SimpleMind - Mind Mapping 4+

Excellent, except for cross platform business model

I spent years evaluating brain storming and mind mapping apps, including those from iThoughts and the actual inventor of the concept, Tony Buzan. However, only SimpleMind ticks all the boxes, in particular when it comes to clean effective UX design and features.
HOWEVER, there is one glaring issue, and that is you have to purchase a license for each platform, and of course, syncing between devices is therefore fiddly. I’m not sure who even develop SimpleMind, because a Google search leads to confusing results, but it is my suggestion ‘Entity X’ follow what Shapr3D, Adobe etc have done and make the app cross platform (NO SUBSCRIPTIONS PLEASE OR YOU WILL LOSE US AS A CuSTOMER IMMEDIATELY!) and allow the user to choose where files are synced. IE, via Entity X OR 3rd party, such as iCloud, Google Drive, DropBox etc.
Do this and 5 stars! Thank you!

Brilliant, but with a glaring oversight

Brilliant mind-map software. In fact, it’s the best one I’ve found with all the features I wanted. There’s a small learning curve, but once you figure things out, it’s very easy to use.
My one gripe is the save features. Why is there no ability to save to iCloud? All iOS apps have this ability now, and surely it wouldn’t be too hard to add it.
Well, okay, I have a Dropbox, so it’s not a deal breaker. I save to there instead. But then, why is there no autosave feature?
This is a very common feature these days, and I think every other app I use now has it. If you don’t manually remember to save and synchronise your work, you lose it all. So, if you forget, or if the app force closes, or there’s a problem with your tablet or phone, you will lose your work. I’m not particularly lazy, and I don’t mind having to manually press the save the button every five minutes—no matter how annoying I find it—but this lack of provision for possible problems and unforeseen events is why I have given this app 3 stars, even though I love it.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your feedback.
SimpleMind synchronises mind maps automatically on built-in clouds like Dropbox. If you close SimpleMind, all changes will be synced. It is true that is your complete tablet stops working this may mean some changes have not been synced yet.
Please know that 1.23 you are now able to use Files. And because of that iCloud Drive. See https://simplemind.eu/faq/#!/ipadiphone/use-any-cloud-via-files/. If you have any questions, please contact our support.

The best I have found

I used to use Novamind and loved it, but it was discontinued. After a lot of searching, this is the closest I have come to that app.
It took me ages to find out how to sync between 2 different devices and there are still some things I haven’t worked out how to do, like make all the branches in a map a particular colour, automatically make new items in a map the same colour as the old ones and automatically tidy up a map.
Sometimes it puts new branches in odd places.
But I still really like this app.