Ninox Reviews

I was very hopeful that someone finally put together a database that would just work, but while there are some advanced features for power users some very basic things are missing, making this thing absolutely useless. My biggest problem is that there isn't a way to give something multiple values - in the 'choice' field, you can pick from radio buttons, a combo box (all categories shown so you can select one), and 'switch' a scroller used to select the appropriate value. Each of these only selects one item(!) There's no way to create a list of attributes and select a few from that list. If I wanted to list something as red, striped and small, I would need three different choice fields. This is basic, rudimentary database stuff yet it's seemingly missing.
Also, laying out your page is frustrating. If you want to use the 'combo box' approach, good luck - it doesn't wrap around to show all of the possible selections. If your choices take up more than one line, they are cut off. Completely useless. I've only spent ½ an hour with it and I can't get it to do a couple of very basic things. These usability issues should have come up in beta testing - I really don't like paying money to 'test' what should be a functional product. Developers, If I somehow missed how to do these simple things, please advise here in the review. If I haven't, I hope you'll get back to work and add this basic functionality into your work to make this thing actually usable.

After spending weeks trialing this app across iOS and macOS, I was very hopefully for the software but you simply get zero response from support, the documentation is extremely minimal , fragmented or incomplete which makes it very hard to recommend. Their support forums are some kind of crazy mishmash of multiple bulletin platforms that were merged incorrectly which make them mostly unusable due to missing replies or dead links to other threads that no longer exist.

The most hard to swallow pill is direct support:

My iCloud sync was not working at all so I recached out via email to support describing the issue. I received an automated email a week later asking how satisfied I was with the support- even though no one had ever responded. That was about a month ago, still no response to address the issue.

This is what happens to you as a paid customer of the max app.

Aside from this there are also major bugs with iPadOS and keyboard usage - a massive area where a keyboard would be but isn’t. There are also approximately zero key commands for this software which is insane.

I just cannot sink any more time into an unsupported platform and that’s really why I can’t recommend it. It’s such a shame because really like how the software functions overall and the price appears to be right. I guess you get what you pay for in relational databases.

I really wanted to make this db engine work. I have plenty of DB experience: FMP since v1.1, 4th dimension, Double Helix, SQL, db3 and a couple of others whose names escape me, I remember writing my own engine in 8080 assembler. After struggling for weeks I finally broke down and forked out $360 for FMP 16, then I had the project I was working up and running 45 minutes after I installed it. The problems were several: first, many simple functions are realized in an obtuse way; second, the manual is entirely inadequate and finally the tutorials seemed to be obsolete as none of the screen captures matched what I saw in the latest version. I hope the developers are paying attention to my complaints because I'd really like to see this application work.

Many of the targets are non-functional when using a mouse or even Magic Keyboard trackpad. For example, you can click and activate the ‘go to last record’ but not the ‘go to next/previous’ buttons. The only way to make them work is by physically touching the screen or using the up/down keys on keyboard. There are many/many other buttons that are not actionable using the mouse/trackpad. For those of us with disabilities, these omissions make Ninox a no-go. The developers are not testing the functionality on the iPad for all use cases. Too bad, so sad.

Side note: You cannot import lists of contacts from your iOS contacts, You can only import ALL of the contacts, I fail to see how this does anything but create a giant table that you then have to clean up, so what’s the point?

This is the best general purpose database I've found both in terms of power and approachability. However, the interface is confusing at best, requiring, in some cases, you learn all about a feature to discover you don't need to use it. On the other hand, there are features, such as their own cloud support, which are absolutely necessary but seem to have been "screwed onto the side" of the existing product instead of integrated in. This has led to our having two databases with different users using the current or old database since both remain available and active. We've lost all semblance of synchronization as a result.

For iPad use this app is very powerful. Very easy to relate tables, good collection of field types, and powerful table and form features.

There are a few view items that don’t seem to work consistently, but there are workarounds. Field formatting features are also skimpy, but I’m looking forward to continued improvement.

Bottom line, Ninox should allow you to create sophisticated, reliable databases.

I got this to replace bento and have been very pleased with its performance
-1 Star because the text formatting tools are woefully inadequate. I copy data from other sources a lot. This usually results in text that is either too small, too large ore formatted incorrectly. I would like to be able to format the text fields so that everything has a nice uniform appearance.
I’ll update this review as I use it more and as changes are implemented
Bottom line: it’s a great DBMS and well worth the price

I was a diehard FileMaker fan building applications from my business management software. After starting a new business and considering the high price of a program like FileMaker. I’ve looked for other options. After I tried a free trial with the software, I took the plunge of $34 instead of 600 for an individual license of FileMaker. I could not be more happy.

Now, I have my own custom built Database on my iMac and also it syncs on my iPad. For less than $50 I have both applications and do not have to pay a monthly fee. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For an affordable option to FileMakerer.

I love this app. I originally purchased the Mac OS version because I needed something to replace FileMaker Pro—I had an old, incompatible version and wasn't going to pay $400 to upgrade.

Being used to the FM Pro, it took me a bit to get used to the ways of this app, but once I did—what a revelation! The cloud integration between the Mac OS and iOS versions is seamless, and you get both for a fraction of the cost of FM Pro.

Yes, there are some idiosyncrasies in the way they've designed the apps—particularly if you're used to FM—but once you understand their methodologies it all makes a lot of sense. Both the desktop and iOS apps are extremely fast and efficient, focusing on data and easy manipulation of it rather than bells and whistles. Which is not to say that the apps are underpowered. Far from it. There's a lot of depth here, including seamless relational capabilities and a programming language.

In short, it may take a little while to get used to it, but this app is well worth the effort.

I now know how to make those edit changes now.

Heavy user; projects, journals, etc. Used many other apps; each ended with updates that either reconstructed Ninox (to un-usefulness for me) and / or updated resulting in lost data (sometimes years of data.)

I have used this app for several years (off & on;) and recently this app-ed my stuff from other apps. Why? Dependable. Never lost data. Many strong database features. No subscription unless team usage (big one to me,) uses iCloud effectively, does not bog down. Just works and is intuitive. The more I use it, the more I learn this app, the more I find it works for me. Thanks for a great app this app.

BELOW MY OLD REVIEW. ABOVE MY NEW REVIEW:

Great database for a hard user. Useless to me though because unable to execute edit changes to a file/table (adding choices in a multi field etc) on a database file on both iPad and iPhone. Need to be able to execute edit changed on either for all data files.

My life is such that I need database(s) to keep track of it all. There are several apps out there that do a fine job of doing one or two things. But I prefer a single database app that I can make my own and that can do multiple things. I use this app to keep track of my medical bills, books I have read, and personal/house inventory on my ipad and phone. Very easy to set up databases, easy back-up export to CSV/excel, and love the realtime icloud synch performance. A ton of functionality that I have yet to use (forms, graphing, and all the field types) despite using this app for well over a year now. I also like that this app is a fully featured app regardless of which device - can create databases on your iphone, ipad, or Mac. The Mac app supposedly synchs well with the ios versions, and there is a subscription - based team synch option. So very flexible environment to support your needs. Active development. Bottom line - this is one of those apps that I would have to replace if I ever had to leave the apple environment.

My biggest issue with the current database apps available on iOS are that they are too limited. this app allows for full customization of the database and appearances, different views, forms, fully customizable! It’s hands down one of the best apps I use on my iPad.

I don’t have the subscription, as I use the database only for personal inventory, so I don’t need the this app cloud features. Which is one of the huge perks for me. Also the fact that I can customize the views to my liking is what makes Ninox perfect for me.

100% recommend.

I’ve used and developed on almost every DB app out there, and this is one of the most simple and intuitive I’ve ever used. We’re using it in the construction industry to do estimation. You want to say it’s “quick and dirty,” but you can’t because the UI is beautiful and fluid. The team feature allows us to share and manage data across multiple estimators. Backups/restores are slick. Bravo. Very simple and easy to use. Also, the matching web-interface allows us to use pretty much any platform.

Signed - DBA & VP of Sales & Marketing

We’ve been using this app for two years now to develop large-scale enterprise solutions for our clients. This is an outstanding development platform that keeps getting better and better with every release. And the tech support is simply the best in the industry.

It takes more than a few minutes to develop an understanding of the platform, but it’s well worth the investment of time. There is nothing that this app can’t do. This is the standard of excellence in database development on the Mac.

I’ve developed a fully functional database with multiple if/then statements. Enjoy how the look is seamless from Mac to iPad (EXCEPT IPHONE, THE IPHONE APP NEEDS WORK). I enjoy how I can save it into iCloud and access it across all devices. There are a few features I would like to see. I would also like to see the ability to easily recover deleted fields/databases. I would also like to see more customization options within forms, and views. Change color, text size, etc. I would like to see a way to create an approval workflow (for expense reports, time off, etc.)

Also, the functionality for the new Siri Shortcuts would be awesome. Would be great to have an icon shortcut that opens directly to our specified database!

After trying many basic database apps, I finally found this app. It has almost all the features I needed and was pretty easy to learn. The biggest plus for me was the ability to sync through iCloud. I am also very happy to know Ninox is being maintained and improved which is why I rated this 5 stars. Hoping that a couple of features will be added like multi select, text wrap in views, and ability to create a view on 2 or more tables.

I have the application for my iMac and my iPhone/iPad. I love this application. I created my own database for tracking my health and medical appointments and the related bills to those. I had tried another application called Tidy Health, but that doesn’t seem to be a relational database and required multiple uploads of the same files and different areas. I love being able to customize the database to what I need.

I found that I can do some incredible things with this database application! There are not many databases that run on smart phones that are this sophisticated; perhaps this is the only one that is. I’m very impressed with how far they’ve come in the developing and enhancing of this product. It is fairly easy to learn to develop simple databases. Complex databases require much more technical understanding of database concepts and scripting, however. If you want to work with iPhones and iPads, and have your databases synchronized between the two, it will cost you nothing!

The biggest downside is the weak documentation. It is improving, but still needs more information and examples for how to use the functions.

I have been looking for a database for the Mac that also worked on the iPad and iPhone. This is it. While not as powerful as MS Access, it does the vast majority of that program, and works across all iOS and Mac OS platforms. What more could I ask for? A written manual that goes into depth on how to do a lot more than the online tutorial provides. With a good manual, I believe this database will do everything I could want.

I’ve been looking for a database that I can use on my iPad. In one way or another, I’ve been disappointed with almost everything I’ve seen. Until now. Ninox is amazing in that it functions just like a real database.
The user manual is a tiny bit cumbersome but explains everything well enough to follow.
I’m glad I found this app, I highly recommend it.