Products · Product
Joplin
Raised as a usability problem by 41 people on Hacker News over 10 years (2017–2026), in 24 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Sync stops on screen lock and falsely claims completion with notes missingUnreviewed
20172026- Must wait 10+ seconds to sync on every app open before reading a note2025-04-21
- Sync gets slower and slower, stops when screen locks, and falsely claims completion with notes missing2023-07-06
- Must wait for sync before and after editing notes; closing early loses changes2021-06-15
No swipe gesture to return to note list; scrolling feels slowUnreviewed
20172026- Android client is clumsy and not user friendly for taking notes on phone2025-02-27
- Swipe gestures for navigating and selecting notes frustrate the user on mobile2023-07-06
- Scrolling feels slow and odd, and no swipe gesture to go back to the note list2022-11-16
App is sluggish on open because sync starts immediatelyUnreviewed
20172026- App takes over 30 seconds to load after update2025-04-21
- Mobile app is sluggish when opened and starts syncing2024-10-27
- Interacting with the app feels laggy and slow while working2019-11-17
Sync too slow and buggy to ever finishUnreviewed
20172026- Sync so slow and buggy the user couldn't complete it2023-07-06
- Syncing is so slow the commenter gave up and went back2022-11-17
- Sync repeatedly stops with no visible reason given to the user2019-11-17
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 43 complaints
- Too complicated and bloated; notes hard to organize and access across devices2026-08-03
- Lacks a WYSIWYG editor, so formatting is not shown while editing2025-04-21
- App takes over 30 seconds to load after update2025-04-21
- Must wait 10+ seconds to sync on every app open before reading a note2025-04-21
- Android client is clumsy and not user friendly for taking notes on phone2025-02-27
- Mobile app is sluggish when opened and starts syncing2024-10-27
- Workflow too slow; requires menus and extra taps before typing2024-06-11
- Extreme memory use and UI lag when displaying text2024-03-03
- Most-used button sits in top-left corner; swipe-from-left navigation does not work, making mobile navigation awful2024-03-03
- Annoying update modal windows pop up at inopportune moments2023-12-26
- Sync so slow and buggy the user couldn't complete it2023-07-06
- Takes 3-10 seconds to open and doesn't reopen the last note2023-07-06
- Encrypted syncing never worked despite repeated attempts over years2023-07-06
- Buttons are too small to tap; swipe gestures for navigation are missing, causing fumbling2023-07-06
- Must keep a separate preview window open, wasting screen space, to see rendered output2023-07-06
- Swipe gestures for navigating and selecting notes frustrate the user on mobile2023-07-06
- Sync gets slower and slower, stops when screen locks, and falsely claims completion with notes missing2023-07-06
- Couldn't figure out how to sort notes into folders, unsure if possible2023-07-06
- IOS user experience described as abysmal, with no specific problem named2023-07-06
- Commenter finds the overall user experience of the app terrible2023-07-06
- The overall user experience is described as terrible compared to Obsidian2023-07-06
- Clipper works one tab at a time, so saving 200 open tabs takes ages2023-01-06
- Syncing is so slow the commenter gave up and went back2022-11-17
- The app's interface is not the best to use, though it works2022-11-16
- Scrolling feels slow and odd, and no swipe gesture to go back to the note list2022-11-16
- Needs custom CSS to scale previews; Shift+Enter needed to avoid double lines, breaking formatting2022-11-09
- Clunky UI; sorting, multiple views and folder structure feel weird2022-10-03
- Desktop to mobile sync happens on a fixed interval, not automatically when changes are made2022-04-10
- Preview shows an error for every partial diagram while typing syntax2022-02-14
- Long notes slow the phone and crash it, and scrolling to the bottom of a note is very slow2021-12-24
- Mobile app needs work, vague dissatisfaction without specifics2021-12-23
- Multiple keys get generated and there is no easy way to remove them2021-08-09
- Must wait for sync before and after editing notes; closing early loses changes2021-06-15
- Forces raw Markdown editing instead of the WYSIWYG view the user wants2020-12-04
- Linking to another page requires creating it first and manually copying its id, too many steps2020-12-04
- Android app is very bad, almost unusable2020-10-13
- Sync problem made all notes disappear with no option to prefer local files2020-07-03
- Forces markdown writing, requiring constant switching between markdown and preview panes2020-02-28
- Note and to-do item duality is confusing; folder interface doesn't suit to-do paradigm2019-11-17
- Interacting with the app feels laggy and slow while working2019-11-17
- Sync repeatedly stops with no visible reason given to the user2019-11-17
- Attachments stored under unique ids, so users can't easily find the files they want2019-11-17
- Checkbox shows as ticked after clicking, though the change was saved2017-11-30