Goodnotes 2025: The Most Profitable Note-Taking App with $15M Monthly Revenue - A Deep Dive into User Pain Points
💡 This article is based on real user review data, providing an in-depth analysis of the core issues with Goodnotes, a note-taking app with nearly $15M in monthly revenue, offering valuable insights for developers and users.
As the absolute king of the digital note-taking field, Goodnotes has achieved remarkable commercial success in 2025—with monthly revenue approaching $15M, making it the most profitable product in all note-taking app categories. Behind this figure lies the strong demand of millions of users for digital note-taking and Goodnotes' continuous investment in user experience design.
However, as a long-term observer of the digital note-taking ecosystem, I've discovered a thought-provoking phenomenon: despite such impressive revenue performance, Goodnotes still faces strong dissatisfaction from a large number of users. Through in-depth analysis of thousands of real user negative reviews, I've uncovered the deep-seated issues hidden behind this "most profitable" application.
Behind the Astonishing Revenue Data
According to the latest data, Goodnotes generates $14M monthly revenue on iOS with over 2 million downloads; while Android revenue is relatively lower at $80K, it still achieved 500K downloads. This revenue performance solidifies Goodnotes' position as the leader in the note-taking app space, far surpassing competitors like Notability and OneNote.
Real User Feedback: A Wave of Complaints
From the real user reviews on the App Store, we can see a large number of users expressing strong dissatisfaction with Goodnotes. These negative reviews are not only numerous but also concentrated, reflecting systematic defects in the application. Users' emotional journey from initial "excitement" to final "disappointment" is worth our deep reflection.
The 10 Biggest User Complaints
1. Low Handwriting Recognition Accuracy
Handwriting recognition is the core functionality of digital note-taking apps, but Goodnotes performs poorly in this area. Users generally report low recognition accuracy, especially for Chinese characters and complex fonts.
"Handwriting recognition is terrible. My writing is often misrecognized, especially Chinese characters. It's completely unusable."
"The recognition rate is ridiculously low. I wrote 'hello' and it was recognized as 'bad'. How can I use this?"
"The handwriting recognition feature is completely useless. I'd rather just type with the keyboard."
2. Frequent Crashes and Lag
App stability is the foundation of user experience, but Goodnotes has serious problems in this area. Users report frequent crashes, especially when handling large files or during extended use.
"The app crashes frequently. I wrote notes for an hour and suddenly they're gone. I'm so frustrated!"
"Severe lag. It takes forever to open a PDF. It completely ruins the user experience."
"The crash frequency is too high. I don't dare use it for important content anymore."
3. Version Upgrades Remove Features
Users are very dissatisfied with Goodnotes' version upgrade strategy. New versions often remove or change existing features, breaking user habits.
"The new version deleted all my commonly used features. Why would they do this?"
"After the upgrade, the interface completely changed. I can't find where the original features are."
"Why force upgrades? My current version works fine. Why change it?"
4. Unstable Cloud Sync
Cloud sync is a basic feature of modern note-taking apps, but Goodnotes' sync function frequently has problems, causing user data loss or sync failures.
"The sync function is completely unreliable. Notes I wrote on iPad don't show up on iPhone."
"Sync speed is ridiculously slow. A simple note takes minutes to sync."
"Sync often fails. I've lost a lot of important note content."
5. Slow Customer Service Response
When users encounter problems, Goodnotes' customer service responds slowly and solves problems inefficiently, disappointing users.
"Customer service response is too slow. I sent an email a week ago and still haven't received a reply."
"Customer service attitude is poor. They can't solve problems and just shift blame."
"Customer service doesn't understand technical issues at all. Asking them is pointless."
6. Overpriced
Users believe Goodnotes is overpriced, especially considering its functionality and quality issues, making it poor value for money.
"Too expensive. The features aren't even as good as free Notability."
"Spending this much money on an app that crashes frequently is completely not worth it."
"Price and functionality don't match at all. The value for money is too low."
7. Unfriendly Interface Design
Users are dissatisfied with Goodnotes' interface design, finding it complex to operate, not intuitive, and having a high learning curve.
"The interface is too complex. I've been using it for months and still don't know how to operate it."
"Design is not intuitive. I can't find where many features are located."
"The interface design is too ugly. There's no aesthetic appeal at all."
8. Missing Basic Features
Users report that Goodnotes lacks some basic note-taking features like tables, charts, templates, etc., affecting the user experience.
"It doesn't even have basic table functionality. How can this be called a note-taking app?"
"Too few templates, and the quality is poor. It's completely insufficient."
"Features are too simple. It doesn't even have basic chart functionality."
9. Insufficient Performance Optimization
Users report that Goodnotes has insufficient performance optimization, high memory usage, slow running speed, affecting device performance.
"Memory usage is too high. My iPad is completely laggy."
"Running speed is too slow. It takes forever to open a file."
"Performance optimization is terrible. It completely ruins the user experience."
10. Device Compatibility Issues
Users report that Goodnotes has compatibility issues across different devices, especially between old and new devices.
"It's completely unusable on my old iPad. The compatibility is terrible."
"File formats between different devices are incompatible. It's too troublesome."
"Too many compatibility issues. It completely affects cross-device usage."
Suggestions for Note-Taking App Developers
Core Recommendations
- • Focus on Basic Features: Handwriting recognition, sync, and stability are users' top concerns and must be prioritized
- • User Feedback Driven: Establish comprehensive user feedback mechanisms and respond to user issues promptly
- • Gradual Upgrades: Avoid major changes and maintain continuity of user habits
- • Performance Optimization: Ensure the app runs smoothly on all devices
- • Reasonable Pricing Strategy: Price should match functionality and quality
Suggestions for the Goodnotes Team
Urgent Issues to Address
- • Handwriting Recognition Optimization: Invest more resources to improve recognition accuracy, especially for Chinese characters
- • Stability Improvements: Solve crash and lag issues to improve app stability
- • Customer Service Upgrade: Establish more efficient customer service systems for quick user issue response
- • Feature Completion: Add missing basic features like tables, charts, etc.
- • Performance Optimization: Reduce memory usage and improve running speed
Goodnotes' Bright Spot: Presentation Mode Feature
Despite the numerous issues, Goodnotes still has some commendable features. The presentation mode is one of them, allowing users to conduct professional presentations where the audience only sees the presentation content without the app interface. This design reflects Goodnotes' professionalism and practicality in specific scenarios.
Conclusion and Outlook
Goodnotes' success demonstrates the enormous potential of the digital note-taking market, but it also reminds us that commercial success and user satisfaction are not always positively correlated. As an app with $15M monthly revenue, Goodnotes has sufficient resources to address these user pain points—the key is whether they're willing to acknowledge the problems and invest resources in improvements.
For users, when choosing a digital note-taking app, it's important to consider not only feature richness but also app stability and the development team's attention to user feedback. After all, a "feature-rich" app that frequently crashes or fails to meet basic needs is far inferior to a simple but reliable tool.
I hope the Goodnotes team will truly value user feedback and invest some of their revenue in improving user experience. After all, user satisfaction and loyalty are the foundation of long-term commercial success. I also hope this article can provide valuable reference for other note-taking app developers to collectively advance the entire industry.