Name: Paper by WeTransfer
Rating: 4.58781 (60455 reviews)

User Reviews for Paper by WeTransfer

4.59 out of 5

60.5K Ratings

5 years ago, briankangmh

Best overall drawing/drafting app hands down

I’ve been using paper for years. I’ve always found that paper is by far the best combination of functionality, usability, and simplicity of any app on the App Store. I loved paper as a kid when it first came out, and my love for it has never faded. Now with the Apple Pencil, drawing on paper with the pencil tools looks and feels so natural, I don’t even draw with actual pencil and paper much anymore (and I’m an artist). As an artist I have high standards for what a digital drawing tool should feel like and paper is the only one that makes the experience so natural and perfect. You can use various paper templates, such as interface drafting, lined paper, etc which have all been incredibly useful for me. Every feature on paper is delicately thought out and beautifully executed. Paper deserves an award for its simplicity and usability alone: on top of that, its functionality is never lacking. Just as a personal favorite example: with paper pro, you can adjust tool size/thickness by simply swiping up or down on the tool, and it automatically changes. With most apps you need to inelegantly use a slider to adjust it. It takes special kind of genius to make a feature so simple and friendly. Paper is full of little touches like this that make the app delightful to use at every moment. Paper never fails to satisfy, and it sets a standard of quality all app developers should strive for.

2 years ago, happy lizard & friend

Awesome so helpful!

This app has been above and beyond amazing and so many of my friends love it too! I would say there are no problems and it doesn’t feel so overwhelming like in most of the sketching apps I have downloaded because they have so many tools. My favorite part is that is gives a variety of options for starter books and introduces how to use all of the tools the best way possible! I know i said that there was no buts and this is not a complaint the app is already amazing but if it had two more features I would love it even more, the first thing it should add is a feature to lock the drawing or photo in place so that you are unable to zoom in or out! This way is so if you want to focus on one specific part you won’t have to worry about getting distracted and accidentally drawing on the wrong part of the page! The second thing that they should add is oil paint so that if you want to do some abstract art or something else you won’t have to improvise. In conclusion I think that you should definitely download this app and as a person who has, I have used it everyday since.

6 years ago, jmherri

Useful App, Ridiculous Premium features

I have been using this app for a few years now and got the Pencil by 53 before I had gotten my iPad Pro + pencil. Originally, the notebooks were listed along the left side (as in Notability) which made them easy to view and select. They now scroll across the screen and only the front-and-center notebook is visible, which makes finding and selecting a notebook difficult. A bigger problem is the subscription. Features that I would consider fairly simple (changing the size of pens, cutting and pasting across notes) are subscription (premium) only features. Several other apps - Notability, GoodNotes, MyScript - are all $10 or less for a one-time purchase and offer similar features. If drawing is your thing, Procreate, Concepts, Sketches, SketchBook, or one of the Adobe apps are all <$20 (or free) and, again, often offer improved features. I mention this for 2 reasons - for one, if I were going to spend money on an app, I would put my money into one of the above apps. With that said, Paper is an elegant app that would be worth $5-10 +/- because it is well designed and seems useful as a place to sketch and organize ideas. Despite its limitations (and my frustrations at what I consider a ridiculous Premium service), I still use it quite frequently.

1 year ago, Vtron/Lazarus

Excellent but there seems to be a new and VERY problematic bug.

I have used paper for many years and I love the application. I use it for note taking, drawing, scheduling, and forming ideas. Recently however (around a few days ago) I have noticed something off. Sometimes when I’m trying to write (whether with the pencil or with my finger) the app seems to randomly undo or delete what I just wrote. Sometimes when it does this it “makes this default” by not allowing me to use the undo arrow in the top right. Sometimes when I glue and paste it has caused me to lose the work I wanted to edit, and this happened today with a college class schedule. I won’t delete the app because I have many ideas, drawings, and notes here, but I’m concerned about using it until this issue, assuming it’s general and not particular to me since my other apps work just fine, is addressed and resolved. I really hope it is fixed soon. Paper is too good of an app to stop using due to a bug. I hope this gets to the Paper team, thank you sincerely.

2 years ago, William M S

Better than some other apps, but….

It could be much better. The app simulates a book, with pages, but when you open a page, it is really two pages, the left and right leafs … that is fine if you plan on ignoring the book idea and want to draw and the entire screen, but if you want to take notes, you have no idea where the center of the page is (the virtual binding) so you can’t really treat it like a book, at least not easily. The app gives a good selection of tools and colors, as long as you pay for the premium service. The developer changed the pay model. In the past the basic app was free, and you paid, once, for more tools. Now, they want you to pay forever and ever. Also, the tool bar is _huge_ which means you lose a good chunk of paper space at the bottom. You can get around this by zooming in, but then your scale is off. All in all, it is nice to be able to write on something that acts like paper, but it is a little awkward getting around and having an idea of scale and position. The app is available on iPad and iPhone, but it doesn’t work the same between the two devices. In the end, it’s a good idea, but not very useful for anything. The app Card flow seems to be much more practical.

3 years ago, Dejamonetxo

Used Everyday: Journaling, Note Taking, Sketching

I purchased the premium version of paper mostly to have virtual notebooks since I use the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. I love that I can also type notes or add a sticky note onto a drawing journal page. Pages are able to moved around, photo media inserted onto pages, and due to the sketch features, if I write something in the wrong place, I can cut it out of the page and “paste it somewhere else. The templates help keep my handwriting nice and neat, though I do wish there were better writing utensil options. It’s very easy to make and note custom palettes as well. I tried to use Moleskin, but didn’t enjoy it as much as Paper. The typing options weren’t very intuitive, but I figured out how to make it work. I’m not a big fan of the pencil because it seems too light compared to a real pencil’s markings. *If more writing templates could be added, like for brainstorming or outlining, that would be great! Maybe allowing for pre-drawn shapes to be added to the template would help with this!* I wish the typing font colors could be changed, but besides that, I don’t have any other suggestions or complaints.

6 years ago, myoozishan

Skeuomorphism taken too far - lost functionality in latest update

I like the tool palette, and the experience of actually sketching is very nice, but the change to how journals are navigated between is frustratingly bad. Before, there was a list on the left and I could just jump to the journal (notebook? I forget what they’re called) that I wanted. Now that list is no longer an option. Instead I have to swipe through these big, unlabeled pictures of books to find the one I want. Not only is this laborious and a completely unnecessary step backward in efficiency, but the titles of the journals are not even on the pictures of the books themselves; you have to wait until each one is front and center and then the name pops up on the top. This makes a bad situation even worse - because the right journal is even harder to locate. If you were going fully skeuomorphic you’d think you could at least put the title of the journal on the cover of the picture of the journal? Ug. Sorry for ranting. I want to love this app, but this was just a totally boneheaded move. Please bring back the list mode, and if you must develop the UI in a skeuomorphic direction, please try to do so without making it harder to use efficiently.

1 year ago, hsjdhjedbxu))6373

Very good app…if it would download my stuff

I payed for the subscription and i really enjoyed it I had fun making a journal, but then I left the app alone for a month or two without using it and when I recently tried to work on it again it was gone, in the top right hand corner it says it’s downloading 24 items which sounds like the right amount of pages I had in my journal so at least it wasn’t completely deleted. But I’ve left my IPad alone for it to download for over 20 minutes and there’s been ABSOLUTELY nothing downloaded or accessible to me. I don’t mind waiting for it to download but I’ve waited so long that I’m starting to lose hope for it to work. Is there anything I should be doing for it to download? I have enough storage, my wifi is fine, it’s the only journal I have and it’s around 24 pages. If I can’t get it to download there’s no reason for me to pay for the subscription since I won’t be starting over I’ll just bitterly delete the app.

3 years ago, QuirkyCarter

Already paid, now asked to subscribe, crashes ipad

I was an early adopter of Paper. I paid the $ to unlock everything way back when. I really feel like the practice of changing the monetizing method should be illegal or at very least not allowed by Apple... app developers should create a new app so those of us who already paid can still access the software we purchased. I know it’s a tricky issue and I do want to support developers. Problem is that when I buy something, I feel like it should be mine forever unless there’s a clearly stated time limit. Otherwise I can spend $ today and lose access tomorrow... that’s definitely not right. This trend of moving everything to subscription is turning me off to spending $ on apps in general. Seems extremely unwise to pay for something without any guarantee that it will remain accessible as purchased. In addition to the previously stated issues, this app is now causing my iPad Pro to crash completely - as in turn completely off despite being plugged in and charged. It is an old model, but similar apps do not cause this much crashing. Not all of us can afford to buy new devices every few years, but it seems clearer than ever that developers just don’t care about making stable apps with fair pricing.

7 years ago, KazutoKirigaya

Disappointed

When I first got an iPad, Paper was the first app I downloaded. I wasn’t the best at it, but I had a lot of fun just playing with it. Mix was great too — just seeing new art was kinda fun! Think kit was a great addition, but then a lot of weird new features got added. I spent some time away from iPads in general until now, when I re-downloaded Paper, grabbed my Pencil (by 53), and tried to use it again. It’s like everything is crazy now. I mean really. I have access to the think kit tools automatically, but some things have badges for pro, and apparently I can still subscribe. I tried drawing lines with arrows. It’s a basic feature that’s listed on the website, but upon further inspection, that’s only for Paper pro and legacy users. But wait, another support article says that diagram arrow tools aren’t supported yet. After upgrading to pro, every time I cut, I get a “copied” notification. Can’t figure out paste though. No help articles for that. Everything here says rushed. Missing tool items. Poor help menus to explain what’s changed. Poor support pages that erroneously list features that don’t exist anymore. Poor distinction between what’s outdated, what promotional material no longer applies, and what this app even does anymore.

3 years ago, Mi Lùn

Glitched update? All pens are extremely pixelated on ipad pro 11in

I’ve been a loyal supporter since this app was Paper 53 around 2012. Even Proceate never dethroned it in my heart in terms of the natural feeling of the pens that makes it exactly like writing on paper. I went through college with it, taking notes for every class, relying consistently for it to capture my quick art ideas within seconds. I always feel ecstatic whenever I use the ink pen especially. That said, today I signed into it and suddenly all the pens are extremely pixelated, no zooming, no anything. Every size and every pen, except for the pencil. I’ve been using the drawings from this app on iPad Pro 11in to extract lines in Illustrator before without any significant pixelation at all. Is there a possible recent glitch in one of the updates? Am I missing out on some subscription-only uopdates? Please tell me I’m not the only one getting this issue :( This is to this day the only app that gives me joy, and I really want to see it maintaining as the working horse it’s been. I hope you hear me, dear devs :(

4 years ago, Honda S2000 & 2010 Mustang GT

Paper is also GREAT for Work!

I have been using Paper for years! I have over 1,000 Journals as I use it to sketch for clients and to annotate photos. I also use it personally to organize projects, concepts & ideas. I tell people that Paper, along with the IPad Pro & Pencil, is responsible for the largest productivity leap that I have made since I started using a PC. Prior to Paper I would have to come back to the office and scan actual paper, import pictures from my phone & DSLR, and then input someone’s Business card. Now it is all in one journal before I leave the client. Finally, on (2) occasions, I have needed to contact the App’s Developer. On both times, I found them to be responsive, concerned, helpful & professional in addressing my issues/concerns. On one of those interactions, I had discovered a glitch for which they created & issued an update just a few days later. Quite simply, I could not work as efficiently and productively without Paper!

4 years ago, Mu5ikaddict_15

Love it!

I love to journal and having this app has taken it to the next level. I absolutely love the freedom of writing on a tablet and having all the colors and tools I will need to journal right on the app. I love the additional journals that you can purchase from their library too. The only thing I would change from this already awesome app is the typing option. I wish I could type onto the journal page itself instead of adding a note that can only be viewed partially. It’s a virtual journal, why not have other virtual options? Either way, I absolutely love this app. Note: I purchased this app and am paying the monthly fee. This app shows its best features once you make that purchase. The free version is still good, but if you’re serious about journaling or keeping notes in one place, then just make the purchase. You can view journals throughout all your devices. Editing is difficult on your phone though. This app is best suited for the iPad Pro and pencil combination.

2 years ago, Anonoyes

The Perfect Blend of Digital and Organic

I have been using the paper app since 2012, and since then have used it for about everything; the simplicity of the UI is just so versatile. I used it to take notes (and doodle) during my college classes, make art for the internet, keep track of my schedule, interview notes, my to-dos, my packing lists, plan furniture layouts, etc. While I can certainly use purely digital tools for the calendars and task lists, I’ve noticed they never really helped me remember what I needed to do the same way as writing it down does, and with Paper it’s without all the added clutter of “real” paper. And while I can (and do) use apps specifically for making art on an iPad, the simplicity of Paper helps me focus on just sketching out simple ideas and concepts before diving into the details in the “heavy duty” apps. 10/10, have literally documented a good chunk of my life with this app alone.

6 years ago, shempzilla

Shame on 53

EDIT: I have gotten access restored to the tools I purchased previously and it looks like the people at 53 have taken some of the negative feedback to heart and made some tweaks to the new setup and options that make it a much more enjoyable experience again. I have updated my rating to reflect the current situation which is significantly improved from my original review. I have been a user of Paper for years and gladly paid to unlock the extra tools they introduced. This new version moves all those tools into the new “pro” tier, so despite the fact that I already paid to access them I now no longer have access to them unless I pay again- this time on an ongoing subscription basis. No thank you! 53 has essentially reverted Paper back to the original style that customers preferred but taken away the tools we paid for back when we already had this same version. What a waste. I won’t be making the mistake of giving them any more money when there are so many great alternatives!

7 years ago, R the P

Version 4 disappoints enough to leave Paper

I have been using Paper by FiftyThree since its initial release, to sketch ideas for creating icons or other art, but was soured by their rewrite of the app in version 4, with many necessary features omitted until they can get around to adding them to the rewritten version, and a broken workflow and UI for their copy / paste function that I would use constantly in all previous versions but now no longer want to touch. I have explained to them how this function is broken, but no fixes have been released. Fortunately, a major revision of the Concepts app, version 5, was released during this frustrating period. I had tried version 4 out but didn't catch their vision—until I spend some time learning Concepts 5. I have been hooked by 1) infinite canvas, 2) multiple layers, and 3) precision shape creation—none of which Paper has, but which I need. The learning curve for Concepts is slightly higher than for Paper, but the app is so much more useful to me, with just enough UI to cue you in to what it can do, and the ability to rearrange or minimize the UI to support what you're doing at the moment.

6 years ago, Illuminator1231

Used to love it.

Something happened to Paper, my favorite drawing app, because it used to draw completely on one’s intuitive sense, without cluttering up one’s mind with having to make decisions about the size of the brush etc. etc. It used to be simple and it worked well. Something happened, and it’s getting more complicated. Developers always feel that they have to give you more options. Sometimes I feel in America we have too many options. So many that they get in the way of creativity. Now, sometimes the brush doesn’t work, or the roller to automatically fill shapes. The photos on the front of the journals arrive cattywampus. My recommendation would be to STOP with the added options, and make what you have work every time. Also, please move the “go back” button to the tool tray, and make the tools look more different so as to easily distinguish one from another.

6 years ago, Vbrwn

I used to love this app.

They say change is good. Well not always. I get the need to make money. And I don’t mind paying once for an app when I find value in it. The problem with what the creators of paper have done is the equivalent of giving you the keys to the car with all that entails for years and then suddenly said “Oh by the way you can’t use the radio the air conditioning or roll down the windows unless you pay subscription to use them.” But what’s even worse is they taken away all of fun and useful features with the explanation that you must upgrade to the pro subscription but it’s under development. Meanwhile, you’re stuck holding something that is not as useful as it used to be. Excuse me I have to subscribe to put a cover on my journal. That one seems a little petty. I have been using Paper for some time and found it to be a very useful design tool. I even went so far as getting the pencil to use with the app. But that’s stopped working properly and I can’t find any way to upgrade its firmware. The support page is any thing but support. When and if 53 rolls out their subscription service. I will delete the app off my iPad and discontinue use. Their pencil has been sitting in a Desk drawer for sometime now because I can’t use it properly. There’s $35 down the drain. I’ve been migrating to other apps from Adobe and Autodesk. I keep hoping that 53 will get their act together.

3 years ago, Shalimart

Daily Journal and visual thinking tool

This app was a slow burn for me, I’ve had it for a while and gradually it has become my favorite sketching/drawing app. Whenever I need to figure something out or an interesting thought comes to mind, I start here 🙂. I’ve begun to use it as my daily journal, for visual note taking (a.k.a. Sketchnoting) and for planning. I used to use Leuchtturm notebooks, but they cost $20 each at 3 a year. Additionally, they were piling up and I couldn’t get the useful sketches out of the notebook without taking a picture and redrawing. Not to mention the pens. I’ve converted to digital. I like the minimal approach of this app. The tools have a tiny learning curve, but once you understand them, it’s great 👍🏽. I love that you can add your own color palettes, I love the color mixer and the copy/paste drawer. Thanks for your hard work on this app. I’ll stay a subscriber to help to keep this app updated.

7 years ago, mheidxoxo

LOVE THIS APP

Once I played around with it, I was able to see it’s a lot better than it seems at first glance. I am SO organized with this app: I have a journal for monthly goals, chore charts to keep track of my kids and housework in daily/weekly/monthly/3-6month intervals, daily planner, routines, etc. I can input pictures for monthly challenges I’m working on, and I have a journal of template pages I made so all I have to do is duplicate it and move it to the appropriate journal. I love it! I wish I could input more than one picture on a page, however. And the app shuts down a lot. (Luckily, the work saves beforehand) It’s also hard to pinch the journals closed, and you can’t swipe through pages when they’re open to work on. I wish adding text was available with the other pen options, as well as having different brush sizes. Looking forward to improvements, but I still really enjoy this app!

5 years ago, Nocuby

I Am Confused...

Tonight I was using paper for the first time. I kept trying to upgrade to pro, but I was having some difficulty. When I pushed the edit pencil, up in the upper right corner, I was given an option to add text. But the text was a note that wasn’t part of the drawing and I read something that said the pro version would have a text option. I’m trying to create illustrations for a book I’m about to publish. I was finally able to upgrade to pro, but now the little editing pencil is gone, along with the option to add text. It seems to have fewer options with the pro version. It’s probably user error on my part. I was also told that the pro version would allow me to upload everything to iCloud. But I haven’t figured out how to do that, either. Meanwhile, the actual app itself works great. I like the way the illustrations are coming out. I just want to save them to iCloud and I want to be able to add text. I think I need to watch the tutorial.

5 years ago, MoLily

The only journaling app I've ever used! But -

I absolutely love Paper! I've been on the hunt for a good journaling app for years, but never found one I actually liked or wanted to use. Paper changed all of that! It has helped me connect with my creativity in new ways and got me jotting everything down on the go. I even bought a stylist for my phone so I could draw easier! However - there are a few areas of the app that I feel could benefit from some work. I'm disappointed that there isn't just a "view" option for the journal pages. One that isn't obstructed by the brushes etc on the side of the page. Something clean, so you could actually thumb through your journal & take it in as if it were a real book. I also wish the pages were dated & time stamped for documentation purposes! Finally, I love that there's a text tool for straight journaling using the keyboard, but I wish there was more room for creativity in this section. I would love to have the option to work with font size, style, color & bold/underline/italics/bullet points. Just because it's a stricter format compared to the loose drawing pages, it should still have the same feeling of free expression as the rest of the app! I would be so stoked to see these changes! This app had really been great for me to get things out on the go as I'm going through a hard time. With these updates, I believe it would be a perfect platform for digital journaling!

2 years ago, Streganona

A teacher’s best friend

I have been using Paper for a number of years at this point. I was an early adopter of this amazing program and have lived through all of its growth (I dream of an Apple Pencil sheathed in a carpenter’s pencil like the Paper by 53 stylus). As a teacher who has been at it for well over two decades, I can confidently say that without the use of Paper, my work would suffer greatly. It is just so versatile and useful! Off the top of my head, some of the fabulous ways that I use Paper are: the ability to organize lesson plans, create presentations for projects, mock up digital progressions of project examples, allow students to digitally edit their projects before they commit to a physical change, and ideation spectacular! Each of these uses, and there are certainly many more, is quite valuable individually. All together, though, is a dream. I simply have never encountered another application that is as flexible for everything that it does! I’ll be honest, I would pay much more than the current subscription price to support its continued development. Without it, and I am not intending to fall into hyperbole, my teaching would suffer to the point of destruction. Take it from a veteran visual arts instructor, Paper is as good as it gets; it is very underrated in my view.

6 years ago, Akroesel

Not great anymore-PEN WORKS

I used to LOVE this app ,as in, I used it all the time and I got the 53 pen as a gift. The pen made it easier to use and I loved the blending choice. But now I can't use the pen and I hate it. I absolutely hate the new design layout while drawing and I'm limited to things I found handy like the pictures adjustability and such. This was my favorite drawing app and I'm disappointed in the update.🔶🔶update🔶Due to further research I have come to find that you indeed CAN use the pen-go to the settings in the top right-click stylus-go to the 53 pen and it will take you to the past settings for the pen-it takes longer but at least you can still access the settings. I do not like how we have to pay to use features we had for free before. The new update says you must pay to use the shapes took, roller, and cut tool and it is very disappointing. I liked paper BEFORE all of the changes where you have to purchase old features.

6 months ago, Mishearu

Has amazing potential

I downloaded the app with high hopes. I am a very passionate hobby writer, in fact I create characters of my own for my writings and I’ve always desired a place for me to comfortably list out information, ideas, plans, and content for this hobby- Paper really appeared to be the perfect app for this. However, most of the great and creative features lie within the aspect of the app where you freehand draw. If you’re looking for that sort of thing, Paper is for you. Paper is severely lacking in the more confined note-taking aspect. While you can do thinks like change brush color, background, etc with the freehand feature, you can do nothing of the sort for the regular keyboard mode. Not even change the background color, which I find insane! There is SO much potential for this app, so many basic features like text size, text color, fonts, even page background color- But you might as well just open up a google document. I hope things are updated in the future.

5 years ago, CaptZaldivar

Pro taken away

Update. The developer responded and restored my tools. So I have restored their review to five stars. Their Rep’s communication could have been more professional, but we achieved a level of agreement. Paper is a great little app. WeTransfer now owns Paper, so they deserve a chance to treat customers fairly and be treated fairly. It really is a fun little app with nice and unique features. I still and will always oppose extortion-ware (subscription software, got to keep paying or loose all your stuff you created with “their” app). How can that ever be ok? - - - Like others on here I used this app for a number of years. Gladly paid their price to get pro features and found them easy to use and very well developed. Worth the money even though it is only a basic sketching program. It is unique. Then the Pro tools were taken back so they could sell them to me again on a subscription basis. No! Nice little program, very poor business practices. Don’t trust them, they want your money now, and will simply decide they can get more money over and over again. In the physical world, that is a crime. A endless cash stream is the new dream of many app developers. But as my Dad used to say; in order for someone to get something($$$) for nothing, someone has to get NOTHING for something($$$). Prime example...

6 years ago, Appy Reviewer

Bait and Switch

I got the app when I had the iPad 2. Great app, useful, simple, and fun to use. Then they overhauled the app, made it much less useful, frustrating to use, and generally a pain. Uninstalled it and never looked back using other apps instead. Just reinstalled it to see if it would upgrade the firmware of pencil. Looks like they are actually sorta listening to people and went back to what it used to be as people wanted. And now I can use it without being forced to create an account like they used to do. Still not what it was. I regret purchasing and supporting them through the tools and pencil. This was disappointing and, although a little more familiar to what it used to be, all the extra dross with their “pro” moniker is just a turn off. I’ll probably keep it installed to see what happens but with the bugs I’ve been reading about in the comments, I won’t be making it my go-to app. Seems like a little too late. They went their own way forgetting the base that made them and now they’re trying to get them back…

3 years ago, Sqoonies

Best Diary/Doodle App

I have searched for many apps that would allow me to doodle and draw my ideas out. I love the Apple Pencil , but felt like there was something to the tilt that wasn’t utilized and began to believe that there was just limitations to it. This app actually uses the full capabilities of the tilt, making the pencil tool feel and draw around like an actual pencil. This helps tremendously get a feeling for what I’m drawing. A lot of other diary/book drawing apps seem to lack a few things: smoothing,pages that do not take several seconds to load, a mix of both raster and vector tools, and templates to customize your experience. You can even customize templates per page. A fantastic feature is allowing you to zoom in and have the tools resize based on how far you zoomed in to give you even greater ability to detail. Overall, when I want to sketch out ideas, I go straight to this, I have not had any complaints with the tools, they all fill what I need, with no faults. My only gripe is not being able to customize the tools, but I feel that would just complicate the experience. When I feel the need to really refine something, I just export it to Procreate and take it from there. Love the app, this is awesome and itches that doodling need.

3 years ago, Iaintu

Improved version

EDIT: Lost journal has been restored. Useful app I tried using the cloud sync feature to access journals on phone from iPad. Journals didn’t want to upload and couldn’t get them to show up on iPhone. The following day they were still trying to upload. I deleted the first journal because I didn’t need it anymore, I force close the app because they were all still trying to upload and it automatically deleted the 2nd journal which is the most important one I had with information I cannot recover. Extremely dissatisfied and not wanting to even continue to use the app now because of everything lost in that journal. I use first aid feature and it recovers the journal I deleted with nothing in it. Try to submit a support ticket and they don’t even have a button to submit it, try and send a report log and there’s no email.

7 years ago, Hagcrcusnvkg

BIG step in the right direction!

I have to emphatically salute 53 for their courage and humility. I have almost never seen any program in any category on any platform go back and correct UI mistakes that were once presented as improvements. I am so happy that 53 seems to have gotten a clue about where they went wrong. This app is back on my devices now after a long time off of them. The return of the journal format and overall simplicity is great. Also great is the dropping of all the over-hyping of really stunningly unexceptional features (oooo it can make bullet lists, stop the presses). Now if only they’d re-implement Mix. It seems like everybody and their brother is trying to add social sharing features to drawing apps, but 53’s old card-based Mix system was the best I’ve ever seen, in that it made sharing and adapting each other’s art really easy and enjoyable and natural. I used to spend hours with my daughter looking at different ways that images had been mixed, and voting on which mixes we liked the best. Plus swiping the cards in a stack of Mixes was just plain fun. I’d say it’s almost restored to its former glory, and while I suspect the return of Mix is just too much to hope for, I’m happy with the prayers that have been answered. Used to rate it one star, now am rating it four, if against all odds Mix returns, it’s going all the way up to five.

8 months ago, Loki Wolve

Purchased app kneecapped by new developer

It was a great app when I PURCHASED it about 9 years ago. The new dev that bought it has locked iCloud backups behind a paywall which has rendered it useless for posterity and saving old work. They’re not saving it on their own cloud servers or anything, just charging $1/mo to unlock iCloud functionality for a single app, while Apple charges $1/mo to back up 50GB… The data on my paper app is less than 1GB and these jerks want the same amount of cash that apple wants to back up 50GB (again not even on their own servers, just unlocking the function to allow you to save it on apple’s servers which is the default state of most apps which save files locally). It’s essentially a ransom scam on an app I’ve already purchased where the new dev is trying to shake down money for a product that was already paid for. What they are doing should be illegal. Period. Also, I never got to thank them for deleting my old journals when they updated from version 3 to version 4. IF YOU VALUE BACKING UP YOUR WORK DO NOT TOUCH THIS APP.

5 years ago, bryluen

Newest update

Ok I’m not happy with one feature of the newest update. Photos added used to “snap to the “center” I guess. Not you have to manually size them where you want them. After you’ve deleted a pic to work on you ink drawing and want to re-add the drawing to check lines you have to resize it and hope you’re getting it placed correctly. What was quick and smooth has become laborious and sketchy. Please switch that feature back. I love how you’ve made the new camera roll and adding multiple photos though. Wish item for a future update opacity sliders not based upon touch sensitivity. Sometimes you want to add in minute faint lines or touches of color and the current settings don’t allow for that. I import my drawing out to Enlight and make changes there and bring it back to Paper.

6 years ago, Look A Guy

DANGER: UPDATE BUG YOU LOSE ALL YOUR CONTENT

I have been dealing with Paper’s support team, all my journals are gone. The software AUTOMATICALLY updated on its own, when I opened this past week and all my content is wiped. My pages are there, but only a squiggly line icon is in the place of two years of art. I bought their Pen\ when it came out, bought the app of course. Their “engineers” took a look at the logs from my app? Say what? SO - Their response was oops, sorry, yeah that’s happened to a “few” users. It is shamefully irresponsible of them not to send out an email alert to all their existing customers and warn them TODAY, YOU COULD LOSE ALL YOUR WORK due to our auto update. SO BACK UP, screen shot, whatever. I am Burning my 53 stylus pen, and deleting this garbage app from this irresponsible organization. The loss has caused me undo mental and emotional distress, the personal content that was lost due to their gross negligence was very valuable to my business. SAVE YOUR MONEY, YOUR WORK, AND YOURSELF. Switching to Bamboo from WACOM, at least they are a real oraganization. Or even iOS 11 NOTES from APPLE, ANYTHING BUT A 53 product. THE WORST!!!!!

7 years ago, Nova7o9

My Go To for Sketching on an IPad. *Frustrating changes, though.

January 2018 update The old capabilities from the original version (customizable sketchbook covers and background images) are back. Yay! And it also turns out the menu to save, move and delete images is only available in book view. Annoying if you don't know that. ------------- December 1, 2017 Update I wish they would stop changing the format. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Now I have to relearn how to do everything that had become second nature to me, again. This is about the fifth time they've rehauled the interface. Though I do appreciate the addition of more customizable palettes, it's just frustrating that they moved everything around. Again. UPDATE: Right now if you import an image into a file you cannot edit or even remove it, but the latest update says they're working on it. ----------- I've had this app for a couple years now and the creators are always making it better. The controls are easy to learn and super useful. I am a huge fan of the color mixer. If you like to draw or write by hand I definitely recommend this. Also, I use a stylus with a plastic tip so that it feels like I'm using a pen. Much better than using my finger. If I ever get their stylus I'll review that as well.

5 years ago, AngellWorks

Great drawing tool

This app is wonderful for those who like to draw. It is basic and easy to use. The only wish list I have is to be able to rotate something you have cut out--for pasting or duping. It's the one thing that blocks further creative experimenting. But in spite of that, I have been using it for over Four years as my go to app and have written a couple of books about it's use that have been published on iTunes. It is an excellent app. I also like my Pencil 53 stylus, which allows blending, and wish Apple had named their stylus something else, so there was no confusion. This is a couple of years later. I like the improvements, but would also like to be able to enlarge or reduce things within my drawing. And I don’t see rotation yet as an option. Still a wonderful app, though.

4 months ago, E. Stemp

I want to like it…

Despite having the subscription business model that I despise yet so many business models now utilize, the glitches and bugs I have dealt with don’t justify the price nor the tools offered. While I love the *way* the tools work and the finished product I’m able to create, the constant issues the app experiences are making it more and more likely I end my subscription and advise anyone against this app. Continuously working on projects just to have the app glitch and erase the entire page has happened more times than the app cares to address. It’s ridiculous and I’d suggest any other app, namely procreate for the fixed price it’s offered at, for any creatives and GoodNotes (the non-subscription model of available) for any journaling note takers. Until the technical issues are fixed, because not even the “sync” or “backups” are working well enough to make up for all the problems, I’d suggest steering clear of this app and it’s adjacent endeavors.

7 years ago, Three mice

Why?

I cartoon and really appreciated the simplicity of this app as my Gumball People are based upon simple art and ideas. Now, I almost feel as though the changes to this app have all but taken the fun out of creating my simple cartoons. Why in the world scrub a working platform without any way back for users like me? I would like to have had a choice to give some input or at least have been given a heads up or a chance to purchase the product I prefer using. I understand competition and the need to progress, but one doesn’t necessarily throw out clothes that still fit and are still liked because of a desire to acquire new ones. I don’t even see a way to import my work into this new platform. Not in favor of the changes is a mild description of how I feel. I hope I’m wrong.

6 years ago, Waterbug413

Potentially, the best writing app.

This app is perfect for engineering notes. Especially, with the grid paper and the geometry correction setting, it is so easy to graph simple functions. It has a lot of great features such as fill in paint, photo add on, cut and paste, zoom in/ out, an eraser among other things. But it does not have great palm rejection since major update. It does not allow to add more than one picture or a picture and a graph. Cannot easily add pages while in notebook setting. You first need to zoom out then add then zoom back into the notebook to write. It would be neat to turn pages with the slide of the finger, also move notebooks around. Eraser takes off a really large area. Pencil disconnects very often (Could just be my pencil). But I stay with the app because these are manageable changes and it is still a great app with major potential. One of my favorite apps to use.

4 years ago, Gtz3090

My poor little stylus

There once was a stylus, loved by the world. It had a eraser, rubber tip, unique design. It was even dubbed by some to be better than the Apple Pencil. I owned it and I loved it. I took care of it, I feed it, I tucked it in at night. And guess what they did to my poor poor innocent little stylus. They stopped developing its SDK. Even removing the option to connect it in their app. Now my poor stylus was heart broken. Having no purpose in the world he sat in my drawer. But I discovered a purpose for it. Autodesk Sketchbook still supported it. I could use my little stylus to draw. But to my horror they had stripped away its features, making it so the eraser no longer worked, removing pressure sensitivity. Now I must draw without its key features. But I will not let go of my little stylus, for he has gotten me through much. I refuse to enter the world of the Apple Pencil. Please 53, WeTransfer, whoever you are, at least add the option to connect the pencil. We loved it, we paid for pro, and you betrayed us. Me and my little stylus beg to support it once again.

5 years ago, BLARGH!!!!!!!!

Sync is absolutely unacceptable and disruptive

Unreliably unreliable and thoroughly disruptive to normal app use. I used to evangelize paper to all my friends because I loved how straightforward and delightful it was! So I write this with an extremely heavy heart. Sync is so atrocious on here because it’s constantly taking away and adding pages to my notebook in an extremely disruptive and very visual way. I don’t understand. If it’s syncing, why can’t that be done in the background? Instead, my Pages completely disappear and reappear, sometimes while I’m in the middle of writing on a page! And then I have to wait while the pages constantly rearrange themselves for no apparent reason all while I worry whether or not the page I was in the middle of saved at all! (Usually it doesn’t. The page just disappears, but occasionally decides to show up ON MY PHONE instead of the iPad where I originally sourced it) I cannot even begin to express the confusion, frustration and bitterness with this app. I’d go to share a file to a teammate only to find the notebook is MISSING ALL ITS PAGES. I can’t even STOP syncing because somehow all my notebooks are on the cloud, and they disappear if I disable this option, which is also very confusing because all these notebooks originated on that device! They should be local! And even if they aren’t, there should be an option to download them and cut off syncing! Sync has completely murdered this otherwise wonderful app for me.

3 years ago, irJerad

Creative drawing app that inspires with unique approach

This app is simple and convenient to use. And yet I find myself drawing radically different than I do with paper and pen or other digital mediums. This brings out an entirely new style and perspective in the art I produce. I absolutely love it. For someone who is terrible at drawing this app has tools that let me draw funky and stylistic pieces that others really seem to get and love. There really isn’t much to this app other than an intuitive and unique tool approach to getting images out of your head and onto paper, even images you didn’t know where up there or don’t recognize in my case. I have also seen people draw stunningly accurate sketches and more traditional art with this app. For a free app this thing really does not come up short. Of course there are extras I would love to have with layering and editing images but I haven’t paid for anything and I get syncing between devices, cloud storage and backup, and a tool for quickly sketching out ideas or exploring the depths of my subconscious all intuitively and immediately. Great work on the developers behalf. Definitely makes me look into their other applications

4 years ago, Anya from Miami

Favorite app for hand writing notes and illustration

I absolutely love this app. I love customizing each notebook and having so much creative control. I use the app to hand write notes on lined paper then delete the lines , leaving clean organized pages. I also use it to draw and illustrate my notes. All my friends always ask me for copies of my notes and they’re very easy to Airdrop via the app! If I could just make a suggestion .. I want to use this app to create a handwritten and illustrated book, but the format of the pages makes it very difficult. Can you split the page in the middle and allow us to write from the top down on both sides of the page? That way the notebooks actually open to book-like pages instead of sideways writing. Thank you !

6 years ago, Librarian93

Use this app every day but..

When I first got my iPad this was the first app I downloaded, its been one of my favorites through art school and beyond, it even allowed me to start a web comic! But the last two updates have been frustrating for me. I finally figured out how to get around my problems on the update in about December, just in time for a new update yesterday which is causing me more problems. My biggest problem right now is that the marker tool, which I use for most of my coloring, now stays at a larger size even when you zoom in. I'm one of those people who draws details, and coloring in those details has been made much harder with the larger marker size. I'm having the same problems with the eraser. If there's a way around this problem, I'm all ears, I have a lot of comic left to draw! (Using an Apple Pencil and iPad Pro)

6 years ago, Yogi moni

Scrolling problems

I have been using this app for several years now and it’s been very convenient to organize my thoughts and writing projects. However in the past few months there has been some kind of bug that I’ve noticed; whenever I try to hold and drag my cursor to select where I want to type, the pages start scrolling like crazy! Even if I’m selecting a sentence in the middle of the page, it will start scroll downwards. This has made it extremely difficult to insert words or letters into already written text without having to scroll up and down and up and down and click and click and hope I get the right spot eventually. Please can you fix this??! I love every other thing about this app!!

5 years ago, Vigilant-

Revolution In Touch

I saw all of the people online complaining because this app is free but has in-app purchases. People need to get over it. I've used many many iPad apps for drawing and have stopped using all of them as they were slow, or clunky. This application is none of those things. The way it interprets touch is wonderful. There is a level of fit and finish in this app that I have personally not seen in any other app and in a certain way it's like an Apple built app. This app is free for basics and makes no apologies for it. For free you can play with the interface and test out the responsiveness of the writing tools. If you is decide that you want to try out other parts of the app you can and only pay for what you use. If you don't like this app, there is actually a brilliant solution for those who don't like it. Go to your home screen and hold on the icon. When you see the X above the icon you are then able to delete it. It's as simple as that. Judge an app for what it is. This is a free app that is expandable. I wish I was able to get my money back for horrible horrible horrible apps like Penultimate.

6 years ago, makeart23

DO NOT USE THE NEW UPDATE

I have loved and drawn on paper for quite a while now. As a devoted artist, I appreciated this app for all it brought me. I enjoyed all of the brushed and features that it gave me, as ALL of the brushed were free to use. After I have downloaded the present update, the straight edge pen, the paint roller, and the cut and paste scissors were taken away along with it, as paper is now asking me money in order to use them. I understand making a “paper pro” version that the user has to pay for, but simply taking away recourses that were there to use before is just uncool. Normally I would trust an app to actually improve my experience with an update, but now I have lost all of my faith in paper. In addition, the new update is very sloppy and hard to maneuver around. It is much more difficult to draw on and send things, as when you try to send your drawing to others in one of the new sketchbooks, it is always tilted the wrong way. DO NOT USE THE NEW UPDATE. It is NOT worth it.

8 months ago, Strawberry_b0und

Really good, only downside is the premium

The app is really good I love writing in it, I just think it’s excessive of adding so many premium features. Like premium for a extra picture? Which I found really weird since it would make sense for it to cost for different pens and etc, but also colors? I just think the premium is a bit ridiculous and let some features be free so we all cool really enjoy writing stories or coloring or etc, I just hope atleast one thing gets off premium because it’s way to expensive for me, I’m 13 btw so it is for me. Other than that I really enjoy the way that there books. I’m sure the creator is gonna ignore the reviews about the ridiculous premium like this one but I hope this message gets out there.

6 years ago, TerribleAp417

Delivery leaves much (much) to be desired.

Paper app is aesthetically pleasing and good for quick sketches and notes. Seems to be it though. I don’t mind paying reasonable prices for good features but FiftyThree wants a subscription to a moderate quality app, a bad move for business in my opinion. It will only push consumers to other apps with one time fees. Especially when Paper has noticeable bugs. The Pencil is a decent stylus when tandem with Paper but once again FiftyThree would make more money by putting an effort into making it compatible with the Procreate app. Makes for a decent passive stylus anyway. Paper app has its merits but I would never dream of spending a dime on a subscription to a drawing/note taking app. It’s almost laughable. This day and age there are just too many subscription based products to warrant another. Don’t knock their stylus, use Paper for free, purchase another app for art. **Take note FiftyThree**

6 years ago, littlejimmy87

Awesome app for small devices

This app is great. I loved it and used it a ton even before I purchased the “paper pro” subscription. It’s not the most sophisticated drawing app, but you can use it just as well on a mobile device as on a larger one. I can just whip out my phone whenever and start doodling. One suggestion: Improve the diagram tool’s drawing straight lines feature. It’s kind of hard to use because you have to get the line pretty close to straight for the tool to be able to correct it. I love everything about this app except for that one thing. Oh yeah, and there’s also a bug that occasionally turns my drawings upside down, which is really annoying. Please fix it. Still love the app though.

5 years ago, Mr. Pickled raisin

Love it, but a flaw with the pencil.

I loved this app and recently wanted to get back into using it. We got the pencil when I was younger for a Christmas or some birthday that has come and gone. As I said, I loved it. I remember being able to see other people’s work, and the organization on the app was awesome. However, my pencil’s eraser got jammed into the tube of the main frame thing of the pencil and I couldn’t get the little computer thingy to go back in. I also remember the eraser and pencil tip getting confused and that was often really annoying. (Ex. I am drawing. I want to erase. I try to erase, but it just draws more lines with the eraser. This also happened vise versa where the pencil tip would start erasing when I was trying to draw.) I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of how to fix my pencil.

Description

Over 30 million people set their ideas free with Paper®, the award-winning immersive sketching app. SKETCH WITH CONFIDENCE Paper’s perfectly-tuned tools make it easy to sketch, collage, paint, draw—wherever your thoughts take you. Wave goodbye to distracting menus and let natural gestures guide you, keeping you in your creative flow. A HELPING HAND Not sure where to start? The Paper Store is home to a collection of creative prompts, from guides and how-tos to daily activities. With tips and tricks from top artists, it’s easy to connect the dots from fleeting thought to final masterpiece. GET CREATIVE (WITHOUT THE MESS) Add multiple photos to a single page and cut, stick, move, and fix without the fuss of complex layers. From mood boards to storyboards, pull in inspiration from anywhere and get your ideas moving. YOUR IDEAS, YOUR WAY Wherever and however you get your ideas, it’s never been easier to put them on Paper. Organize pages into beautiful journals and sync them across your devices, ready to pick up right where you left off. CREATE LIKE A PRO Take creativity to the next level and subscribe to Paper Pro for more tools, features, and journals. Subscription is optional and you can cancel anytime. To upgrade, simply visit the Paper Pro section in your Settings menu. * Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account once you confirm the purchase. * Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of your subscription period. To opt out, you must turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. * Manage changes to your subscription in the iTunes Account Settings. * Any unused portion of a free trial will be forfeited when you purchase a Paper Pro subscription. Love Paper? Leave us a review! Thanks to your comments, reviews, and tweets we can continue to evolve Paper with you in mind. Questions? Shoot us an email at [email protected]. Terms of Service: https://paper.bywetransfer.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://paper.bywetransfer.com/privacy Patents: https://paper.bywetransfer.com/legal/patents