Flow User Reviews

Flow: Sketch, Draw, Take Notes

Moleskine S.r.l.

Productivity

Graphics & Design

Reviews Summary

Positive highlights

🎨

This app hasCustomizable tools and pens

📚

This app hasInfinite scrolling canvas

🎨

This app hasIntuitive and beautiful color selection

🎨

This app hasVariety of paper styles and backgrounds

🎨

This app hasSmooth drawing experience

🎨

This app hasThoughtful accessibility features (e.g. color names)

🎨

This app hasAllows for quick sketching and ideation without worrying about perfection

Negative highlights

💰

This app hasSubscription-based model, no one-time purchase option

🔍

This app hasLimited vertical scrolling space for diagrams and larger drawings

🐞

This app hasStability issues, app crashes and freezes frequently

🔍

This app hasSelection/clipping tool is unreliable and buggy

🔍

This app hasNo ability to resize or duplicate drawings

🔍

This app hasNo recent deleted folder, lost drawings cannot be recovered

🔍

This app hasInability to export drawings without requiring recipient to have the app

🔍

This app hasLack of laptop/desktop compatibility

Top reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

why

when ever I see a drawing or a note taking app, theres always a subscription if you want more out of the app, not the whole app. this morning I was downloading this app, and the second I got on, it put a subscription add in my face. I thought that you could just exit that add, but I had the restart the app to get out of that add. and then when I got back on, I tried to use one of the markers to see how it was, the second my apple pen hit the screen, the subscription came back up. I just wanted to test it out! and I know you can do a 7 day trial, it’s just annoy because I always forget to unsubscribe when the trial is over. ik the reviews are great, they just don’t say anything about needing to buy the app once you have downloaded it. it might as well cost money to get it.
great app other wise, would recommend if you want a good trusty note taking and drawing app 👍

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🐫🐟🐋🐠🦐🦍🐅🦍🦐🐠🐎🐬

2 years ago

Response from developer

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The reason we have a free trial is we wanted people to be able to use absolutely everything Flow has to offer without restricting particular features like most freemium apps do. No approach is perfect though and I can understand your frustration. We hope you enjoy using Flow and if you haven't discovered it already, we have a feature voting board (under Help in the menu) where our users vote what we build next, would love any thoughts you have! Thanks, Ben

Why bother making it free

I can't do anything. ANYTHING. Because it constantly tells me that it’s a moleskin product. okay. i don’t care. i wanna draw and take notes but i can’t because the pop up for the free trial doesn’t take no as an answer. lame.

DdabuHeee

2 years ago

Response from developer

Hey DdabuHeee, I recommend using the free trial - it doesn't cost anything and you can cancel any time before membership starts. If you need a hand setting it up just email flow@moleskinestudio.com and we'd be happy to help you out. Ben

Versatile but with many inexcusable faults

My pages will go missing with no explanation, and only reappear on my iPad when I click on them on my iPhone (the only other device I can open the documents on). Makes it frustrating when I don’t remember that those specific notes exist and now I’m missing info I needed to memorize for class. Sometimes pages will disappear when I’m working on it and I’ll have to start over. That’s my biggest issue with this app. I’ve had to rewrite notes more than a dozen times. Other issues include the fact that i cannot export cleanly - you can only share notes if the other person pays for the app. Otherwise I have to screenshot notes and send 50 pages of screenshots. I’d also love if this app was compatible with laptops so I could open notes there. There is also no recently deleted folder so if you accidentally delete a document, it’s gone forever. I’m only still using this app because it seems to be the most versatile in terms of note taking and drawing as well as the limitless options for pen color/thickness etc. Went back and forth with their support team for over a month but they couldn’t do anything about it.

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leigh2407

2 years ago

Response from developer

Hello there! Thanks for your message. Our support team is standing by to help with any app problems, so please contact us via the Help screen in the app or email at flow@moleskinestudio.com. We look forward to talking with you! - Anj

Pretty Decent app, don’t listen to the haters that are too “broke” to spend $2.49/mo for an app.

Honestly, the people that complain about paying a subscription and ACTING like they can’t afford to spend $2/month really need to be quiet and go somewhere…you literally spend more than $5 for lunch everyday and you complain about $2/mo?! Stop it! Stop leaving bad reviews because you’re too broke to spend $2.49/mo! This app is pretty decent! I love the writing/drawing utensils that Flow has! My only issue with this app is that I could be writing a note and mid writing the note would disappear. I REALLY hate that, especially when I’m taking vital notes that I’d like to revisit-please fix this ASAP.

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Nba_dud3

2 years ago

Ok

So I like the idea of the app, But when I got it, It was literally forcing me to buy the subscription. And only being under the age of 13, I have no idea why I have to buy the subscription in order to use the app for free. Though I’m not trying to be a Karen here but I would like to let you know that this situation happened. I hopefully think that you guys can fix this problem for future downloaders. Thank you for your time. But I never bought the subscription just to let you know because I wanna use the app and not have to pay but other than that I love this app but that was the only thing that makes me not enjoy it as much as I thought it was. I hope you’re having a great day/night. ❤️🍄

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Kennedy Keehn

2 years ago

Good but not good enough

It’s a brilliant concept and easy to use but £24 a year? It’s not the price that’s the issue but failure to compete in the market.

If you have an Apple product you may as well get Procreate, it’s a one time purchase and you have the same features plus more freedom to create. The limitations and inability to compete with Procreate or even the free auto desk sketchbook is literally the biggest negative for me.

This app is not spectacular enough for the subscription, and the the free version is far too limited and I believe it’s done purposely for you to spend an extortionate amount for this genre of app, seems like a money grab more than a "support our business"

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XenoReviews

2 years ago

Response from developer

Hey Xeno, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm sorry we didn't suit your needs. We've made quite a few updates since your review so if you'd like another free trial to check them out just email flow@moleskinestudio.com and we can set something up.

Thoughtful design. Very good, not perfect

I really appreciate the effort that has gone into the interaction design of this app. It’s unconventional, and in that sense not always entirely intuitive but I applaud the designers for trying to introduce novelty into the experience. The colour selection is a good example of this, I quite like it but it takes some effort to figure out. However there are some things which are just a baffling design decisions, like:
-lacking file organisation. There seems to be no way to multi select documents. And you can name your document, but there seems to be nowhere within the list of docs that’s actually shown?!?! It’s also not fun to reorganise documents between folders/tags
-the splitting of files on export is infuriating. I use this app for note taking, the key selling point no pages, and yet I need to restitch my files back together later. Very close to a deal breaker for me. I could deal with 1/8 of the default export resolution for notes in exchange for being able to export the whole thing.

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walkingmman

2 years ago

Response from developer

Hey Walkingmman - thanks for your thoughtful review. I'm hoping you've seen our latest update which introduces seamless export of files? Regarding the naming of documents, this is shown when you change the view mode of the list using the button on the top left. Also if you pinch the document thumbnails and change the scale, sometimes we hide the document title to make everything fit better. We don't get a lot of requests for multi document selection but I can see how it would help your workflow. I've added it to our public feature request board (in the app menu help / feature request). Thanks again (also hello from a fellow Aussie). Ben

Work for FREE!

So, I have the Moleskin bundle and use the calendar and action list mainly. I don’t use this one a great deal, but reading the reviews… seriously? WOULD YOU WORK FOR FREE⁉️

I downloaded the apps, you have a 7 day FREE trial, if you don’t like it, cancel the subscription before you are charged. If you do like it, pay the £2.49p/m! It’s 51p less than 1 Starbucks coffee!

I’m not a developer, but self employed, and people seem to want your hard work for nothing these days. This selfish culture has to change.

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iDavidson2

2 years ago

Free version is pointless

The free version only allows one document. This app is pointless without a subscription.

I would argue that a single document does not give anybody the opportunity to see if the app is really worth getting, and does not allow a person to really see if it is worth the investment. It is more of an instant turn off. Which is why I have instantly uninstalled it, because it feels like it isn’t worth it.

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ixus2600

3 years ago

Doesn’t work

I have the moleskin bundle since I use timepage and actions, but this app is either frustrating to use or doesn’t work. I can’t get the tools back and I can’t draw using my pencil. Back to notability for me

Jessenw

3 years ago

Response from developer

Hi. Thanks for your message, and I'm sorry to hear that this is happening. Our support team is standing by to help with any app problems, so please get in touch with us via the Help screen in the app - or directly via email at flow@moleskinestudio.com. We look forward to talking with you! - Anj