SimpleMind+ (mind mapping) app review: helping you to collect all your ideas

05 Jun 2014 Reviews

Introduction

How many times have you had a brilliant idea or plan pop into your head at the most inconvenient time? You tell yourself you'll remember it and address it later but often we forget. The SimpleMind+ (mind mapping) app can be used on your iPod touch, iPad, and iPhone as a way to collect all these wonderful ideas, thoughts, and plans. The app is described as a "mind mapping tool" and essentially is a brainstorming productivity tool. Not only can you collect all your ideas but then you can start to create a structure with them so they aren’t so abstract.

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Collecting and Forming Your Ideas

Instead of having a bunch of random ideas pop in and out of your head, why not collect them and start to make sense of them and even apply them to your daily life? Once you add an idea, thought, or plan you can then drag it around, make edits to it, and arrange it in an order that starts to make sense and form something much less abstract and much more like a concrete idea/plan.

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The app itself is free to download and use but many of the editing tools and features are only available with the in-app purchase of $4.99, so you just need to decide how much you want to be able to do with it. This app has three out of five stars from users who like the idea and functionality of the app but don't like how little the free version has to offer.

Enter your central theme

The User Experience

When you launch the app what I find disappointing is that there is no tutorial, not even just a brief one. You are just kind of thrown into the mix and expected to figure it out. I find that the app is so simple it becomes confusing so a tutorial would be a great addition. You begin by adding the central theme to your mind map and from there you start adding to it. Again I feel lost at this step because it’s really unclear of how you add to the central theme. The app claims to be easy to use and gives you the ability to add and make notes quickly; I disagree.

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Just like users have commented, many of the additional features, that you'll likely want to use, aren't included for free so you are quite limited with the free version. Some of the free functions include being able to apply a visual style, undo and redo, cut/copy/paste text, a word wrap tool, and the ability to share Mind Maps.