# FSNotes — user reviews

> 58 indexed App Store user reviews of FSNotes by Oleksandr Hlushchenko, rated 4.70/5 from 86 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fsnotes/id1346501102/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fsnotes/id1346501102.md
- Rating breakdown: 5★ 71 · 4★ 9 · 3★ 1 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 2

## Newest reviews (14 of 58)

### 4/5 — Clean Open-Source App

*2025-09-24*

The UI looks nice and the documents sync up to ICloud well though I wish there was an easier way to reach the bottom part of my notes.

### 2/5 — doesn’t save changes for existing notes

*2024-08-20*

Notes were synced from the Mac, can create a new notes, but editing existing ones rolls back to the previous state. Also rolled back many of them to the state around two weeks before. 
Tried to enable/disable git but doesn’t help. Existing notes rolls back after edit in 15-30 seconds or after reload app all time.

**Developer response:** The program does not synchronize data, but only shows what you have on your drive or in the cloud. If you're seeing old notes or not saving new ones, it's worth looking into errors with iCloud Drive or disk permissions. I look forward to a detailed report from you on GitHub to help as soon as possible.

### 4/5 — 强烈要求增加语音、视频保存

*2024-07-03*

非常棒的笔记app，不过还是想提个wishlist：增加语音、视频格式。这样就能真正当个笔记wiki用了，或者干脆另外加个网盘保存这些大文件，另外收费也行。

对了，还希望增加ai助手：这样可以帮助查询、改写笔记。

### 3/5 — 无法点开链接文件

*2024-05-02*

ios上的笔记中无法点击文件链接打开文件

**Developer response:** 已在 6.4.0 中实施，请更新。

### 4/5 — Works well with FSNotes on Mac

*2024-05-01*

Thank you for making an excellent successor to Notational Velocity, one of the all-time great apps. Please add an option to make the default folder Notes. Seeing “Inbox” in huge writing every time I open the app makes me think I’ve opened my emails. I would also like an option to turn off the bar of shortcuts above the keyboard.

### 4/5 — iPhone版有收集箱列表，但是查看不了记录的文章内容

*2024-03-03*

我在Mac上版本是OK的，但是在手机上，只显示了收集箱列表，文章列表不显示文章的标题，点击文章后也没有文章内容

### 4/5 — Also ich liebe die App echt mehr als Apple Note

*2024-02-21*

aber ich vermisse sehr das Tabellen Feature in notes.

### 4/5 — Tolle App, mit Einschränkungen

*2023-10-21*

Das Programm gefällt mehr sehr gut. Zum Teil sogar besser als die Konkurrenz. Es ist ist sehr funktional und übersichtlich aufgebaut. Ich würde mir lediglich noch eine Exportmöglichkeit ins PDF Format wünschen oder eine vergrößerbare Schriftgröße beim Schreiben. Die Textgröße ist beim Schreiben auf meinem IPhone doch etwas zu klein. 
Leider gibt es aber bei mir einen Fehler im Editor: Wenn ich nachträglich den Text an einer Stelle editiere, springt der Cursor oft von ganz alleine ans Ende vom Text. Das stört leider den Schreibfluss sehr und es kommt zu Fehlern. Daher nur 4 Sterne.

### 3/5 — Sync Issues

*2023-09-12*

Good times when you edit a note then back out and have 20 copies of it. Love that I have to keep going to my computer to clean up messes made by the phone app. Oh well.

### 5/5 — Very useful application

*2023-07-02*

Great app. I have been using the version for macOS for a long time and recently installed it for iPhone. I really like the speed and nice interface!

### 2/5 — Versión 6 won’t open

*2023-06-30*

New version will not open on iPhone 11 even after updating to latest version and reinstalling.

**Developer response:** Fixed in 6.0.4, please check update. Sorry for the inconvenience.

### 5/5 — Excellent iOS + macOS synced notes 😍

*2023-06-30*

Once upon a time there was a legendary minimalist note taking system for macOS called notational velocity. It simplified and optimised and was loved by many. FSNotes is a spiritual successor to NV (and children like NVAlt). Running FSNotes on multiple desktop and mobile devices uses iCloud which works perfectly. The UI is elegant, capturing the simple search/create unified mode of NV, but adding project folders alongside synced tagging. The macOS version has versioning and other additional features. The developer and open source contributors are active and very engaged, and are responsive to feature suggestions. Altogether a wonderful note taking/searching/syncing experience!!!

### 5/5 — Besser als die Konkurrenz

*2023-06-28*

Nach viel ausprobieren und langer Suche, habe ich jetzt endlich eine App gefunden, die nicht nur gut bedienbar ist und tolle Features hat, sondern auch sehr performant ist und nativ umgesetzt wurde. vielen Dank dafür. Besonders praktisch ist, dass es auch eine sehr gute macOS Version gibt.

Toll wäre es, wenn es einen Live-Preview Modus gäbe. Also einen Modus, in dem das Markdown formatiert angezeigt wird und gleichzeitig bearbeitet werden kann. Etwas ähnliches habe ich schon mal bei einem Konkurrenten gesehen. Besonders für die macOS Version wäre das toll, aber es wäre bei iOS auch sehr praktisch. 

Vielen Dank für diese tolle Software.

### 2/5 — Versión 6 won’t open

*2023-06-23*

New version will not open on iPhone 11. I have reinstalled with same result.

**Developer response:** Fixed in 6.0.3, please check update.

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — 暗号化についての記載が不誠実

*2025-12-14*

説明文にAES256暗号化とあるが少なくともiCloud上では平文保存されてしまっている。暗号化パスワードを設定する意味がわからない。また、検索機能について、トップ画面での検索のときにエンターを押してしまうと新規ノートになってしまうのが慣れないと使いずらい。検索でキーワードがハイライトされるがキーワードまでジャンプしないのが不便。ノート内に複数の該当キーワードがある場合は前後にジャンプする機能がないと不便。ノート内の検索は現在開いているノートに限定して検索されたほうが便利だと思う。ただ開発者が明らかな不具合以外はアップデートしない方針のようで、今後の改善も期待できない。

**Developer response:** AES-256 はすべてのノートに使われているわけではありません。暗号化したノートのみが対象で、個別に暗号化することも、フォルダ単位で暗号化することもできます。
ノート内検索は FSNotes 7 ですでに実装されています。
GitHub にアクセスできるのであれば、私がこのアップデートをリリースするために、過去 7 か月間ほぼ毎日作業していたことが分かるはずです。これは私の仕事に対する完全な侮辱です。今後二度と FSNotes のユーザーにならないことを願います。

### 1/5 — Doesn't respect my device's font-size settings

*2025-11-19*

I want to like this app, but I can't see the text well enough to get that far. Will be asking Apple for a refund.

### 1/5 — 不好用

*2024-10-11*

为什么还不能评价？

### 1/5 — Crashes Like Clockwork

*2024-01-01*

When I open the app I get the logo screen. After counting 19 seconds the app crashes. Maybe I can use it as a timer if I ever have something to do that takes exactly 19 seconds. 

To be fair it's a great app when it works. But previous versions have deleted ALL of my notes and now it doesn't work at all.

**Developer response:** You have to choose iCloud Drive in settings on Mac. The program does not delete anything of course.

### 1/5 — Only iCloud location ? really ?

*2022-11-18*

Awesome app ON Mac ! Because you can use a ton of services (storage ) like dropbox & co
On ios only iCloud !?

So , no disrespect but i will give it back and take a refund

**Developer response:** On macOS no any integration with Dropbox etc. FSNotes uses file system only. On iOS file system access is limited by Apple API.

Good luck.

### 1/5 — Nécessite iCloud Drive

*2020-12-23*

L’app ne se lancera que vous avez activé iCloud Drive dans les réglages. Les auteurs de l’application auraient mieux fait de laisser l’application se lancer pour lui permettre d’afficher un avertissement concernant iCloud Drive. Espérons que ce sera corrigé prochainement et que cette spécification soit annoncée avant tout achat.

**Developer response:** This fixed in FSNotes 4.5.0. Local storage support implemented, but personally i recommend iCloud Drive.

Happy new year!

### 1/5 — Disappearing Files

*2020-10-24, version 4.3.2*

I copied in several .textbundle files from an older version of Ulysses. The next time I opened FSNote ALL of my files were gone. 

I really wanted to love this app but I can’t trust it if all my work is irretrievable deleted. 

This is happened twice. My files are not in the trash or accidentally moved to another folder. They have simply vanished.

**Developer response:** You have to choose iCloud Drive in settings on Mac. The program does not delete anything of course.

### 1/5 — Purchased it and it doesn't even launch on iOS 14

*2020-10-01*

It maybe the best note taking/markdown app but it doesn't even run in iOS 14. I just purchased it and was disappointed when it didn't launch.

**Developer response:** Please enable iCloud Drive in Settings. Everything works perfectly.

### 2/5 — Super slow to load

*2026-02-16*

Takes 5-10 sec to launch the app, every time. I suspect it’s from using iCloud to sync my notes. Painful.

**Developer response:** 1,000 notes in my test load in less than a second (iPhone 12 Pro Max).

### 2/5 — Great App but it will not Sync

*2024-09-16*

Love the App and the way that it works, but i just cannot get ot to sync with my Mac’s, each one has different notes and without the ability to sync it cannot be useful which is a real shame. Also support is via Github which i am unable to get access to.

**Developer response:** In general, iCloud Drive synchronizes data, not the program. It's more productive to write to support, but since that's the case - bye.

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — Hidden Gem!!

*2026-07-12*

Very much appreciate the hard work put into this app.

Fits my needs perfectly, and it’s open source. I’m not rich, but I can honestly say that I’ve underpaid, and this app is worth much more.

The macOS app is beautiful as well.

Thanks again for the hard work put into this app!!  (8<

### 5/5 — The new nvALT

*2026-05-29*

Works like a dream. Now I have nvALT back on my Mac. Solid, reliable, no lock-in as text files written to disk. Great markdown support. Five stars from me.

### 5/5 — Feature requests

*2026-05-24*

Would it be possible to add an option for the user to select the app accent color? As well as create our own syntax themes. They could be imported or created within the app

Hello, I cloned a git repo that I have used for vimwiki for years. When the repo was cloned into FSNotes, the app does not preserve the folder structure. So I have 1639 folders at the top level. However, if I go into the files app and see the files that the app is using, the folder structure is still there. Would it be possible to fix this? Thanks

### 5/5 — love it😘

*2026-05-12*

very useful

**Developer response:** Thank you very much, Shawn!

### 5/5 — Bin begeistert

*2024-09-02*

Ich habe so einiges ausprobiert , aber jetzt bin ich fündig geworden . Den Preis für IOS und MACOS zahle ich gerne , weil alles reibungslos funktioniert .

### 5/5 — Feature request

*2024-08-25, version 6.7.1*

Could you please add Shortcut actions e.g. paste clipboard as a new note.

### 5/5 — Schnell und Ausreichend

*2024-08-01*

Ich habe FSNotes zuerst auf dem Mac verwendet, da es dort gratis und auch Open Source ist. Mittlerweile benutze ich FSNotes auf allen meinen Geräten. Vorher war ich bei Bear Notes und an FSNotes fehlt mich gar nichts.

### 5/5 — Feature requests: app accent color

*2024-03-03*

Would it be possible to add an option for the user to select the app accent color? As well as create our own syntax themes. They could be imported or created within the app

### 5/5 — More powerful than Notes

*2023-12-23*

Simpler than various apps like Notion and notes are synchronized in iCloud between devices. Lots of features. I just installed it after playing with desktop app and so far I’m very happy. 

One thing I noticed is that sync from iCloud folder is not instant. Sync to iCloud and desktop from mobile is very fast, less than a minute. But even when I see date modified change in Files app, I don’t see changes in mobile app unless I restart (maybe I’m too impatient).

### 5/5 — 运气不错

*2023-07-10*

刚买不久就支持中文了。

**Developer response:** 感谢您的高度评价。

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-04.*