Evernote Updates Penultimate Following User Complaints

Evernote has updated its Penultimate app to address a surge of complaints following the release Penultimate 6.0 a week ago.

The new app garnered an overwhelming amount of 1 star reviews leading Evernote to issue a formal apology.

"We take a big approach to redesigns. We think that as devices become more powerful and operating systems change, our apps should follow suit. A week ago, we released an update to Penultimate, our handwriting app for iPad, that was meant to demonstrate our vision of where digital handwriting is headed. We did not do a good job. Simply put, we released this version too soon. Our big ideas were overshadowed by usability issues and incomplete features. The complaints from the community have been loud and justified."


The update tries to resolve many of the complaints put forward by users. Here's what's new in this version:
● Zoom and drift improvements: resizable zoom box, writing speed responds to your handwriting, drift pauses when you stop writing
● Note page thumbnail tray: clear and delete pages, insert new pages, and find specific pages more easily in long notes
● Page break and number visible
● Automatic note titles turned on by default
● Jot Script accuracy improvements

Evernote also promised to not lose touch with its customers:

"As a company grows, a common external perception is that it loses touch with the needs of its users, and events like this only further that feeling. This is fundamentally not true at Evernote. We’re sorry. We screwed up. We’ve heard your feedback, and are going to make things better. Once we’ve solved the immediate issues, we’ll change our process to make sure big new releases go better in the future. We do believe that we’re taking Penultimate in the right direction, but this was not the way to unveil our vision.

Redesigns are important, especially for an app like Penultimate. As technology races ahead, activities like handwriting are in danger of becoming nostalgic. We think Penultimate can play a significant role in keeping handwriting a vital part of our lives. Thanks for your feedback. Keep it coming."


You can download Penultimate from the App Store for free.

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