iThoughtsX - Mind Map App Reviews

I researched mind mapping software on OSX and iOS for weeks before finally making a committed purchase and I couldn’t be happier with my choice. iThoughts on both platforms exceeded my expectations in the intelligence of its design. It is a joy to use, and has features I wouldn’t have known would be so useful.

iThoughtsX and iThoughtsHD (iDevice) have become my favorite mindmapping tool after trying pretty much every one out there. Among its advantages: * Super fluid interface. Fast and intuitive to add, move, delete and edit nodes. Mouse or pure keyboard work great. * Mac—iOS sharing is seamless through any of several options. * Imports and exports to almost every format out there. The ability to go in and out of OPML and Markdown are particularly nice, but all of its import/exports are accurate, fast and thoughtfully done. For example, the Word export options include producing Headers, Bulletted List or a Table of 2 — 4 columns. * Produces good looking maps using any of its provided styles, which are easy to customize if desired. * An excellent tool for basic project management. Allows assigning start/due dates, resources, effort, priority and progress. Its easy to use child nodes as subtasks and set effort and/or progress of the parent node to "Rollup", which aggregates effort/progress for all of its children. This can work over multiple generations -- parents, children, grand children, etc. The ability to view or hide levels allows you to focus on specific parts of a project without being overwhelmed. I use it to track preparations to teach my classes each semester and it is more than sufficient. If more is needed, it can be exported to MS Project. * If you want to present directly in iThoughtsX, rather than exporting to PowerPoint, there is a simple, but powerful "Presentation" option that lets you make "Slides" in advance. Frankly, I find the combination of the AutoFit and Focus options suffice to manage a presentation most of the time. * Powerful filtering options to show (or hide) nodes based on text, task information, date of last modification, etc. Perhaps most impressively, the last three points, along with lots of other neat features, are all relatively recent additions. The developer is continuously adding new features, but at a considered enough pace that it never feels like the underlying functionality of the app is being muddled. He is also very responsive to support questions and feature requests. There are some cheaper options, but none of them have come close to iThoughtsXs functionality and polish—at least for my purposes. There are also much more expensive options, and I have to say that they also havent come close. For what it does and how well it does it, it is more than fairly priced.

I’ve been using iThoughts on my iPad and iPhone for many years now. It is an essential tool for me, one I use every day for several hours. Just upgraded my laptop to a MacBook, and now I get to use iThoughtsX. It is worth every penny for me.

This, among all the other mind-mapping products I’ve tried over the years, is for me the best one. It offers a complete integration between the iOS and OS X platforms, updated to the latest iOS8 and OS X Yosemite, and it’s really a pleasure to use. Those who already know the concepts behind Mind Mapping software will be able to check the current features on the developers’ blog - among the many, support for page-splitting during printing of very large maps, external display support on the iOS apps, and the recent introduction of Focus mode, which is a dream come true for those, like us, who would do everything to work in a distraction-free environment. So, take a look for yourselves, and don’t hesitate. Syncing is already perfect the way it is, but remember that, when iCloud syncing will be fully supported, you’ll get it only through the App Store.

I have tried (and paid) many mind map Apps. This one is the most user-friendly I have tested so far. It may not offer all the sophisticated (useful ?) functionalities other Apps do but there are far enough to achieve nice maps of all sorts. Having local languages would be a plus. Very good job !

I use iThoughtsX daily in almost every part of my work: brainstorming, drafting, follow-up of projects etc… I use it also to built knowledge bases. Having tried at least 5 other mindmapping softwares before, iThoughtsX offers by far the best combination of power, flexibility and user-friendliness. The integration with iOS works well, although I use it less just because of the type of work I’m doing. Above all, Craig Scott, the creator of iThoughtsX, is very approachable, open to feedback and provides second-to-none support.

The app together with ithougths(HD) for iPhone and for iPad is probably yet one of the best available mindmap apps ever. It doesn’t really matter anymore where to work on your thoughts. You just start and synchronize. Synchronization by the way work as well with other desktop apps like mind manager, which is very useful as you are also able working across the platforms. However there is lot of room for improvements. Here are some wishes for improvements: - individual page setup (like name of the file, page numbers) - additional desktop apps included in the export mechanism (like Novamind) - when reopening the map the window you see on the screen is not of the same size as you have left it before But again it is a brilliant software that tends to become as good as the mobile one’s.

Works good, but miss iCloud sync

All in all a good app. The possibility of creating mind maps digitally and exporting them as text, pdf, etc. comes in very handy. But there are still many simple but crucial functions to be implemented for iThoughtsX to be more than a quite good mind mapping program and to be more efficient than pencil and paper. These include for example: 1 The function of swapping between placing single parts from the mind map manually and letting them be placed by the app automatically. 2 Arrows 2.1 Labelling arrows(in a better way than the callout function): When expressing a concept through a mind map arrows often need to be labelled with their certain function. 2.2 Different kinds of arrows: For being able to express the diversity of different functions the arrows of one mindmap can have, the possibility of changing their visual appearance would be appropriate. 2.3 Relationships: It is not possible to point out a relationship of aspects between more than two elements. I don’t need to explain why that does not make sense. 3 General 3.1 Parents and siblings: Needless to say, one single aspect of a mindmap may derive from more than one superordinate aspect. But the app doesn’t provide the function of linking two or more parents to one child. 3.2 Adding Shapes, description fields.: For the purpose of enhancing the visual expression of a mindmap one often has do draw shapes or to add single descriptions . This possibility should also be added. 3.3 Tagging: Elements of the map should be able to be tagged so that they can be cathegorized among additional criteria and foregrounded if needed. These all came to my mind with the first use of the app so there are probably even more. Implementing these simple but significant functions would turn iThoughts from quite good app to an awesome program. I hope that future updates will cope with the limitations of mindmapping without above functions (and I think one can demand that for the price of 42,99€ (which is the 20% discount price)). Kind regards Jan Rejek

I’ve got a problem with iThoughts (because of a very special keyboard of mine) and the developer sent me a new version within minutes. Splendid customer service!

I’ve been using iThoughts on iPod touch to iPhone. I own a MacBook when I heard iThoughtsX was release for Mac. Graig, love your works. This is the best app!

Our team uses iThoughtsX in sprint planning, for workflow process diagramming, producing step-by-step instructions, taking notes during meetings, market research (collecting and analyzing market data). It has most of the features we need for mind mapping with a few gems like the notes section. Some additional features would make this product even more complete: - support for multiple canvases - keyboard shortcut for straight line connectors between nodes - notes for connectors These features would extend the application well beyond a mind mapping tool, so it’s worth 5 stars as is. Keep up the great work!

アプリをインストールしてそのまま利用しようとすると、 日本語入力の際にenterを一度押しただけで、兄弟ノードを新たに作成してしまうため、 ひらがな→漢字への変換が面倒な使用になっています。 この使用にストレスを感じる方は以下の操作をしてみると、 だいぶ使いやすくなるのではないでしょうか。 iThoughtsX→Preferences→iOS Triple SPACE/RETURN compatibilityにチェック enterをトリプルクリックした場合に兄弟ノードが作成されるようになります。 欲を言えばダブルクリックにしてほしいですが、この状態でも使いやすいアプリだと思います。

I’ve used and researched a load of mind map tools. This one is simple, effective and at the same time powerfull. It’s a must if you have information overload or lots of stuff to cover in short amounts of time. I couldn’t reccomend it more. Well done guys for the excellent App!

I have re-bought and downloaded the new IOs version but now I have discovered that the projects done with this new version on the iPAD cannot be opened by the version I have on the Mac….c’mon...

A couple key things are missing. 1) The iPad app has a very cool and useful feature that makes adding child and siblings really easy by hitting the space 3 times or return 3 times. This feature doesnt work the same on the mac. Interface standardization here would be great. It makes creating a map more cumbersome on the mac. 2) Every other iPad app that I use that has a mac version has a seamless automatic sync using either icloud or dropbox. This apps sync is a bit to cumbersome. 3) Printing is terrible. There is no page format control at all. I love the iPad version and am commenting here only in the hopes that the developer sees the feedback and updates teh app accordingly.

I use IThoughtsX everyday for taking notes, brainstorming, presentations and tracking status in workflows. IThoughtsX is rich in features and very easy to use. I really appreciate the keyboard support; a necessity when taking notes and doing presentations. Highly recommended for whatever your needs!!!

***This is an update to my previous review*** I still feel that the iPad version is far superior to this one. What you have in this app for iMac is similar but just not as intuitive. The bugs are almost non-existant now. Thanks! So one more STAR. Syncing is still the app killer here and not the Killer-Feature. I do sync through Dropbox (the video does help you do it) but, come on, that’s so antiquated! That’s one of the reasons people go with Apple, seamless intregation. As mentioned before, the iPad version makes it real simple to learn how to create and modify your maps. This app does a fare job of creating maps and modifing them, but the learning curve is a lot sharper. You need a good working knowledge of the Mac OS and this app’s way of working. They seem to be working on improving the app and it’s functions, so that’s a plus. Unfortunatly, if you are looking for the same experiance or better (which it should be) on your iMac they aren’t there yet. I personally feel that the other reviews are way to generous with their praise and Stars given the excellance of the iPad version. You can’t give the iPad version 4-5 stars and this app the same star value, when the majority admit the iPad version is still the superior form and $50 less expensive. If you love ithoughts on iPad (like me) and you feel comfortable with Mac OS and have you the time to play around with this app to learn it well (which you will need to do in order to do the things the iPad version does), then get it. I’m sure there are worse apps out there.

I use this app nearly every day as well as the iPad version. It’s easy and flexible. BUT…it really needs to be connected to iCal in order to export task items to the calendar. As it is, the due date, etc. is almost useless. I have to manually supplement this with Wunderlist in order to keep up with task item priorities, which sort of defeats the purpose for me trying to keep organized… The live syncing between the desktop and iPad versions is rather iffy, and it would be nice if the desktop version would also make the text transparent when items are completed. All of the export options are great though. Almost perfect, but severely needs that calendar sync.

iThoughts feels carefully crafted in a way that makes me not have to think more than necessary — that is, it gets out of the way and supports me in doing what I want. Design decisions seem well thought out, and both iOS and OS X versions perform well. In fact, both versions remind me of Apple’s user experience design philosophy of being as simple and obvious as possible. In addition, in trading emails directly with the developer, I find him not only extremely responsive but thoughtful in replying, helping where he can and offering clear justification for design decisions he’s made. I get the feeling that if I had any serious qualms about the product, he would either address them with changes to the app(s), or convince me why my qualms weren’t as important as other considerations. Love that I can use both OS X and iOS versions depending on need and location, and sync is seamless via Dropbox. I can’t wait to see what’s next with iOS 8 and beyond. Overall, highly recommended!