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Notetaking and archiving service Catch Notes has announced that it will be shutting down service on August 30. The service is providing current users instructions on how to obtain stored documents from its server in the form of ZIP or CSV downloads, and is also optimizing the files for use in other note-taking services such as Evernote and Simplenote.
Catch has made the difficult decision to take the company in a different direction. As such, we will be terminating service next month. We value our users and have greatly enjoyed providing Catch to millions of people over the last several years, but it is time for us to move on.
Catch Notes [Direct Link] originally launched in February 2010 and earned various accolades, including being featured on Apple's "New and Noteworthy" list for apps. The app currently holds a combined four star rating across all versions in the App Store, although the most recent version released just a few days ago has been hit with poor reviews due to crashing issues.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)When will we learn?
The only sustainable future is in standards-based services that allow you to transfer all data and settings in a user-portable package to another provider, whether in the cloud or on your own machine.
Sounds perfectly fine to me, or am I missing something?
Catch users got lucky that their provider is making this available. There is nothing in the T&Cs of these companies to guarantee that they would do this in the event of the service being shut down. Even if they do make some provision, it may not be as compatible with other services as you'd like.This case is just another reminder that these services are provided only as long as they are profitable to the owner, and there's very little you can do to protect the investment of time you've put into your data.
Another day, another proprietary service announces it won't be taking care of your life any more.
When will we learn?
The only sustainable future is in standards-based services that allow you to transfer all data and settings in a user-portable package to another provider, whether in the cloud or on your own machine.
From the article:
The service is providing current users instructions on how to obtain stored documents from its server in the form of ZIP or CSV downloads, and is also optimizing the files for use in other note-taking services such as Evernote and Simplenote.
Sounds perfectly fine to me, or am I missing something?
The only sustainable future is in standards-based services that allow you to transfer all data and settings in a user-portable package to another provider, whether in the cloud or on your own machine.
I definitely agree.I just started using Catch a few weeks ago. It had the best UI among all the apps I looked into and it gave me the option of accessing my notes through the web for compatibility across different platforms even if I'd need that infrequently. I am basically looking for something as simple as Apple's Notes app, but with folders and the ability to attach multiple pictures to each note.
Catch seemed the best app for my purposes with only one caveat. I wanted the ability to export my data, in addition to emailing each note one by one. Their website was silent on this capability, so I only added a few notes and did not sign up for their paid service. (Way too expensive for casual use anyways. I could pay $5 a year, but $5 a month is too much.) I am sure I was not the only one who was reluctant to use such an app backed by a small developer with uncertain financial resources. They could have improved their chances in the marketplace if they looked less proprietary.
Even now with their ZIP option, it is not clear to me whether each note in a space will come out as a nice rtf file which has universal support or as a bunch of pictures for each attached picture along with one txt file for the typed portions. It is also not clear whether the app would keep on working with my locally saved notes even if the syncing and web interface will obviously be gone at the end of the month. In any case, I gotta find another nice app.