I’m a big Notes user - but one thing I noticed Freeform does better( besides the obvious of the endless board) is the ability to write anywhere. It seems like Freeform allows you to write anywhere and on anything ( shapes, photos, next to sticky notes etc). A great feature that I wish Notes had ( instead of the creating a new handwritten section ). Thanks for the in depth view of Freeform. I am using it for planning ( solo not collaborative). Time will tell if it replaces other apps for me.
Gary - as a former Enriched LA teacher ... author now, who also works with kids on writing projects, this will be a great tool for kids writhing short or medium form essays or fiction. They'll be able to use the sticky notes to arrange events in the story, drop URLs in where they've done research for the piece, move notes around as they consider how to construct their piece, much as writers used cork boards a couple of decades ago. They could use separate boards for two or three characters and the lines to generate character arcs, too. I can see kids using this as they build a collaborative presentation, too ... notes with parts of the presentation that can be moved as needed, different color stickies for different presenters ... approximate time each section takes ... and it would give the visual learners something to see. As always, great tutorial. Thanks.
This really is Apple's version of Miro/Mural - which are popular tools for collaboration. They are awesome for remote workshops, so now I can use the same (similar) tool at home to plan my personal stuff with the family!
What this has that is unique is the zoomable, almost infinite canvas. A useful additional feature would be "live" links. That would allow you to create customized dashboards of widgets with real time information.
Hi Gary, good video as usual. You probably know this by now, but at 5:36 you have a callout saying there doesn’t seem to be a way to mask an image on iPad and iPhone. In fact you can by putting the shape on top and selecting both the shape and image at once, then tapping the ellipsis and choosing mask
Have found that shapes can be drawn in Notes (the kind that complete for you if you hold for a second or two) and can then be copied and pasted into Freeform… hopefully this will be included in a later version of Freeform
There is an important difference to notes. The ability to handwrite anywhere using the Apple Pencil means I can paste in a PDF or JPG drawing or document and annotate it, adding comments and labels from outside the document but arrowing into the image. You can't do that in Notes, when you try to do it, notes creates a new section and you cannot arrow into the image.
Great tutorial as always! I think the main advantage of this app is that you have a complete freedom to write, put pictures and videos everywhere you want. Also, you have a lot of space, if you put it at 400%, so you can work more comfortable. Thanks again!
I absolutely love GoodNotes. I use it every day, and my son is using it now too. It can be used like Notes. The only feature it’s missing for me is the ability to align text boxes, which Freeform seems to do. Freeform seems useless on a phone except for viewing.
I expected more flow chart tools, as those are pretty universal on these "white board" apps. Honestly this is something I will probably only rarely use, and it's a bit of a surprise to me that Apple saw a need for this, but there must be corporate users somewhere who were asking for it or they wouldn't have devoted the resources to creating it.
I found you can actually change the color of a note - at least on the Mac. You can pull up the color picker. I am not sure what I am going to use it for. I use my Mac and iPad for personal use only and don't really tend to collaborate. I guess it is not impossible that I could collaborate with someone on something, but off hand I don't see it happening. But I have several hobbies and do a lot of planning and brainstorming. I could use it for that. I'll play with it.
Collaboration may be the selling-point Apple has settled on, but to me this is first and foremost a creative tool, and only secondarily a collaboration tool.
I try freeform for a week and really like it to use as my daily record app, as to record down ideas, what I read, what I learn, what I like, what I have to do next. I then unsubscribe evernote and think it is a substitution for simplemind. The reason I like is that it is "free", not only free of charge for Mac user, but free to put anywhere, not like Note or Evernote, as idea is flowing and I can input them as how it is organised in my mind. My only concern is that I am a iMac user with Wacom pencil, that I cannot draw anything like Ipad does. If apple allow this on iMac, that will be perfect to me.
I’ve been trying to learn how to do quick basic drawings on notes and procreate. It’s just not that easy. Apparently I downloaded Freeform awhile ago and rediscovered it the other day. Well that is the exact app that I needed. Easy to figure out and good amount of RU-vid videos showing how to use it. I then went to my go to guy, you and searched for your video on it. Amazing video and app. It’s my number one now for quick designs of my ideas on on shelves, cabinets etc. I’m sure I’ll find more uses for it. It’s been only a few days that I started using it.
👍😎 As a Laryngectomy ( no voice box) I use notes a lot and a white board app to communicate (I can speak but can be hard to understand sometimes). Haven’t tried this yet, but from your tutorial makes me want to. It looks like a great combo of both that I use many times a day.
Just downloaded 13.1 on my mac. I am now a fan of freeform (Then again I'm a fan of stage manager too which isn't a universal opinion). Gary, your tutorial just hit a button with me. Finally organization of some of my personal, most used stuff that is easy and makes sense to me. Thank you again.
Stage Manager has completely changed the way I use my Mac and I'm in love with it. Wouldn't want to be without it now, even though there are some improvements I'd like to see implemented.
As a designer it looks like this is a competitor to Milanote. Great for mood boards and design scoping with clients BUT is it better than Milanote?... doubt it, anyway I cant use it because my iMac 27" will not be OS upgraded and Apple have discontinued these machines so I may move to another platform. Thank you Apple for being the most TIGHT ASS company in the world.
Freeform appeared in my most recent phone update and I had no idea how I could use the app. Now I’m off to see if anyone is using it to create YT thumbnails or social media stuff. Hopefully, Gary tinkers with it more and shows off some different uses.
Thanks for sharing this with us Gary, it is really useful! {iPad mini6 User here} I'm currently using goodNotes5, I like the function of being able to zoom in to write, then zoom out, seeing the entire page as a whole. Unfortunately, apple notes did not offer that.. But I really liked the pencil 'ink' on Notes, that goodNotes does not offer. Now I can have what I want without needing to download more apps!
I've been looking forward to this for a long, long time. I find Notes to be extremely limiting. The limited canvas, and the fact that text and drawing are separated is extremely frustrating for an Apple Pencil user. I just downloaded the iPadOS upgrade, so I haven't had occasion to use FreeForm yet. However, I'm looking forward to it as the perfect brainstorming platform.
Gary, it would be great to see annotations improved in keynote. As UI of keynote supports inserting videos in it, annotating, doodling and labelling could be also possible there. A non animated slide, that can serve a purpose of explaining few points during presentation. Just like free form, if that annotation and drawing / sketching becomes available in keynote slides, that may prove to be much useful utility. Thanks. I have been using your tips since many years so far. 🙏
I’m loving it. It’s great for making quick notes and a more expansive, graphical note taking. It’s got some way to go to catch up with apps like Endless Paper, but it’s very good.
Can any one help. Before doing the update on my iPad. I was able to print directly while using Numbers. Now after doing the update I can’t print directly from numbers. Can any one help please?
As a real estate agent, I waste binder paper just jotting things down when im in the phone. When I get off the phone I have a page off mess. If I can get an apple pencil and do the same thing on my ipad, I can turn it into a cohesive organized page.
Woow i was not expecting this,,, i thought it was a drawing program 😁 thank you for explaining. But to be honest I don't see the extra value of this program .... But i guess if you colaberate with people it will be fine... thank you for this great video ... explained in detail... like always 👍
Thank you this just came my iPhone after a update and I wanted to know more. This will help me because I have a short term memory with my disability and I think that this will help everyone that has this problem.
Great video as always: clear, direct, easy to follow. I think you likely haven’t found much use for Freeform yet and that’s fine, of course. I’ll be interested to see follow up videos from you as that app itself is updated. It is missing features that would make a difference like the Lasso and handwriting to text option in OneNote and the search for text (written, typed, in pictures, etc) also in OneNote, but it’s really brand new, out of the gate and will undoubtedly expand and improve over time. Keep up the good work Gary!
Hi Gary. Thank you for this very informative discussion about Freeform, which I found a little baffling when Apple first mentioned it. I’ve never really gotten into group collaboration projects, using other tools from Google and Microsoft. However, I am going on a trip with a friend and I do think Freeform will be useful for exchanging information on places to visit and points of interest. Thank you so much!
:), I share a reminder shopping list with my wife, but I can see where this can be handy for real time discussion, like if she takes a photo of a product label, etc. or can't find something in a Home Depot aisle, she can take a picture and I can circle what I really want ....
I've been writing to Apple for like 5 years trying to get them to make an app for Screen Shots, apps like Milanote are insanely helpful for making mood boards with images, screenshots, writing etc.I actually can't believe it's finally happened, they made the app. Notes has come a long way but it could be so much better.
Screenshots? I don't see how this relates to that. Do you mean take a screenshot and mark it up? You can already do that using the built-in screenshot tool. I don't see how Freeform would be better in that case.
I’ve been waiting for this since I first heard of it. It’s a great way to create ideas and projects for visual learners like me. For example I’m customising my bike and in this I can add pictures of bike parts, Stills of bikes from movies that I like, even screenshots of game adverts that pop up on my phone (that zombie killing one especially)
8:34 This states iCloud sync is OFF by default. I actually just paused the video to fix it and noticed my was already ON. Can’t answer why. I did just upgrade to iPadOS 16.2 specifically to use this app though.
Sounds like a useful tool. I know Apple want's to keep this simple, but hopefully, they will improve it with each OS update rather than treat it as a create-and-forget application.
I’ve been curious about Freeform so I opened it up today on my iPad and started messing around with it. As a graphic designer, I’m hoping I could maybe use it to sketch out design ideas and maybe add in any reference material. And this just crossed my mind as I was typing all this… if I could copy and paste a sketch from Freeform and paste it into Adobe Illustrator, that would be awesome!
Very informative video, easy to navigate. I use free form to change backgrounds on images but the export on iphone is inconvenient. I end up taking a screenshot and editing it to size it. If I export as a photo, it's hard to figure out the layout; I did not see an option to see the grid. I guess I could find out what a photo size is and then align myself accordingly.
I wouldn't try to do this through a screenshot, as you are losing quality like that. Are you just trying to remove the background from an image and take the resulting subject and put them into another photo? I'd use an image editing app for that. If you only have an iPhone, maybe Pixelmator Pro.
Thank you! How do you remove the background of an image? For example, in the 1st picture you imported of the dog.. could you crop the background out to just have the image of the dog?
Freeform seems to be the "visual" version of Mac Notes and although there is a lot of crossover between those apps, i'm sure there will be a group of people who prefer using Freeform. Not sure if i'm one of them, tho i'll give it a try.
I noticed when you open your drawing tool, you get the font options. In that space all I get are color options. I have a new iPad, does the model make a difference? I wanted to adjust the size of font, couldn’t find any way to do it. What am I missing? Otherwise, I LOVE the connecting lines. I’m doing a family tree, and can move those people around without having to adjust the connectors! Thank you for THAT video! 😁
Hi Gary, Thanks for this introduction. I also tried it and was not sure what to use it for. It seems that the existing tools are better targeted to specific use cases. After watching your video I am still not quite sure how and whether I will use it in the future.
I see it as a repository to gather ideas and brainstorming. Like if you are designing something and want to have a board with inspiration youve found and want it all in one place
@@NOT_A_TOP_FAN Understood. But I already have "one place" which is notes and to some degree also the todo app. So now I have a third place which has a worse user experience than key note. I still do not get it. For me this is redundancy. Apple should have integrated this functionality into notes.
Why oh why isn't there a "grabber" hand like you have in drawing and photo editing apps. Imagine a mouse with wheel where you could click and hold the scroll wheel to move the board around. Or sometimes, I've seen holding down the spacebar, or even holding down the "H" key. What an improvement that would be. Also, why not allow us to group items instead of locking them??? Why not have both? Great video.
What's wrong with two fingers to scroll on the Magic Trackpad or Magic Mouse? Why add extra steps? As for grouping, you definitely can do that. It is in the Arrange menu.
Great video, I’m going to give it a try, I work on lots of concurrent projects and this would be great to quickly drop idea notes, inspiring etc. Thanks 👍 PS. Small niggle, I would’ve preferred your summary about the purpose of the app upfront so I could bare the purpose in mind when watching the video. But that’s a tiny aside. Thanks again
Thank you for the video Gary, great walkthrough. Freeform (as the name suggests) makes more sense in terms of flexibility; I can brainstorm and throw my thoughts anywhere without worrying about the arrangement. In a way, it does help me stay in the moment and dump everything out there without interrupting my train of thoughts. Personally I am a visual person, and this really helps in seeing the bigger picture, especially considering the expansive canvas where I just drag things around. On a side note, I think the guys at Miro (and other similar products) will have to get creative and differentiate their base tier from Freeform. It's all about how to convince new (Apple) users to buy into you products. Looking forward to future updates and marketing schemes within the segment.
It's looking very promising, I'm looking forward to integrating it with Pages, Numbers and Keynotes.. How do you bring in vector shapes you have created in Pages without them becoming bitmapped? How do you easily create organisation charts? How do you bring in charts and tables, as directly viewable graphics (not files that you have to click on to view)?
Thanks Gary, One issue is that when you import a file like a MS word .docx into Freeform, When you click it Freeform just shows you a preview with no way of opening the file in MS Word.
Thanks, Gary. Watching this I wondered how I might make use of this software bearing in mind you, yourself, repeatedly said that much of what it can do can also be done in Pages, Notes etc. It wasn't until 9 minutes in that you explained what the purpose of Freeform was and I'm not sure I was much the wiser! I'm not writing it off though I'm not sure I, as a home user of a Mac, will have much need for it since there are already apps that do much of what it does. Though from the comments below there is clearly a need for it in certain specialist areas.
This is Apple’s competitor to OneNote, which also provides a sort of unlimited blank canvas for multiple objects. As usual, apples implemention already seems more polished despite it being in beta. I’m OneNote the pdf and media thumbnails are sort of janky. Also you can’t really edit and then flatten media which is already in a note. You have to save the media to your computer, annotate/edit it, then re-insert it into the note in One Note. Something tells me apples version will allow you to edit and save documents and media without having to re-upload to the note in feeeform. I am glad apple made this software because apple notes is very limited with the linear restrictions. Also printing apple notes is far from sensible.
Thank you Gary for this great tutorial! one question: I like to paste images from other apps directly to Freeform but when I copy the image in another app and tap on "Share" button, Freeform app is not among the available apps in the drawer and also not available under "More" option. Do you know how to add Freeform to suggested apps in the app drawer? Thanks very much in advance.
Probably someone else has mentioned Jamboard on Google. This seems similar but with waaaay more options. Jamboard is great for real-time classroom responses where all students are adding their own sticky notes - however it can go very wrong if students don’t follow rules (and when do they?!?!). Lol.
Great tutorial, Gary! I did not know the App. I use Notes a lot, and off course Pages, with which I even published some books in de Bookstore! I think I can use Freeform in the planning proces of making a movie, which is one of my hobbies (I am a retired IT guy). Thank you!
Nice review. Already thinking of ways I can use it. Thank you, Gary. Interesting: Freeform sharing via iCloud was on by default on my iPhone 14 Pro, but off on my M1 MacBook Air.
If you aren't using a mouse with Freeform (or a Trackpad) what are you using? It is a highly spatially-oriented app. I can't see using it with only a keyboard.
Sorry to be slow. Great video as ever. But it sounded like there’s a bit in Notes which is not duplicated in Freeform. Perhaps it will be ultimately, but would you suggest sticking with notes for now?
They are good for different things. I wouldn't switch away from Notes at all for what you are using it for now (probably). Freeform is for visualizing and collaborating.
Regarding iCloud sync: I found that iCloud sync was enabled by default on iPhone and iPad but was not enabled by default on Mac. After the sync was enabled, I could see all Freeform documents on all devices.
Thanks for an excellent tutorial. Perhaps you can answer a question for me. When I close this app on iPad, my pencil settings are not saved and when I launch it again, I have to reset them. Is this a bug, or is there a way to save those settings? Thank you.
This could be one of the best apps apple has built.. It is not limited by space like notes app.. we can even write on shapes.. so high flexibility. I hope apple just integrate notes into Freeform. It would be worth doing a comparison video between these two apps btw.
I've been a mac/Adobe guy for decades. I'm looking for easy ways to move the board and zoom in/out. I saw command-+/- for zoom but wish I could do that with a command-key and mouse. I'm looking for the "Hand" tool Adobe uses so I can scoot around illustrator or photoshop documents quickly. Seems like Freeform is handicapped in some ways and hence not really "quite" usable yet. Suggestions on zipping and zooming around a board?
@@jonnyshaw6176 Well you can move with two fingers on an Apple Mouse, but zooming is keyboard only as far as I can see. You said you were looking for easy wats to move the board, so if that is important to you, why not get an Apple Trackpad?
When you type 3 or more characters, the system does not recognize the entry and puts the dotted red line under it suggesting a spelling error. Is there a way to turn off this feature?
I'm on your video new freeform - when I try to share a freeform with text and one picture I get the message "can't share board" "this board is still uploading to iCloud - try again in a few minutes". please advise
