Foliobook 4 User Reviews

Top reviews

How do I cancel the subscription

No price information. No information on the subscription or payment. Feels like a complete con.

Deleted!

Abandoned years ago. Apple needs to remove this outdated and buggy program.

Can only assume no longer supported and updated. Apple needs to remove from App Store

iOS 17 and app does not appear to work or contain relevant help info. Not sure how or why it’s still in the App Store, I thought Apple were on top of things like this.

Abandoned App - No Star

2-12-23 Update
Looks like the subscription model failed for the app. No users, poor reviews and no updates. Really to bad, because the app could have been great if Rocket Garden Labs had done a onetime purchase for a reasonable amount. I’m not surprised. Still worth zero stars.

Old review from 2018? Been a long time user of the app for many years. I would gladly pay a onetime charge to use the app, but not a subscription. I’ll delete my v3 and find another option. Thank you for the v4 update and wish you the best for success in your new app. ⭐️
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Response from developer

We're glad you changed your mind and decided to retain the app. As you are probably aware v3 received a bug fix update this week, free of course, as such fixes have been since 2010. Apple has provided subscriptions as the viable business model to replace the 'free maintenance forever' model that proved unsustainable. We rely on new subscriptions to Foliobook 4 to be able to support existing customers of v3 in the medium term. We welcome all support that customers give us via App Store ratings that reflect the 18 months of unfunded effort that was invested into developing Foliobook 4. Thank you for your continued custom.

Price too high for what you get

The app is undeniably beautiful, and has helped me impress some potential customers. However:

A) the subscription price is highway robbery. You should be able to own this app for what you pay for a year. The improvements don’t justify it.

B) the app is astonishingly counterintuitive, and it takes extensive fiddling to do the simplest things

C) making things worse, I can find NO INSTRUCTION MANUAL ANYWHERE

D) any bugs that pop up are virtually impossible to fix due to the above. I’m looking at an uninstall/reinstall with little confidence that the backup will work.

I missed the 14 day deadline, so I’ll be using it for a year. I wish I’d been more careful. I’d like to encourage the developer to keep working on it, as the potential is enormous, but for the price it’s just not there.
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Bumpy Road

This is an excellent concept and I would still like to use this app.

The developer did fix the recover function in Foliobook 4 in 3 days which I thank him for

I have now asked him to fix the tag function which is very useful to me but is now unreliable and does not work at all on my copy.

Again I am loosing work which is frustrating and makes the program unusable. Add a SAVE button or do something to fix it please

All we are asking is the features work all the time !
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Still working for me

I have been using this app to show off my portfolio to clients for almost 5 years. It is a super app and does most of what i would like it to do. If I used just the reviews on here to decide whether or not to buy it, I definitely would have gone else where. I recently upgraded my ipad and cos of apples continued development (kudus to them) the app stopped me making any edits. I sent rocket labs an email, got no reply after two days. So I tried the forum and he was on the case like a hungry lion. I was very impressed and confident the problem with the new security update by apple and the Foliobook app will be resolved in a couple of days. Many thanks in advance for your assistance, and keep up the good work.
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No support, no customer service, no chance to get help

No support, no customer service, no chance to get help with my concerns

Photos Come Alive

Foliobook is a great app to show off your work, photos come alive as your favorite music plays in the background.

Steer Clear

Utter rubbish, potentially even worse than the last edition. Only had a look to see if the potential had been realised, but sadly not. Bug ridden monstrosity. Will be unsubscribing in around a minute.

So many bugs for $20 a year

So for the last 20 minutes I’ve been trying to enter titles and descriptions along with my photos but of course that’s not working and they’re not sticking have to redo them every time and they’re just not sticking.

Also it’s a bad thing where you have placeholder texted you have to actually delete individually before you actually type some thing and then also it would be nice if the gallery as you can move around and have more galleries on the front page just by moving them around but instead you only get one line and you can’t actually move them around to customize the position of the galleries and where those are even though there just text links.

For a $20 a year app I really expected much more options and fluidness and the ability to show text and title and have it look very nice. Unfortunately I don’t see that in fact some of the things like you have to delete all the no copyright information if you don’t wanna show that in a portfolio sometimes it’s hard to show that in a portfolio also I’m not sure about the syncing, backup or security or anything like that of this app. There’s no information on any of that, so maybe I’m syncing or backing up to an unsecured location.
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Response from developer

I'm sorry you've had problems with the metadata editing, it was originally added as a way to correct metadata imported from images rather than as a data entry capability. I'm working on updates that will improve this. As for the other questions, please contact me via our support website or Facebook group or twitter account @Foliobook and I can help you with some of the questions you have. You can move gallery buttons far more flexibly by using the other menu types.

Now Works Perfectly

I am a Photoshelter user, and that is how I have always imported photographs into Foliobook 3. The import function was broken when I subscribed to Foliobook 4. That resulted in a 1-Star review. The developer immediately reached out. It took him about a week to fix the issue—brought about by changes in the iOS—but he got it done, and it now works perfectly. I was impressed with the text updates from him and his efforts. So I can once again highly recommend the application. It is great to be able to have my entire portfolio on an iPad, so I can display it when an Internet connection is unavailable. Of greater importance, the portfolio looks better on the iPad than on the web because you don’t have limitations imposed by the web browser and you have a “clean” screen with no browser menus or bars.

Foliobook 4 offers the ability to import images using Lightroom. I will be giving that a try as an alternative to using Photoshelter as the import mechanism. I will have to change my Lightroom workflow a bit—I am currently not a big Collections user—but I think that the Lightroom approach may make it easier to keep Foliobook’s current when I make minor changes to individual files.

As for the subscription model: $16 a year is nothing when you recognize how many photographers are willing to drop $2,000 on a lens or spend $50 for 25 sheets of photo paper. Developers have to constantly work to keep their apps working as Apple makes upgrades to the iOS. They are entitled to be compensated. Moreover, the modest fee gives them an incentive to add new features and take advantage of new features in the iOS. The notion of software ownership is nonsense. Yes, you may have thought you owned Photoshop when you bought it on a CD-ROM back in the last century, but as a practical matter, that wasn’t true because after several changes in the operating system, the software didn’t work. Plus, you didn’t get improvements and new features. You want to be paid for images. Developers want to paid for their continuing efforts.
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Response from developer

I'm sorry to hear about your problem. If a problem occurs with the support site you can also contact us via our direct support email address (rocketgardenlabs@gmail.com) or Facebook page for support (Foliobook page at https://www.facebook.com/Foliobook/) until this problem is resolved. The Photoshelter picker will be tested again and an update issued if there is an error. You can also use the Photoshelter 'FileFlow' app to load images into Foliobook and I'll publish a video on this in the next 8 hours explaining how to use that until any needed update to the picker.

Works well for me

I use Foliobook for my portfolio and like it. The subscription isn’t an issue with me. The app is versatile for my needs and is easy enough to use.

Great customer support

I asked some questions about this upgrade and have got answers within hours, all very helpful.
Yes, there are some limitations at the moment (e.g. web publish) but they’re being worked on.
App meets my needs to collate and share the portfolio of my art and photography pieces.

subscription fatigue

Sorry, but i have subscription fatigue, seems everyone wants to jump on the subscription bandwagon without taking into account people can only finance a finite amount of subscriptions. As a user of the previous version i am going to have let this one go, developers managed to make living before subscriptions and some still do, subscription need to be low, or the app really needs to be an essential need, this one is not either.
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Poor information

I could see on one review that Foliobook 4 is expensive and I have to cancel 24 hours before renewal. I have seen no indication of cost anywhere soI am anxious you are going to take money for an app I just wanted to trial. No indication of how to cancel and not present in my App Store subscription list.
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Best app with most control and best look and I have been testing app for the right one for a while

This app is totally worth the money you have to pay for a yearly subscription. It’s clean easy and has the ability to take your full res images and take advantage of the iPad Pro 12.9 screen and show the work at its best. The only thing I would love this app to do more, is the ability to show images in the galleries as masonry tiles view, instead of only the film strip on the top or just a one at a time full page image. Developer please include in the next update :)
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Just bought foliobook and now it’s a subscription - want my money back

How.

Response from developer

I'm very sorry that you feel this way, but I think you have left this review on the wrong product. This is a free download. The Foliobook 3 app still works and so it is available for those people who want it, if you bought it in error and require a refund contact Apple. Foliobook 4 (this app) is a new version including over a man years worth of unpaid labour/investment on my part that adds new features and is the home of future feature and compatibility upgrades. It also will display Foliobook 3 portfolios for free in read only format for at least the next few releases. So you could say this is a second free app for an existing user of Foliobook 3. As Foliobook 3 is compatible with iOS 13.x it can last many years on a contemporary iPad because Apple tends to support a version of iOS for many years. I work for little or no income because I have a passion for making this app but I need some income for basic living expenses. I have tried to be generous to existing users of Foliobook, including giving a discount for any upgrades, and maintaining data compatibility. I thought that leaving the old version of the app on sale at least for a short period left an option for anyone who did not want to pay for a subscription, but on reflection perhaps this could be confusing and so I will review whether I should the app from sale more rapidly.

Sorry

Your old version is simply great, subscription is an unfair choice as your monthly fee has so little to offer. Sorry mate, you are not Adobe or drop box. In my opinion, you will loose tons of customers. Why don’t you set a one time price and we will all gladly pay it. Otherwise, good luck to you !

Response from developer

I'm sorry you feel this way. However I don't believe that subscriptions are unfair for the following reasons 1. You can still use the old app. 2. Nobody is forcing you to buy a new one. 3. When a subscription runs out you can still use the app, just not access all the building/editing/marketing features. As I am a very small business making little income, any subscriptions just help keep the app maintained and updated after a decade of free updates.

In app purchase

Not too sure if I understand the differences between all the 4 options in the “in app purchases” section. I installed the app and it shows me a pro version to subscribe to and the price shown is a $2 something per month (charges annually) which is ok, but I don’t get what are the other options as listed in the “in app purchase”
Any ideas? 3 star for now without using the app, will change it when I can figure out my answer...
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Response from developer

There is really only one subscription level, 'pro' and 'pro' with a discount for those who already have Foliobook 3 installed as a loyalty benefit. This level will enable all main features of the app. The other subscription levels are due to be removed from sale and are meant for enterprise users or sponsors of the app. The only benefit of those levels is an enterprise branding feature.