Roam Mobile

Very buggy and very slow

Roam Research is the best tool for note taking. Ive been using it since 2020 and its been rock solid for me. The initial hype at its launch has waned considerably, but I still find it faster, easier, and more effective than its competitors. If you’re new or haven’t tried it in a while, I highly encourage you to give it a shot. The mobile app in particular has come out ahead big time.

The app has been neglected for a long time, but it now catches up very quickly. There’s been several updates over the last weeks and each of them has some feature that I am using on a regular basis. I am a heavy Roam user, which is my basic work environment right now. The fast mobile extension is a game changer.

Apparently it’s too large. I was able to use the app before, but even then it was very slow. I just use phone to note instead of quick capture and have given up on being able to reference my information on the go.

I installed the app and created an account but the app is not useable. I get the message below there is no link to website etc. I do not understand how Apple approved an app that is not complete. “Before using the mobile application, create a graph on the desktop or web app. You can also sign out and sign in to a different account.”

Can’t do a basic task. UI is ugly. UX is weird and very computer-like instead of mobile friendly. App leaves a lot to be desired.

At least there is an app. Nothing more than opening on a mobile web browser without having to sign in all the time.

The slow load time makes this app unusable. Every time I open it I have to wait 10 seconds for it to load.

The speed of page loads is frustratingly slow regardless of the size or type of data pages contain. It consistently saps productivity. Countless usability issues make authoring any form or length of writing cumbersome. Because of this, I now often first use a different application (such as Apple Notes, Google Docs, etc.) to perform the majority of my work; only after I create the bulk of the content I need to produce do I then transfer it into Roam. Roam has significant potential but it's squandered due to a lack of human-centered design and not meeting table-stake performance expectations.

The desktop version is fantastic but the iPhone app is unusable. It’s impossible to type continuously without the UI bugging out, and this has been left unfixed for several years.