ZoomNotes Reviews

by Scapeartist4286

There are so many great features I can’t get in other apps and that is why I continue to struggle through. Today I give up. I need an app that is steady and lets me go right in and set up my week and I can be done in under an hour. Constantly having to readjust my page sizes, fighting with ZoomNotes crashing and not being able to seamlessly swipe from page to page has just become too frustrating. I have wasted over 3 hours today. The page jumping when I try to add text or images just makes this not fun and feel like a lot of work. I will keep checking back for improvements to the basics hoping this will become more user friendly. I know there are videos (I shouldn’t have to watch a video to figure out every little tool) and ZoomNotes producers are very good at helping and listening but some of the issues I have others have voiced in the Facebook group and other users just put them down for having an opinion. Honestly if another app I prefer to use had the ability to easily add links and layers I wouldn’t keep trying ZN. ZoomNotes is not basic enough for the everyday user.

by @craftsonwheels

I have been using this product for over three years now and overall, I do really like it. I like this better than most other notetaking apps, especially because the program allows you connect directly to Google Calendar and Apple calendar and it will automatically sync an update when appointments are added to your planners. This is absolutely excellent and has been one of the main reasons why I’ve continued to use this even though instructions and demonstrations are definitely lacking for this UI.

However, I’m really interested to see if they’re going to incorporate the new tools and techniques for the Apple Pencil Pro as Goodnotes has.

N As physical challenges are becoming more limiting at the store costs are incredibly useful for me and I’m truly hoping that this app comes out with something similar to what Goodnotes has for the Apple Pencil Pro.

by Technipixel

I think Zoom Notes is a good app. more features and settings you could ever want. However, I no longer use Zoom Notes because it has some issues that I fine quirky. The Interface buttons have been improved but we lose some customization. Some of the pop-out button windows stay open and won’t close. When you create a new document, it will add blank pages to the end of the document automatically if the outer canvas is revealed. My biggest disappointment, which I wanted is that you can only export transparent PNG’s and re-import them into ZN for the transparency to work. You cannot export a transparent PNG to import into other application like a paint program. The SVG export does not retain the same look that you made in ZN. If you are looking for an app that can handle word processing pages with continual pages. Not ZoomNotes. This is mostly a handwriting app, which it does well. Like I said, good app, but still needs some improvements.

by BeeHive414

I read this app has a big learning curve and that is certainly true. Some things which are necessary and intuitive in other apps are hard to find here.

But the italics pen option makes my handwriting look perfectly natural (A+), the ability to link to calendar with relative ease (A+), and the ability to do ‘real’ Dutch doors (A+) are just a few of the features keeping me going with ZoomNotes.

I used NoteShelf for years and loved it — it started getting glitchy about 9 months ago. I finally made the switch to GoodNotes and was just getting used to it when they made the fatal switch to GoodNotes 6, and 5 started to get glitchy. Sorry GN developers, I am not a loyal customer and you lost me before you had me hooked. this app has all the capability of the others and a WHOLE lot more. I would love to see this more intuitive, but I am willing to find the features I most use and make those most accessible. I have been on the learning curve for about a month, so I still feel like there is a ways to go as I discover more capabilities.

by TJwatch49

this app is the most comprehensive handwriting app on the market. The interface is a little clunky but this program has all the bases covered. The best selling point is the reason why it’s called this app for a reason - it has practically unlimited zooming capability when pinching the screen when seeing the overall size of your notes as well as the size of the canvas itself which is unlimited in size. No need to worry about running out of room to write. But another benefit to this zooming ability is it allows you to write notes next to each other in different sizes all in one screen. In other words you could have notes the size of your regular hand writing next to notes you write in extremely small sizes allowing you to compress all your information in the same screen without scrolling off the page to continue writing. This saves real estate on the iPad while writing other notes leaving you more room left over to continue writing. Valuable feature.

by Joekemp1

I have been using this app for years! Unlike some apps you pay for and they stop updating it or they add lots of in app purchases this app updates regularly and they are quick to add functionality and new features like support for Apple Pencil 2 already!! Best of all they have very responsive tech support and are very quick to answer question.

I really like the interface, it's not overwhelming when your trying to work however don't be fooled by how simple it looks, if you start going through the setting or read their manual online you will quick realize that this app is so much more than your typical note taking application! Not only can you zoom in and out with no limits you can import power point slides and take notes on top of them (I take notes right on top of the power point slides during my Chemistry lectures) you can insert pictures, audio, documents, you can even have notes inside your notes! It’s possible to create whole presentations and so much more!! It’s easily worth the cost if not more!!

by PhysicsBus

As a physicist I use ZoomNotes daily for doing handwritten math. It has a combination of features found nowhere else: infinite zoom, zoom-tracking pen thickness, a wide variety of pens and other drawing tools, a very powerful and customizable user interface, support for tap gestures, and easy exports to a wide variety of formats. Above all it feels unconstrained; I rarely say "why won't it let me do this simple thing?" like in other apps. Be prepared: ZoomNotes is a bit quirky and has a somewhat steeper learning curve than other note-taking apps, in part because it has been written (as far as I can tell) by one dedicated and highly responsive developer. My one wish in life is that the developer is hired by Apple and given a team to polish all the rough bits. Nonetheless, the payoff for me of learning to use this app has been enormous. By far the most valuable iPad app I've purchased.

by Boohy27

If you can think it, you can do it in this app. I actually purchased ZoomNotes years ago, but only recently decided start working with it. In the past I didn’t take the time to learn this app but this time I read the detailed manual provided with ZoomNotes . It unlocked a whole world of possibilities and I feel like I am just scratching the surface. Things I like - Workspaces, page customization features, all of the pens!, rulers, unlimited zoom, layers, subpages, smooth, fluid writing, and so much more. Many of these features are not available on any other note taking app. Things that could be improved - sometimes it is very difficult to perform simple tasks, like changing ink color in a selection. So far I haven’t encountered anything I can’t do, but it often it takes some digging to accomplish. Overall I really love ZoomNotes!

by Uncle Mikeypants

I teach music, and since Covid, I now write out lessons for my students using ZoomNotes. It works really well! What sets it above the rest is its use of symbols. Every notes app has the feature, but this app let’s use very easily define your own symbols from anything you’ve created in ZoomNotes . I can make a musical staff and save it as a symbol, and now plop it down in two clicks in any new document I create! The feature I would LOVE to see implemented is tagging. I have 100s of notes, some songs, some lesson plans, etc. I want to be able to tag each one, not just organize them into directories. So songs good for beginners don’t need to not show up in a search of rock or country songs. Tagging could solve that easily!

UPDATE: Well that’s fantastic! After the developer response, I found the tagging features and I’m implementing them! What a great app!

by Estranged1

I spent a long time comparing note taking apps. If you’ve researched your way to this review, you can’t go wrong getting ZoomNotes. The question becomes about what you are doing with these apps. this app is everything and more, with a small price to pay. That price being a less ergonomic ‘feel’ to ZoomNotes . Although, the developers are passionate and easily reachable for support and suggestions, and ZoomNotes will continue to be refined. I’ll mention it’s strong suites for me is as a guitar teacher I can quickly and beautifully write charts, chord diagrams, music staves, insert ‘clip’, etc on the fly and its looks organized and professional. No other app can currently do this. The features are amazing. All your notes can live here, or ZoomNotes maybe great for design and special purpose. Absolutely powerful and absolutely worth it!!! If there’s something you want, email the developer.

by OombrosDad

When I use this app, it from time to time sends a reminder for reviewing. Every time I see it, I always decided not to do. Because there are so many good things I deeply appreciate, I want to share and highly recommends to anyone, but, I couldn’t find time to write all those wonderful things. I kept delaying writing the review. And now today is the time since I realized that I do not have to make my review long. If you can afford, I recommend to get it and explore it. I typically use it for my handwriting so it is not easy to search the content later. So, I simply use it for capturing the quick notes and insights. One improvement I can point out: when scanning large amount of pages, it randomly crashes. Then, I had to re-scan quite a number of pages again.

by Cree84fun

I am so loving ZoomNotes and all of its incredible functionality! My absolute only issue is that I do occasionally experience some offbeat issues and there isn’t as wide a user base to access others peoples knowledge, experiences and workarounds, as there are with some of the other programs. It is in no way enough to deter me from sticking with ZoomNotes though! And I have read people saying it has a learning curve. I appreciate that they are doing their best to provide other prospective users with what to expect, but I hope no one would even let that give them pause. Believe me, I am a newby, that was previously using Goodnotes, and I would say “learning curve” is somewhat accurate but sounds a little scary. If you have been able to master Goodnotes you will also be able to handle this app. I think it’s just that with so many additional features and options that it offers, it’s just a matter of learning the techniques just like with Goodnotes. And to me there are so many phenomenal features that it is by far so worth the extra effort!

by Forums Poster

I've used a lot of iOS notetaking apps. Most of them do well with emulating a traditional paper notebook (Goodnotes, Notability, OneNote, NoteShelf). this app is completely unique. There is really nothing else like it. Pros: - feature-rich hypertext, outline and cross-reference workflow for handwritten documents - You can link pages together with custom buttons, pictures, or text. These links export to PDF so you can make interactive documents. - Pages can have sub-pages, to any level of hierarchy. So you can use one document as a dashboard for a bunch of notes, or store a book and its notes together as one file. - You can open multiple views of the same file. - Make custom animated slideshows from your handwritten documents(!) - Export to many formats. Cons: - The learning curve is STEEP but the payoff is enormous. - Syncing across multiple devices can occasionally produce conflicts that have to be reconciled by the user. - The UI is less "Apple-like" and more like a full desktop app. The features in the UI can be cluttered and overwhelming. However, you can make your own custom workspace with fewer tools and options if you prefer. Verdict: - Make a pot of coffee, settle in with the this app manual, and put in the time to learn all the features. If you want power and flexibility with your handwritten documents in iOS, nothing else comes close.

by Beoneofmany

this app is a wonderful combination ink, drawing, annotation, vector app. It includes an ink pen with great fluidity and response, a watercolor brush with transparency adjustable transparency, a pretty realistic pencil, and much more. It allows for very close zoom without compromising resolution, gestures for erase and shapes, text of course, and marquee selection everything drawn. It has the best of a bunch of other, much more expensive, similar apps and it does it all well. I have watched this app evolve for roughly two years now and I cannot over state the quality and care and that the developers continually invest in this apps development. And if something happens to be glitchy in one update (which is rare) you can be confident the glitch will be rectified in an insanely short amount of time, like a day. They are always adding new features and improving old ones. I wish all my favorite apps were given the same TLC by their makers as this one. Thank you!

by KTH47

This is an amazing app for the money. In all categories but aesthetics, it blows its competitors out of the water. My best comparison is something like Adobe Photoshop vs. iPhoto’s native editor. ZoomNotes does have a much higher learning curve than something Iike Goodnotes, but it also does about a thousand things that GN doesn’t. One main advantage is that this syncs with iCal and Google calendar. I love that I can do this while still using the planner of my choice. The FB group is very supportive and the developer helped me personally when I was having a problem. You can’t ask for more in terms of customer service. Summary: If you can find a few solid hours to sit down, watch some tutorials and play around with ZoomNotes - then you should definitely get this. If you’re fine with limited capabilities and having your hands tied in terms of functionality, then go with one of the competitors.

by Sarhound

I needed the ability to use layers in a note taking app so I could do some more complex graphic manipulations on images for my planner. GoodNotes doesn’t have that capability. I also needed the ability to create links. this app gives me both capabilities. It also has the ability to create sub documents, a type of “sticky note” on steroids. Now, I can keep some required monthly lists attached to the actual month where I generated them, instead of having to flip through several pages to find them.

I’d like to see the ability to advance pages by gestures, rather than using a button, the same gestures that Procreate uses to undo/redo (two or three finger tap), and smoother page transitions— it’s a little rough right now. However, the developer appears to be very interested in improving things that make us digital planners happy, and I greatly appreciate his involvement. I have a feeling that I will soon make the permanent switch to using this app as my primary notes app.

by Tyyhggg33445555;;,()655

This is the second review I’ve ever written for an app (and I’ve downloaded my fair share over the years), but I had to write this review. this app is feature rich and worth the small amount of effort it takes to explore and learn how everything works. I’ve downloaded nearly every major note taking app in the AppStore and think this one is the best! ZoomNotes does more than mimic writing on paper. It actually allows you to use all of the benefits of a tablet (zooming, scaling, rearranging notes and imported objects, shape recognition, sub-notes, image and video import, etc.) to create a truly unique writing/researching experience. Being able to import an entire PDF as a sub-note is amazing! ZoomNotes is a joy to use, highly customizable, and allows me to research and take notes in a way that matches the way I think. If I had it in grad school, I’m pretty sure my thesis would have taken half as long! Big thanks to the developer(s)!!! Keep up the great work!!! Maybe you could add handwriting to text conversion? It’s certainly not critical, but it would be a killer feature that would make a truly amazing app that much more so.

by Mcgurme

I use several note-taking apps, each one has their benefits. However, all the others have a lot of limitations when it comes to things like: - unlimited sized canvases (they either can’t change or limit the size, zoom notes does not). With this app I can create a large virtual “whiteboard” for brainstorming where it’s impossible to do with the others I’ve tried - this app has symbols, i.e. a way to store pre-defined objects for use. This is super handy if I want to make a “sticky note” template or similar. - this app can embed videos. I have used this more than once. I tried it with others first. - this app can do presentations - pre defined steps of walking through an illustration The flexibility and features of this app have saved me more than once when others have let me down. The only minor negative is that with all the features, the UI can be a bit complex at times. It’s not too bad, just requires more clicking around to find what I need sometimes. It’s okay though, I’d rather have that than the missing features. Thank you this app for a great app.

by Miami Xami

So I tried this app a while back and gave up on it pretty quickly. I began using NoteShelf. However, I started a new job (so now I work 3 jobs). The other apps worked okay for the journal and the different notes, folders, etc. I had to keep for each job, but they were lacking in some areas. I needed an app to fill all my needs. I came back to this app and spent a little time learning. this app has the fill feature, so I can easily fill in a bubble or a cell on a “spreadsheet”. Just to make me happy while I’m doing my work, this app has different types of pens that no one else does (I love calligraphy and lettering). I can pull images from my photos or from the web, and I can make stickers on the fly to reuse again & again. I don’t have to switch between writing and pointer in order to go to a linked page, which I hated with GoodNotes. There is an endless whiteboard. I have rulers and protractors. I have to admit that I am still learning, so I occasionally hit a hiccup. However, I also know there are features I haven’t even tapped into. this app is currently meeting all my needs and then some.

by John25642

This is the most versatile note taking app I have found. I use it for all my note taking. I really like the ability to insert handwritten notes with pdf files, including adding pages etc. It takes a bit to get used to all the features but it is well worth the effort. The ease of zooming in and out and writing in the margins of PDF files is also very handy.

Still very happy with it. I love the infinite whiteboard option. It really feels like having a large whiteboard where you can write anywhere. It’s also great for annotating a pdf file when you need to write more than just minor comments.

This continuous to be my favorite note taking app. One of the features of traditional writing and note taking is that you can spread out multiple sheets of paper in front of you. This allows you to keep a good overview of what you are working on. I really missed this aspect of physical notes when I switched to my iPad. However, the whiteboard mode with infinite zoom of this app allows me to effectively have a virtual desk with many sheets of handwritten notes. (Tip: lay out a grid of letter size boundaries on your whiteboard before starting to take notes. You can easily fit 25 pages that way. Well, of course you could do millions but you want to mimic a physical desk.)