Evernote on Mac Update Frequency is very annoying

[cpjones44 2]

Hi there. I am an EN Pro subscriber. I have EN installed on my Apple M1 Mac and it seems like every second day I am being prompted to download and install an update. If I have the app open in the background, when the EN upgrade popup decides to trigger, it brings EN to the front and disrupts whatever I'm working on. In a previous forum post, it seems there's an option on Windows to disable automatic checks for the Windows app. Can this please be done for the Mac version?

[PinkElephant 8,194]

Just a question: Why don’t you simply update ?

Updates will roughly be released every 2-3 weeks, so they will be back. I am not aware of a setting to switch it off. You should install updates anyhow - they are containing bugfixes all the time, and often new features or capabilities.

But I agree, the way the information is pushed is annoying.

[CyndyB 0]

I have this same issue but it is every. single. day and refers to Evernote Clipper in Safari.  Similarly, it doesn't matter what app I'm working in, the pop up shows up while  I'm in the middle of working on something.  Having that pop up requiring updates so frequently is extremely ineffective, intrusive and annoying.  I'm going to see if there's a way of shutting off these notifications but in the meantime if EN has a fix, I hope it's posted here. 

[manavk 0]

So ***** annoying. Dear Evernote - stop with the damn incessant updates.

This is one of the reason why I stopped paying for Evernote.

 

[PinkElephant 8,194]

OK, you have chosen your strategy: Stop paying for Evernote.

My intention is not to pay Evernote, I pay for the service I use, and I pay if it creates value for me. Getting fresh, better software (it is called „update“, just BTW) for me is part of what I pay for.

Let us have a look at your strategy: You stopped paying, but probably you are still using it. So what you get now is the update messages (because they update the software, not the subscribing clients only) PLUS you get the „Free account nagging“ to subscribe. If it has not started yet, it will once your subscription expires.

The only way to run away from it all is to stop using EN altogether. Which you probably should do if you like running on old, unsupported software. With EN you will receive an update every 2-3 weeks, which stands for keeping up with OS changes, regular new features plus frequent bugfixes. We would have killed for it back then, in „good old“ legacy days, when releases were like snowflakes in the desert.

[RJLUK 307]

10 hours ago, manavk said:

So ***** annoying. Dear Evernote - stop with the damn incessant updates.

This is one of the reason why I stopped paying for Evernote.

 

Seriously? You are getting a product for FREE and complain because they update you a free user for free. If I was a developer I would take zero notice of complaints from free users. Uninstall and go use something else.

[louisjaffe 4]

I've been an Evernote subscriber for years and was happy until the "new" Evernote was unveiled. I want to echo CyndyB's comment: It is very bad behavior for an app to arbitrarily pop itself over my work in progress in another app. At best it's annoying, at worst dangerous. I've written Evernote support in the past, pointing this out. The only suggested solution was: Update... then it won't happen... until next time, obviously. 

They should give users the option of checking manually for updates, and they should never disappear a user's work-in-progress in another app. It just happened to me in the midst of writing a message in another app. Extremely disruptive. 

[PinkElephant 8,194]

We have suggested to show the notice only on startup of the EN client.

When would you think it is appropriate ?

[sxa 0]

Totally agree, really annoying. If you want people to update this is not the way, mates.

[TomVerre 0]

Twice in the past two days I've had the same experience as louisjaffe...a popup asking if I'd like to update evernote overrode two different applications, interrupting time sensitive work in one case and getting me killed by robots in a game I was playing in the other. 

Interrupting my work (and charitable time spent ridding the virtual world of evil machines) is an unacceptably poor user experience in itself, but after having clicked the NOT NOW button I find that the new version had been installed regardless. Don't give people a NO option if that option doesn't actually mean NO. Unless of course you are only presenting an illusion of choice, in which case good luck with your user retention strategy.

I see that it has already been argued that "you get what you pay for" but that's not how it works. If you are not paying for the product, then you ARE the product and can bet the company has estimated and banked on your dollar value. It's to be expected that the company will occasionally gauge user sentiment in public forums when policy changes results in a poor user experience and loss of market share. As such, I am leaving my terribly important OPINION here in the hopes that the folks working on a product I've recommended countless times finds it valuable. 

Because the next time I've got a 100 ton walking tank bearing down on me and evernote asks if I feel like now would be a good time to drop everything and install software that it plans to install anyway, I'm very likely to turn my robocidal rage towards the uninstall button.

[PinkElephant 8,194]

Only other users here ...

Strategies to contact EN have been posted in this thread already, so I will not repeat them.

If you can't come along with the tanks, try the fairies instead.

[Leanne139 0]

Is there any way to delay updates? There is a very real potential to lose work (or at the very least, to lose focus) if an update closes and relaunches the app automatically 

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,979]

1 hour ago, Leanne139 said:

Is there any way to delay updates? There is a very real potential to lose work (or at the very least, to lose focus) if an update closes and relaunches the app automatically 

The only way I can think of is to just check for updates manually on a regular basis, maybe when you start working each day. That should give you some control. In the Windows program it's in the Help menu; I don't know about Mac.

[PinkElephant 8,194]

On my Mac the update notification shows when I start the EN client in the morning. I wouldn’t know where it takes my „Fokus“ away, at that time of the day I am not focused.

In general each update means bug fixes, many bring along new features. No updates, no bug fixes or features. And an update every 2-3 weeks means more chances to get bug fixes rolled out fast, not like it was with legacy, where a simple fix could have taken nearly a year to be solved.

[markjan101 0]

I am honestly thinking of quitting Evernote because of this "in-my-face" update process.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,979]

22 hours ago, markjan101 said:

I am honestly thinking of quitting Evernote because of this "in-my-face" update process.

Hi, and welcome to the forests forums (sorry). From a sort of geezer perspective: 3 or 4 years ago, bug fixes were taking months to resolve. There was great grumbling on the forums about the lack of updates. Now that Evernote has been rebuilt from the ground up, precisely in order to make fixes and improvements more responsive, there is grumbling that updates are happening. Are you getting updates (i.e., free improvements to the product without having to ask for them) more than once a week? I get one every week or two.

[Boot17 1,473]

In my anecdotal experience, I think you'll see the update reminder every day if you keep declining the update AND if you shut down Evernote and relaunch. I've been doing more of shutting it down lately, but when I kept Evernote running (I would hide with Command-H) all the time (and just sleep my machine and not shutdown or reboot) I would never see an update prompt.

[PinkElephant 8,194]

Maybe it is not such a bad idea if users who do not update finally throw in the towel and move on.

Saves some effort in the forum, both for explaining again and again that an update means getting value for the subscription money; plus by not getting bugs described in new postings that have been squeezed already. Very annoying !

[cpjones44 2]

This annoyed me so much that I have cancelled my Evernote subscription.

Clearly the folks at Evernote aren't smart enough to look at other 'self-updating' apps like Chrome, Firefox or Office and implement some kind of mechanism where the Evernote app doesn't take over the screen and disrupt your work to say an update is available. It could self-update after app exit and relaunch like Chrome does, or provide a system notification saying an update is available like Office does. It's a shame because there are some cool features in the app, but all of those mean absolutely nothing when such a poor user experience is delivered.

[bmcl26 502]

Latest update message came onto my screen when I logged in a couple of days ago.  Selected YES to update downloaded insalled and restarted EN well within 2 mins.  Hardly an inposition.   

[PinkElephant 8,194]

@cpjones44 Facts: Firefox is not updating itself, it requires a restart by the user. EN does tell there is an update - the user can decide to install or not. If he doesn't, the reminder will return. If he does, it is a 2 min job to update and be back. Etc.etc.

It's a shame some people don't value a team more that is constantly working on improvements and fixes. If I were you, I would install Windows 95, to rid myself of any updates and progress. Good enough, it seems.

If you don't need EN any more, skip it. But stop telling stupid things just because you moved elsewhere out of whatever reason. We couldn't care less.

[cpjones44 2]

Clearly you aren't hearing the problems that people in the community are raising. When EN goes to tell someone there's an update, it brings itself forward and disrupts whatever it is you're doing. I might be typing an email in Outlook and without notice, EN will have an update and take itself from hidden or minimised and display a message prompt saying an update is available, taking focus away from the window I was using. It's an extremely poor user experience.

And good to see that people in this forum "care" for the experience of others. You clearly don't have anything constructive to add, so perhaps keep to writing your thoughts in EN and not in this forum. I hope for the sake of the EN community you are not a developer or in anyway associated with EN with an attitude like that.

[bmcl26 502]

1 hour ago, cpjones44 said:

I might be typing an email in Outlook and without notice, EN will have an update

Been there just, Alt+Tab takes me straight back to Outlook complete my email then Alt+Tab again and I can update EN Simple!

[Alvin- 4]

On 8/12/2022 at 6:42 PM, markjan101 said:

I am honestly thinking of quitting Evernote because of this "in-my-face" update process.

You can download App Store version instead, so that there will be no more interruptions like above.