’t leave me frustrated when trying to do simple things, like create, save, or share a note. And with the plethora of offerings in this category, I’ve been feeling “spoiled for choice“ trying to sort out the value added apps from all the rest.

Now, here is the good news: this app is the complete user experience I’ve been looking for: It’s intuitive, easy to learn, feature rich without being confusing. It’s also elegantly simple, making interaction with it fun and inviting.

And wait, it gets better! Not only does the free trial give you all the info you need to decide if this app is right for you, but the paid options are great values. You can go month by month for a few bucks, and if like me, you’d like to have a lifetime license, that’s available for a really reasonable one time payment.

100% highly recommended!

by Deaththejay

Can’t believe this isn’t more well-known. Phenomenal notebook app that is versatile and can be used for just about anything, from journaling to recipes to creative writing! It is so beautiful, minimalist, and well-organized. Not only can you organize notes by notebook, but you can also tag and embed links. You can insert multiple images and tables. I have 500+ notes, and UpNote has not slowed down a bit nor lost ANY note in syncing.

I like that syncing appears to be secure and not forced to iCloud-only (important for me as I’ve run out of space haha)! The export options are great, and markdown is a breeze.

What I love the most is how affordable the Lifetime option is. From a recent college grad, thank you to the developer for offering an incredible deal that I didn’t hesitate to snap up in the first week. And thank you for not limiting it to subscription!

Occasionally it glitches and will show me a blank screen on the right on the iPad landscape mode, but this is probably caused by me switching between apps too often. Overall, literally the best notetaking/journaling app. Do not hesitate to purchase the full version!

by Casadetrevino

I downloaded this app several weeks ago. This is the note taking app that I have been waiting for. Simple UI and feature rich. I’ve used Evernote for years and subscribed but after the price increases and feature limitations that pushed you to higher price tiers I was getting fed up. I don’t know where EN went wrong but it seems somewhere they started down the wrong path and never recovered. The UI was too busy and seemed to get harder to use not easier as newer updates rolled out. I don’t want this to be a EN bashing review but hopefully the this app devs will take notice and not make the same mistakes. UpNote is actually fun to use. I purchased a lifetime license and hope I’ve found the last note taking app I’ll ever need.

by JohnF9

I’ve used UpNote and to be accurate, it really deserves the five stars rating. UpNote has advanced features that are easy to use and good support. You can do so many things with it easily like put links to emails, have collapsible paragraphs that are really great for pictures that you don’t want to take up too much screen space, search and it will search all entries, excellent synchronization between devices (in my case between my iPhone, and my iMac), hashtags that you can create right while you are entering data and the list of its abilities goes on and on. And probably the best feature of all is that I have now used UpNote every single day for months and it has never crashed and works stable and fine. A nice bonus is that a Developers have very frequent updates to UpNote to.

by Ryan DeBell

UpNote is beautifully made. A work of art.

The creator clearly had the user in mind with UpNote.

On iPhone you have quick access to many things like pasting the date, changing font color, lists, etc.

On Mac UpNote is beautiful and you have an awesome focus mode for the note you’re writing.

You can add notes to multiple folders, the search is great, you can nest notebooks, etc.

At least test UpNote out if you’re looking for a great notes app.

I’ve historically used iOS notes but it just doesn’t feel nice to use.

I can’t stand evernote...you can’t arrange the notebooks except alphabetically. I’m amazed they haven’t updated that.

Anyway, I have no complaints about UpNote, only praise.

I chose to be a monthly subscriber instead of the single time purchase so I can keep paying and supporting the developers over the coming years.

by Apalko

I have been searching and searching for a replacement to Evernote. Import of .enex files has been flawless over the past 1,000 notes. Small issue with files over 20mb not importing but I can navigate that.

Interface is clean and easy to use. Export of notes to html with attachments is perfect for me.

What I have been most impressed with is sync. Near instant update across devices is unreal. Small dev team and young app has SPANKED the elephant.

by @nickgarver On Insta

Functionally an absolute breath of fresh air. Syncing to windows, mac, and ios is so important to me and UpNote does it perfectly!

The only complaint i have is that the rounded corners of the notebooks and the sidebar UI feels slightly childish. I love cute UI designs dont get me wrong:) But perhaps a grey background instead of jet black, adding emojis as an option, and toning the colors down for the big groups like "Notebook" and "Tags".

Fantastic user experience though:-) I would pay $4 / month of your team needed it

by Safaa Atheer

UpNote is packed with great feature. Better than many of the well known note taking apps out there. There only two things that have managed to be a concern for me.
One how long will UpNote be supported. I fear of making many notes than suddenly UpNote goes off.
Two something about UpNote looks and feel is missing. It doesn’t look an iOS app compared to the big note taking apps.
But overall I highly recommend it.

by HyperDown

UpNote is a fantastic note taking and managing tool. It's got an elegant and simple design, is incredibly responsive on all platforms, syncs very quickly, has bi-directional linking, rich-text formatting, great evernote import tool, can passcode lock the whole app or just notebook/note level, decent table support, works fully offline, supports code-blocks. In short, it has all the features and settings I need (and none that I don't!). Highly recommended!

by SchemeViller

this app is the best note-taking app for me — hands down. My favorite features include the perfect syncing, text color options, keyboard shortcuts that just make sense, collapsible sections, and the ability to embed videos. Of course, there are things I’d like to add to this app to help it better suit my personal use ase, but UpNote is excellent as is. I’m considering migrating to this app for my personal notes, but for now, it does the job for any work or study related notes I have to take.

by Vagrantess

I’ve tried to have a notebook like this in one place for all long. This is simple, clean, and it’s not either underwhelmingly basic nor one of those others that go overboard. My complaint with Notes, Microsoft OneNote and a few other apps I’ve tried
feel very messy and visually overwhelming for me. I use this for various things! My teacher’s exam test prep notes, my creative writing, etc. this is a great app. Helps me a lot.

by Olalaalolo

I wish UpNote will go on for a long long time. I hope it will reach the popularity it deserves and give the developers the cashflow to keep it running.

First of all, it’s cross-platformed. Not just available on every platform but looks and works the same too. You won’t even feel any difference. This might be small deal to many but trust me it makes UpNote so much more useful if you got different devices.

Second of all, it got lifetime license for a reasonable price.

Now to UpNote , it is simple, markdown-based note taking. What makes it more useful is they implement the most basic, the most useful features very very well. They don’t over complicate anything, just make it work right. Tag? # write checked. Headers? # space write checked. Table? Markdown table is complicated but they built in a func to generate tables so checked. Modifying tables? Checked.

You know what’s crazy? They got mathjax integrated too so you can write beautiful equations within your notes too. It’s crazy. I’ve never seen any app being able to do it so gracefully.

UpNote is a gem. It blends the simplicity of markdown with more advanced features in a seamless way making writing notes so much easier. Thank you so much everyone who works on this!

The only thing Id ask is if you can provide dmg file installer for mac along side UpNote store option. Thanks again!

by Rog2e

UpNote is great, but the communication with the company is personable and customer service is top notch. If you have any issue or even a suggestion for this app, they are quick to respond. I’m using UpNote mostly for rewriting my notes from class and keeping my reef projects sorted. I love that it’s updated instantaneously from my computer to my phone (good for studying on the go).

by M-Aurelius

It’s shocking to me that this app is not as popular as the big players in the market. This is such a fantastic, well-built app. The design is beautiful, and the features are just what I need. The cross-device experience and syncing is flawless. The dev team is incredibly responsive, and pushes out updates at lightning speed. The big players should take notice … UpNote is coming for you.

by RawKnuck7

After months of struggling to find a note taking app that worked on Windows, MacOS, iOS, iPad, I found this app today morning and immediately fell in love with it. This is exactly what I needed - a place to put my thoughts, organize them by notebooks, add tables, checkboxes, etc. I can’t wait to port my other notes here! Kudos to the developers for such an amazing app!

by Bababababababbaba919191

After Evernote changing things and dealing with the limited amount of devices available to synch my notes across I looked into finding a suitable replacement. After looking online and checking out different apps I discovered UpNote, and it covers my needs completely. I was even able to import my notes from Evernote, love it, and will use this 4ever.

by Miniandre7

UpNote is clean beautiful and sophisticated. It is what I will be transferring all my other notes onto to begin using. The only thin however is when I double click a note to create a individual note that note comes up blank and uneditable even though it says the words are there. Is this a bug? It happens on my MacBook Air and if that were fixed review would most definitely be 5 stars. Thank you!

by I<3miabear

UpNote is incredible! It's been the way I've always wanted to organize my life and finally found it. The sync is lightning fast and Electron client for PC & Mac work buttery smooth. For $20 lifetime license, this app provides incredible value and there's nothing even close to it on the market. Thank you to Thomas Dao for coding it.

Edit: thank you for fixing backup issues and instituting attachment sync support

by Eyeless Fish

I love this app for a lot of reasons, for example, the ability to create multiple notebooks. I have ADHD, and that helps a ton. I do wish the ability to create unlimited notes, and the ability to lock UpNote we’re not behind a paywall. I am on fixed income, as well as blind and disabled. So I can’t afford a subscription or anything like that. That’s the only problem I have with UpNote. I would like to see other font colors though. Not just the pastels.

by StMark23

I purchased UpNote after testing for 5 minutes. Great text formatting and color selections. I use Bold a lot.

Would like to see the tasks become robust with time and date stamping, but I can live with the “todo” sort of unchecked boxes.

Supported by 2 guys in Vietnam on USA servers. May sound risky, but there is good attention given to the customers. Few complaints received, though, because it works as specified every day, every time. My new long-term project/notes app.