Team, we have to chat about Mindly.
At DTECH, we're committed to offering you a comprehensive list of the best software solutions out there. Our catalog is a reflection of this commitment, showcasing apps that are not only innovative but also reliable, affordable, and continuously evolving. It's crucial for us to ensure that every product we feature meets these standards.
Recently, we took a closer look at Mindly, the mind-mapping app that has been part of our catalog and workflow for some time. Mindly was one of the first apps I used to organize the categories on our site's catalog. Since then, we've moved on to stronger mind-mapping apps like Miro and ClickUp, not because the app was bad, but because our needs evolved, and we needed an app that packed more features in a desktop and mobile version with a subscription model that made more sense for our needs.
Unfortunately, after a recent audit of the apps on our site, it became clear that Mindly is no longer keeping pace with the market's demands, nor is it keeping up with our A.C.E.D model, which we use as part of our testing criteria to determine whether an app either gets published or stays in our catalog. The app has been receiving poor reviews, hasn't released any new versions of the app that evolve its functionality, and it appears that Mindly's online presence has waned—its website has been essentially inactive for months, which directly influenced our decision to move on. This lack of support and development is a huge red flag for us.
I get it. Not every app survives the ridiculously competitive landscape of the SaaS productivity market. But we have to ensure our catalog reflects a set of tools that are worth your hard-earned money.
What we found in our audit
Our decision to remove Mindly wasn't made lightly. We regularly review the software in our catalog to ensure they still meet our testing criteria. Sadly, it no longer measures up—not just against the competition but also against its own previous standards.
Website is no longer functional
First, here's a look at mindlyapp.com:
You'll find that the site's CSS and JS code aren't functional and is using only HTML to display content. This is indicative of a flailing website and is in stark contrast with what it previously looked like.
App Store reviews & version history are subpar
Not every app receives raving reviews, especially on app stores. Google Play Store and Apple App Store reviews for Mindly's mobile app aren't that bad. A lot of people find utility in its features, but our problem lies with the app's version history. The last version update was simply to add support for iOS 17, and not to improve any of its existing features. We won't blame Dripgrind (the developer) too harshly for this since we're firm believers in the phrase, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But seeing an app that hasn't made any improvements to its software in four years is concerning, and not in alignment with our effort to showcase software that's continuously evolving.
The desktop app for Mac is another story. It's not free for desktop use, as you can expect to be charged $29.99 for an app that doesn't meet the standards of its mobile version, and clearly users in the reviews section aren't pleased with the lack of features and updates for their one-time purchase.
So, what's next?
Although it is difficult to part ways with a tool like Mindly, it is essential to prioritize the resources that can truly benefit our community. If you're looking for mind-mapping tools that are more effective, intuitive, and have way more features available for you to accomplish the same thing and more, here are a few recommendations:
Miro
Miro is an advanced whiteboarding and mind-mapping app for enhanced visual collaboration. It has become an ideal solution for freelancers and teams for planning, brainstorming, mind-mapping, R&D, visualizing workflows, and much more. There are endless, ready-made templates to help jumpstart your canvas, like affinity and fishbone diagrams, product roadmaps, and Eisenhower matrix blocks (to name a few). Miro's mind-mapping features are super intuitive and pretty robust. With an infinite canvas, you can paste documents, images, and just for practically any use case. Miro also offers a ton of custom features and third-party integrations to bring your existing tools into a visual space.
Mural
Mural is another excellent option for visual collaboration and mind-mapping. Mural is a direct competitor to Miro, and offers pretty much the same features, just with a different structure, layout, and set of integrations, among other things.
ClickUp
If you thought ClickUp is just a project management tool, you'd be like one-fourth right. ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity app with the tagline, "one app to replace them all." That's why ClickUp offers its own whiteboarding tool within the app, which can be used for mind-mapping too. So, if you're in the market for a project/task management app and could benefit from a mind-mapping tool that seamlessly connects your tasks to items on your canvas, we highly recommend ClickUp to consolidate your tech stack and control costs.
In the end, we extend a huge thank you to Dripgrind for providing users with a fun and easy to organize their thoughts and ideas into an interactive mobile mind map. And if you still want to give Mindly a try, you can download the app on the Google Play Store and App Store for as long as the app remains active. For now, we'll continue to bring other mind-mapping apps to the surface to ensure you get the most bang for your buck.
Share your thoughts with us
Have you used Mindly before? What are your thoughts about the app and our recent revelations? Share them with us below!