Xmind - Mind Map & Brainstorm Ratings and Reviews

I’ve enjoyed XMind for quite some time. Developers are very committed to smooth experience. This is apparent in bugs, assuming they exist, being made transparent.

One suggestion from my side, depending on the roadmap, that will help to keep competitive. Moving away from rigid top down structures (not how we think), apps are trying to find UXs that represent many-to-many bottom-up lookups on the back end.

Some do this miserably with “tag only” systems that delude into piles of information. Others are trying to put the user closer to the database with wikis and record linking features. There is somewhere in the middle, and I think Workflowy just got close.

They’ve implemented what are called “mirrors”, where an instance of information in one bullet can be copied to another bullet half way across the list. The interesting thing is, they’re linked, meaning a change happens in one place reflects in another.

Anyone working with DBMSs knows this is pretty simple on the backend. However, this paradigm shift from folder systems isn’t so simple to the consumer. Mirroring is an analogy that makes sense, is simple, yet very powerful. Unfortunately for Workflowy, despite mastering the list UX, don’t have the mind map.

I’d encourage XMind to find an analogy that makes sense to the consumer to “reflect” the same information’s updates in two different places on a mind map.

I suggested a simple solution several times and they always replied that they would considerate and add in a future upgrade. However nothing has been done in over 9 months and they are forcing me away from XMind to competitive mind mapping which all them seem to have numbers 0 to 9, so when you want a to number branches of past 7, you can. With 0 to 9 you can add Infinite numbers. XMind stopped at 7 and only have 1-7 why? It is the easy programming fix add 0,8,9 only 3 additional markers so we, the end users can number priority's beyond 7 I send screen shots from a competitive mind map that I seem to Gravitate to because of the numbering. Unless this is fixed I will be forced to cancel my subscription and stay with competing mindmapping and nowadays there ar plenty good ones. Just type in mind-mapping in the apple store. Unhappy disappointed customer

Why can’t you start with a blank mind map with just a central Topic as a starting point? You have to pick from template then delete or fill in.

It’s odd that’s support does not respond or address any of these reviews with comments or reply

There is a possibility that I am just inept at working the app and I would appreciate instruction if that is the case. I need to have more control for this to really be worth my time. I would like to be able to add topics into my maps above ones that I’ve already done, sometimes i discover new information that needs to be added toward the middle or top of a map and the only way to do that is to delete things and remap. If i could move things in free space that would solve the issue. Also connecting separated topics, just because things are different at one step or another doesn’t mean they don’t have the same outcome so id like to be able to connect my boxes that have separated back into one. Finally the big one is being able to have AI build maps for me that i can edit, This is a great tool but when there’s really large quantities of information I can’t just sit there and build maps even though i would like too. If these features were added the app would be a 6 star app!

In my opinion XMind is the best mind mapping and brainstorming app I have ever encountered. My hobby for many years has been to try out apps on my Apple devices like my McBook, iMac, iPad Pro and iPhone and carefully take the time to check them out for features and also shortcomings. App Developers work extremely hard to create apps and I have immeasurable respect for them. However, very very few apps ever survive my critical analysis. I look for advanced abilities the app can perform well, stability in avoiding crashes, ease of using the app, a good support and knowledge base help in learning the app among other criteria. So far in my use of this XMind app it is nothing less than amazing in its features and abilities. This review is my opinion. I recommend it to other Users.

Dear XMind Devs,

I am only rating this with two stars to hopefully obtain your attention. I will definitely change it to 5 stars if hopefully I get a response. Regarding the topic of this text, I have a suggestion to improve the app. It would be really nice to have a function where I could tap on a box and see additional information regarding that box. For example, Cat (Main topic) -Ecology (Subtopic 1) -Tundra (Subtopic 1a). For students like me using the xmind, I would like to define “Cat”, “Ecology”, and “Tundra” without adding it into the box (For organizational and aesthetic reasons) instead, what I suggest is that there should be a function where I can define the word “Cat”, and while the box just sais the word “Cat”, the definition can show up only when I click on that individual box. I believe this will make the mind maps not only more organized, but also more efficient in terms of use and space! I hope these suggestions reach you! If it does, please let me know if you believe this is a suggestion you feel is beneficial?

Sincerely, A fan of XMind

Amazing, just started doing mind maps as a form of active reading and i ACED my very first ever quiz because i remembered its placement in the mind map i made. For a broke medical student, i can’t afford other fancy mind-map-making sites so having this app was a blessing from god. Love the color options, the flexibility, the easy placements, just a big mwah. Going into my finals full on using this app.
(Just maybe increase the colors/ templates free options , or have a frequent update for adding more options. I might consider upgrading to premium next year but it would be lovely having more free models for the time being :) )

Got the free trial in hopes of making mind maps in preparation for my studies (I’m a STEM grad student). This app really is designed for small bits of information not complex biochemical concepts. It’s a good idea in practice, but it does need a lot of work. I think there was 10? templates and no shortcuts that worked for me.

I think the nail on the coffin was how to export it. It’s just one giant photo so on top of everything, I need to play with my printer settings to make it look big enough to see and also get all of my information. At this point, it’s easier for me to make a mind map by hand on notability, which I can do much faster than the system allows ( again, no shortcuts) and then print and tape it all together.

That being said, if you’re looking to present a small amount of information in a uniformed and organized way, this app is great.

There is no syncing feature in this app, and I’m not sure why. It seems with the ability to collaborate on a mind map, I should also be able to seamlessly work on a map on my iPad, then when I get home, be able to work on it on my desktop without needing to manually upload then download using a 3rd party app like OneDrive or Dropbox. This becomes really frustrating when I’m on the go, think of something I want to add to a map, but don’t have my iPad with me. I wish I could just pull it up on my phone, put it in, and then when I get home continue work on my other devices. But for whatever reason they’ve decided that’s not a feature worth having.

I’ll likely be looking at other mind map options and requesting a refund on this one.

XMind arguably made mind mapping what it is today. They were mind mapping before mind mapping was cool and that's not a joke it's the truth. An educator put me onto it a few years back because he did all his lesson breakdowns in XMind and I fell in love with it. Iook at it now and see how far XMind and mapping in general has come it's so underrated. Gotta say though there is much room for potential improvement. I wish they'd offer more icons more creative themes. But all in all they're the still the best mind mapping software there is. Don't waste your time with the others they're just disappointing compared to XMind

Very excited to see XMind on iOS. The current capabilities, such as map element formatting, seem lightweight or missing compared to XMind Zen (beta) but it seems to work well enough for everything I have tried so far. File interoperability with XMind Zen on macOS seems to work fine. The formatting changes I made on my Mac carried over to the iOS app when synchronizing with iCloud. The .xmind files created by the iOS app are not compatible with XMind 6 but this is probably due to file format changes that occurred after XMind 6. Looking forward to future updates to this iOS app and the release of XMind Zen because these two apps seem to work well together in the iCloud environment.