Paper by WeTransfer

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.

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!

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.

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.

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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.