Dear GoodNotes users,
On this momentous occasion of winning Apple’s 2022 iPad App of the Year, I’d like to thank you for your support all these years. I still remember vividly the first few days when GoodNotes was launched on the App Store. I was so surprised that people actually loved the app and that they even recommended it to their friends. Today, 99% of our downloads are still through word of mouth thanks to all of you spreading the word!
I originally created GoodNotes to help me go paperless when I was studying math in college more than twelve years ago. I never would have thought that we’d have 19 million users around the world today. Since 2011, we have been focused on bringing handwriting to the iPad and reimagining the pen and paper experience, and that focus remains true today and for our future.
Like many others’, our journey has been filled with ups and downs, moments of joy, and moments of challenges, but there has always been one force that has kept us going — support and enthusiasm from you, our users.
One such moment in the early days was when I found out our App Store was filled with an unusually large number of one star reviews. It was clear to me that someone was buying those fake reviews to damage our reputation. I mentioned the incident on our Twitter, and suddenly those one star reviews were completely flooded by five star reviews from our genuine users. I almost wept, and from that moment on, I developed a strong sense of obligation to not let our users down.
Since the 2015 launch of the Apple Pencil, which vastly improved handwriting on the iPad, our team has been growing together with our user base. Many of you have shared your feedback and suggestions, and some of you have even met and worked with us together to improve GoodNotes. We are always thrilled to see your beautiful notes and creativity on social media and other channels. Your love and passion motivate our team and myself to go to work every day.
When people ask me for advice, I always tell them that, if you are genuinely trying to do your best to build something great, others will feel your passion and want to either help you or join you. Thank you once again for all your support — rest assured that we will continue to make GoodNotes even better for you.
Your sincerely,
Steven Chan
