Evernote (Android App) basically so slow it's unusable!

[RickFinch 0]

Just started using EN on my Android phone (as that's the device I use 95% of the time to make/edit text Notes), and I have around 500+ text notes.

All of my notes are basic text only, and are mostly very small (less than 5 KB in size). I was previously using an Android App called Simple Notepad,

which I have been 100% happy with for many years. Unfortunately this App is no longer being supported (for quite some time actually) & can no longer

be found in the Google Play Store.  It offered a very similar function set to EN, albeit with less 'Bells & Whistles' than EN. I do not require many of the

advanced functions of EN, but after testing MANY other Note-Taking Apps, have only found EN has the core functionality of Simple Notepad that I

require, namely;

1. Simple to create NEW notes.

2. Simple to EDIT existing notes.

3. FAST Editing, no matter how large the note. (shouldn't be a problem, as I only use simple text notes, no embedded audio/video/web-pages etc.)

4. A DARK Mode.

5. Ability to password protect individual notes (or the whole App)

6. Ability to backup notes to local device (password protected) AND to Cloud (pref. via Dropbox)

7. Ability to search notes for specific text (BOTH note Titles AND note CONTENTS)

If the above criteria can be met, I am willing to PAY (either one-off payment as in Simple Notepad or subscription if a reasonable cost)

So far ONLY EN comes even close to the above criteria (even though it is now ridiculously expensive!). So I spent half a day MANUALLY copying &

pasting my notes into EN (EN does not seem to be able to import my library of existing notes, even though they are all just .txt files) and then

upgraded my subscription (full year upfront - not cheap!).

Everything seemed to be working fine, until I got to my largest note (176 KB). If I try to open this note, it takes a good 30 seconds+ which is quite

frankly, ridiculous. Simple Notepad opens this note in under 2 seconds. I could possibly live with sluggish opening times (as most of my other notes

are much smaller & load within 5 seconds) but it all went to pot once I tried to actually EDIT the note. Upon entering the edit mode, the App freezes up

and can take anywhere between 45 seconds and 2 MINUTES before I am able to type any new text. Even while typing, the EN App runs like treacle.

It can take several minutes just to type a few words! Also, my phone keeps showing a pop-up message saying the EN App has stopped responding,

asking if I want to Kill it or Wait? I have to click on Wait otherwise my changes are lost. This is Simply UNACCEPTABLE! I have tried the usual steps

of clearing EN cache/temp files, Uninstalling & re-installing. Rebooting phone. I even did a complete HARD RESET of my phone (OnePlus 5) & started

again with the same results, and yes my phone was fully OS Updated - Android V9 - OxygenOS V9.0.11, EN Version = 8.13.3.

As it happens, I was due for a phone upgrade, so I changed to a OnePlus 8 Pro running Android 10 - OxygenOS V10.5.12.IN11BA, Installed EN V8.13.3

and the issue is STILL THERE!!! So, I don't think it's a specific phone or OS issue.

Looking at the EN Forums under Android App, I have found numerous entries about this exact same issue. It seems that this is a common complaint

against EN - especially in it's most recent versions. Some people have even resorted to going back to an earlier version of EN which seems to fix the

issues!

The only other thing I don't like about EV, is that when you open a note, it takes you to the TOP of the note, rather than the BOTTOM of the note (as it

does in Simple Notepad). This is very counter intuitive, as when you open a note to ADD more text to it, you would normally add text to the END of the

note! It can take AGES to scroll down to the bottom of a long note & there is no icon you can click on to take you directly to the END of a note. You need

to fix this, or at the very least, have an option in the EN settings to change this behaviour (or program in buttons that send you to the TOP or END of a note!)

 

If these issues are not resolved, I will have to cancel my EV subscription & look for an alternative note taking App!

[gazumped 11,652]

Hi.  I assume you're using Evernote 8.13,  which was the last public release.  The reason previous posts in the forums have remained unsatisfied for some time is that Evernote were developing and are now about to release version 10,  which may go some way to deal with your issues.  However Evernote has never been great on mobile devices with long notes - you may find performance will also improve it you can take more smaller notes,  linking them by title or tag.  Good luck!

[Piotas 121]

don't worry, Evenote v10 is MUCH slower than "old" Android verion.

Unless you use hierarchical tags or require indexed or OCRed PDFs as searchable attachements (I do!), just try out JOPLIN (free Android/PC with cloud replication) - it may be all you need.

[sjamie 4]

I have loved using Evernote for over a decade.  However, the android app is so slow that I am now looking for an alternative for the first time.  I will check out JOPLIN and others.  Thanks for the recommendation. 😥

[Nathan T 49]

The new v10 Android app is indeed painfully slow. Just trying to open the shortcuts menu in the sidebar regularly takes 7-8 seconds. That's ridiculous, and I'm not sure it'll ever really improve, since they've done away with local data. In the old app shortcuts where just there, because they were stored locally. Having to fetch the list from the server each time isn't a good approach.

Likewise with the old app I could select several notes in one notebook and move them all to another. That was part of my daily GTD workflow. Now there's no way to select more than one note at a time, it takes extra clicks to move them, and they don't even move instantaneously, again I assume because everything is an API request and callback.

It's great and all that now evernote developers only have to work on one app with wrappers for each platform, but what's the point if that one app is fundamentally broken?  It is indescribably frustrating to get hit with 'updates' that make the user experience worse in every way, in the name of making things easier for developers.

[Nathan T 49]

I mean, just look at the pages of recent reviews in the Play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evernote&hl=en&gl=US&showAllReviews=true

Historical average 4+ stars; since v10 release, the median review is one star.

[sjamie 4]

1 hour ago, Nathan T said:

I mean, just look at the pages of recent reviews in the Play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evernote&hl=en&gl=US&showAllReviews=true

Historical average 4+ stars; since v10 release, the median review is one star.

It's good to know I'm not the only one who feels EN has become almost unusably slow.  As a software engineer, it truly bothers me that some companies make great apps worse over time.  Adding new features to an app should almost never be at the expense of speed and/or functionality.

[GabPai 18]

Dear People,

Please, is there a way to downgrade to the previous version on Android?

There should be a way. This is shameful.

As everyone seems to be pointing out. EVERYTHING good about the previous Android version is gone.

Widget that allows you to see the latest notes at a glance: Gone

Quick access to anything: Gone [ANY ACTION NOW TAKES 7 SECONDS!!!, just to be able to read a note]

Quick photo-scanning operationality: Gone

Clear, easy to read design: Gone [The new font/general design is extremely clumsy and takes so much space...]

 

Any hint...?

 

 

[Nathan T 49]

I tried side-loading the old APK, but it just hung when I tried to log in, so I'm not sure whether it's still possible.

[Alxa 478]

On 3/3/2021 at 2:01 AM, Nathan T said:

I tried side-loading the old APK, but it just hung when I tried to log in, so I'm not sure whether it's still possible.

Please try the following: 1. Did you freshly install (delete EN 10.5, restart device, install EN 8.13.3)? 2. restart the device after installation (yes again, simple but helped me with this problem). Would be nice, if it helped for you too.

[Alxa 478]

On 3/1/2021 at 4:55 PM, GabPai said:

Dear People,

Please, is there a way to downgrade to the previous version on Android?

There should be a way. This is shameful.

As everyone seems to be pointing out. EVERYTHING good about the previous Android version is gone.

Widget that allows you to see the latest notes at a glance: Gone

Quick access to anything: Gone [ANY ACTION NOW TAKES 7 SECONDS!!!, just to be able to read a note]

Quick photo-scanning operationality: Gone

Clear, easy to read design: Gone [The new font/general design is extremely clumsy and takes so much space...]

 

Any hint...?

 

 

Try deinstalling EN 10.5, restart device, download and install 8.13.3 from an apk-repository (own risk). Example: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/evernote-corporation/
You have to disable automatic updates afterwards to prevent to get the crappy 10.5 again. Hope this helps.