Freeform vs Miro: Battle Royal of the Whiteboard Apps

[@vaxaweb]

I was thinking if I should move over to Freeform completely. This video has answered most of the questions I had in my mind. Thanks for explaining the differences and strengths of both apps clearly and concisely. Looking forward to more content from you.

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Glad I could help you with this.

[@djkase1]

Thank you. Your video saved me a lot of time experimenting only to determine that Freeform works in my use cases, but Miro could work when ideas made in Freeform needs to be structured.

[@patrickstoeckmann]

That‘s wonderful news. Yes, I also need to make sure I use the right tool for the right job. I hope that over Time Apple will improve on Freeform and it can do more of the tasks I now have to use Miro for.

[@oljobo]

One detail observed and reported about Freeform. When a board is shared.. anyone who joins can read the owner's Apple ID address… By long pressing the form, and "administrate shared…" (or whatever it is in english/your language)

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Not only the Owners ID (i.e. iCloud mail address) but all email addresses of participants are visible. But they are also visible within Miro, so no difference here. If you participate on a board, your email is visible to all participants on most of these apps.

[@georgee3401]

Very useful discussion of the advantages/disadvantages of both apps. Many thanks!

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Glad it was informative. Thank you.

[@whengrapespop5728]

I really appreciate this video, good sir. I hadn’t actually heard of Miro, but it seems to have integrated everything I found lacking from Freeform. The ideal, of course, would be a combination of both; a cross-platform (Apple/Windows) tool that has everything Miro provides, while still having the intuitive stylus/pen functionality that Freeform provides. I’m hoping Freeform gets some updates in the future, but as of now Miro seems to excel in regards to efficient professional / business oriented work.

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Exactly. Miro is for now the app to go if you rely on templates (which most businesses do). Freeform for now is great for starting with an empty whiteboard if you mainly use scribble/handwriting/text/simple shapes and images.

[@teevorian]

I use freeform form on Mac and iPad with pencil, I've used many tools before (including Miro). I consider myself a professional user. I settled on FreeForm and a more equipped tool, like Miro, Excalidraw, .... I learned that it is good practice in note taking to first make a "dirty" diagram just to get the content down and when that is finished, in a second pass, redraw it, rearrange it, abstract, reconnect, cluster it and simplify it. For the first step freeform is perfect since it helps to focus more on the content than the tool (unless you are fighting rather than embracing its simplicity), and for the second step, it is okay although more feature rich tools like Excalidraw, Miro, Figma, etc might be worth the learning curve. That being said, I think freeform has exactly what it needs and nothing that you probably dont need (except for the form library).

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Exactly. It‘s not an either or, it can be a symbiotic relationship. Whatever tool works best for a task. It is the same for me with text. Lots of notes start with Apple Notes and sty there. Some I might turn into an Email ( especially longer ones), some I bring into Obsidian or Pages or even (if it is something I need to share with a client) Microsoft Word. But Apple Notes is great for just getting stuff down and out of my head. Same with Freeform for quick drafts etc.

[@Patrick76399]

The big downside to using Freeform is the waiting. If it doesn’t have a feature you want any year going forward you have to wait until WWDC every single year to find out if Freeform will finally get it and then you have to wait until the fall season for the OS update.

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Could be, but Apple sometimes also pushes Updates to their Application in intermediary releases. But if you need a feature now, hoping for it isn’t a good solution. Better look for alternatives.

[@Patrick76399]

@@patrickstoeckmann Hoping and waiting is not productive…

[@dvfreitas]

Freeform is like a clean sheet while Miro is more about visuals business tools. It seems freeform is a true contender for apps like notability and goodnotes

[@patrickstoeckmann]

GoodNotes and Notability have some amazing features that are missing from Freeform though. True PDF support (including real highlighting) is one of them. I wouldn‘t use it (at this time) as a replacement for those apps.

[@stepoen]

Thanks for this informative videos. Save so much time.

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Glad I could help you.

[@MrGatie]

Hopefully Apple do start upgrading Freeform as time progresses it has so much potential

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Well they already did. They added connectors and a bunch of other stuff. Updated video coming soon.

[@simply6162]

Freeform user experience is unmatched. I feel like I can use it more productively than miro

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Yeah, Freeform is great for open canvas and just jotting down ideas with a pencil. Miro is better for a structured / template based approach.

[@donyoung333]

Freeform needs an API so developers can add what’s missing

[@patrickstoeckmann]

While that would be nice I suppose you won‘t get that from Apple any time soon.

[@user-fi6hg8vq6c]

Apple is its own enemy in terms of Freeform being a competitor of existing whiteboards software. It’s also very limited

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Well, I hope they play the long game like they did with Notes. Which was at the beginning really mediocre, but is now a solid app (although I have lots of ideas for improvements) which I suppose might even be THE leading notes app (in numbers). This is actually typical Apple. The first draft usually isn’t great (Notes, Apple Watch), but then they iterate, iterate, iterate. So, let’s see how the next Freeform iterations turn out.

[@user-fi6hg8vq6c]

@@patrickstoeckmann agreed, notes has come a long way. The biggest hurdle with Freeform is that it’s Apple only. Notes is more of a personal, stays in “sketch” mode idea recorder. I feel like a digital whiteboard needs to have collaborative functionality. Imo this is what makes apps like miro and figma such great apps.

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Agreed. It would be great if Apple would open it up to a web access. Maybe like they did with Notes, where you could access it over the iCloud.com front end. Figma and Miro’s main use cases are business related, while I think that Apple’s focus is more personal, friends and family. If Apple would be targeting businesses with their apps, they would need to include more cross-platform access. For now my rule of thumb is, if you are in a small group in an Apple circle Freeform might be great for you. If you are using it for business (or serious collaboration) then probably at this point Figma or Miro are better options.

[@mosijahi3096]

Web app 🙁

[@patrickstoeckmann]

Yes, just like with those Electron apps, I always prefer a real Mac app. But with V1 Apple has some work to do to add some functionality and iron out some kinks to make it a real competitor for a lot of use cases.