Freeform is a Game Changer

[GerritV]

But I hate OneNote. Because it doesn't.

I hate OneNote because of its interface that takes way to much screen estate.

 

[unQuestionable]

I’m telling you, they could release AR glasses with one app: Freeform, but it could use whatever room you’re in as the page. Every time you go to your work office, that one spare room, your living room, your bedroom, and open that document, you can see all the collaborative things you or others have placed. This foundation could be its own AR social network. Instead of people having their own online pages, people could have their own VR rooms. AR for you, but VR for others visiting or collaborating. Waking up, putting on glasses, looking around the room to see new things and work created by others(whoever you’ve shared that room or page with).

 

[NY Guitarist]

wait... I can draw in Freeform in IOS but not in MacOS on my new MBP with it's large trackpad?

Or am I missing a setting or something?

 

[rehkram]

I was skeptical at first but I'm now finding Freeform very useful for music study. I'm a long-time guitar player who finally got serious about filling the gaps in my music theory this year. Taking notes tends to result in two-dimensional lists of disconnected items, but in music everything links in some way to everything else. For example scales, arpeggios, chords, harmony, ear training, intervals, charts, are all connected.

It's nice to be able to capture a fleeting insight quickly by just opening the app, dropping a text box, speech bubble, graphic etc in there and loosely associating it by its proximity to other objects. I'm sold on Freeform for this.

 

[Lioness~]

I think Freeform will have a lot of potential. That said I haven't cared to mess around with it much, v. 1.0 are maybe not so exiting
Unless it comes up a situation where I need or feel a strong urge for it, I'll leave it until at least 2.1 😄

I was wrong, I already love this app ♥️

 

[flowderf]

Help! Is there a way to set palm rejection on the iPad for use with the Pencil?? If there is, it's the app I've been waiting for.

The key feature of Freeform is the low latency of drawing updates to collaborators. My group has used Goodnotes for this, but sometimes we are waiting 30 sec for a simple drawing update - basically kills the collaborative part.

 

[msackey]

There are indeed digital white boards for collaboration, and Apple is late to the party. However, as with a number of other things, Apple making this an integral part of the ecosystem drastically lowers the bar of entry. So it does make a big difference. If a friend or group uses Apple devices, I know they will have Freeform and we can start using it right away, like FaceTime and iMessage.

How do you think you will be using this?

I find digital whiteboards overall very clunky to use because the input controls are just not as easy to use as a pen and paper! That said, I can imagine for some industries this would be a useful tool. In my line of work, this isn't so useful. Also, Freeform isn't available on iCloud so it makes the utility of it much lower in mixed platform environments; can't use it on Windows, for example.

 

[erthquake]

I was skeptical at first but I'm now finding Freeform very useful for music study. I'm a long-time guitar player who finally got serious about filling the gaps in my music theory this year. Taking notes tends to result in two-dimensional lists of disconnected items, but in music everything links in some way to everything else. For example scales, arpeggios, chords, harmony, ear training, intervals, charts, are all connected.

It's nice to be able to capture a fleeting insight quickly by just opening the app, dropping a text box, speech bubble, graphic etc in there and loosely associating it by its proximity to other objects. I'm sold on Freeform for this.

Since relational linking of information is valuable to you, check out Obsidian. It's text-based, but the ability to link to other notes just by typing the title of a related note is awesome. You can drop in images as well. Then you can how all the notes relate graphically with a map view of them all.

 

[rehkram]

Since relational linking of information is valuable to you, check out Obsidian. It's text-based, but the ability to link to other notes just by typing the title of a related note is awesome. You can drop in images as well. Then you can how all the notes relate graphically with a map view of them all.

Thanks, I will definitely check it out.

Edit: Oh wait, I see it's for iPad and iPhone. I need it on my Mac, it's where I study and practice.

 

[ndouglas]

I suggest you search on Youtube. There are already reviews and demo's available with - no doubt - more to come.

<edit> Here is a review by John Voorhees over at MacStories, I recommend reading it </edit>

Pretty cool, thank you!

 

[erthquake]

Thanks, I will definitely check it out.

Edit: Oh wait, I see it's for iPad and iPhone. I need it on my Mac, it's where I study and practice.

It's on MacOS as well. And you can use dropbox to sync between devices for free or pay to use Obsidian's sync service.

Obsidian - Sharpen your thinking

The free and flexible app for your private thoughts.

obsidian.md

 

[boss.king]

It's on MacOS as well. And you can use dropbox to sync between devices for free or pay to use Obsidian's sync service.

Obsidian - Sharpen your thinking

The free and flexible app for your private thoughts.

obsidian.md

I think you can also use iCloud to sync for free.

 

[Lioness~]

I think you can also use iCloud to sync for free.

You absolutely can, and it works great.

 

[erthquake]

You absolutely can, and it works great.

Have you ever had any hiccups using iCloud, like losing edits?

 

[boss.king]

Have you ever had any hiccups using iCloud, like losing edits?

I just checked and my vault is synced over iCloud. I've never had any issues, although I'm not an Obsidian power user.

 

[Lioness~]

Have you ever had any hiccups using iCloud, like losing edits?

Could have, many years ago when iCloud was a kid. Not these days.

 

[erthquake]

I just checked and my vault is synced over iCloud. I've never had any issues, although I'm not an Obsidian power user.

Cool. I'm not a power user either. I use it quite a bit, but haven't messed with any plugins since I discovered it in 2021. Basically all just text entry.

 

[GerritV]

Back to Freeform.
I would like the possibility to create custom boards in the left sidebar.
Projects, Areas of Responsibility...

 

[decafjava]

I found it pretty underwhelming. Digital whiteboard apps are nothing new, and Apple didn't bring anything new to the space despite being soooo late to the party. For users coming in fresh to the iPad or these tools in general, it's nice to have a first party option that comes free with the device, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a reason to switch to this for personal use.

And it's worse for professional use — this is a non-starter since it's only on Apple devices. Cross-platform compatibility is table stakes.

Not to mention that a lot of folks stuck on older Macs like me unable to upgrade to Ventura will not be able to use it fully.

 

[chrono1081]

It doesn't have snap to grid. Which is really odd.

It's also partially a vector drawing package and partially a whiteboard. It's not great at either.

It feels like something created in the spare time by a junior apple dev. Weird to have such a small app get prominence.

The lack of snapping is what is killing it for me.

 

[Danfango]

Ok so after a week of this I've got it:

1. Running kanban boards.
2. Mind maps
3. Doing homework with the kids.

I really like this and I am a miserable bastard who hates every bit of software out there with visceral pride!

 

[erkanasu]

I agree. As a product manager for a software company this is making my life so much easier to create products.

 

[boss.king]

Not to mention that a lot of folks stuck on older Macs like me unable to upgrade to Ventura will not be able to use it fully.

Yup. It's so weird that Apple keeps tying apps directly to the OS rather than just letting them exist as standalone products.

 

[msackey]

Having played around with FreeForm a bit, it reminds me a lot of Microsoft OneNote, which has existed for ages and is fully integrated across MacOS, Windows, iOS, iPadOS, and the web. There are countless others, each with their own focus (whiteboarding, idea-mapping, flow-charting, collaboration, etc.). Like pretty much all Apple software that copies an existing theme, the barrier to entry is very low, and the ease of use is high. As a result, however, it's also pretty basic.

Nothing wrong with that, it's great to have a free, easy-to-use option, but it's hardly moving the needle on the idea and if you're using it seriously, you'll hit limitations fairly quickly.

I agree. I wonder: why is Apple deciding to offer its own solution? In the past, I think, Apple offered such software solutions when either none existed or what is available is really mediocre. But this is not true for whiteboard applications. I do like that it easily syncs across all Apple devices though.

 

[msackey]

And so does OneNote! In fact OneNote works on Apple devices, Android, Windows and the web.

I love OneNote as I can use it on my Windows office machine or my personal Mac and iOS devices. I use it as a primarily text notebook though. Syncs across all the platforms I use.