This is tough because I really love Coda. I’ve been using it daily for years (on my laptop) and have been a paid subscriber for a couple years now. So I’m definitely rooting for them! But the user experience of the iPhone app consistently gets in the way of it being great. I’ve built docs for other people to use several times (and in doing so have onboarded a ton of new users), but they always complain because they can’t get it to work properly on their phone when they need it - which is the whole point of having an app-like experience for the doc. For example, people want to use it to track their hours worked while in the field. But the Coda app won’t even load so they end up having to write everything down on paper and then put it into the Coda doc later at their computer. And I experience the same thing myself. This problem does not persist with either of the two primary competing apps. I’m not even complaining about the limited functionality of the iPhone app. It’s just that it simply won’t even open 90% of the time.

I built a whole independent contractor system with client facing forms, internal project/task/expense management tables, and sales tracking tables with relation logic. Also built some crazy reports. It’s just a PITA to navigate back and forth and configure but once you get it down it’s amazing. It’s everything I wish Microsoft loop was. Only problems I have is no native push notification customization, automations break and don’t make any sense, & editing settings and navigation can be a bit finicky especially on mobile. There’s definitely a learning curve and patience is required. I hope coda takes time to improve this platform because it’s insane what it can do. I tried almost every app and this got me the closest for business and personal.

When I first learned how to use spreadsheet formulas, I thought it was magic. I’d hack a spreadsheet or a google doc for almost everything in life and work (trip planning, project tracking, notes... the list goes on). Now I use Coda for everything AND I DON’T EVEN NEED TO HACK IT. I made a CRM for my apartment search when I moved to Seattle. I planned a trip to Iceland with my mom so we could share our itinerary, expenses, reservations, and emergency info all in one place. I moved my family recipe database from a huge Drive folder to a single Coda doc with cute icons for every section. On a project tracker with my team at work, I made my own view for my tasks that still updates the main tracker when I change a status. Now with the app, I can pull up my recipes on my phone, use buttons to make status updates when I’m not at my desk, or get reminders from my habit tracker doc as push notifications. 🙏🏼 All I can say is YAS.

I’ve spent a year with Coda… its features were more appealing to me than Notion’s and the app gradually became engrained in my work flow. I still love everything about the web-based application, but I’ll probably switch to another platform because the iPhone app is so terrible. Try copying and pasting text. It doesn’t behave like you’d expect on an iPhone… it’ll take you 5 minutes to copy a few paragraphs if you have to scroll. Every time I open the app, it takes me to the beginning and I’ll spend 2 minutes waiting for the menus to load as I seek through my menus to find the document I was working on 5 minutes ago. Editing a doc is so clunky. Seriously, Apple’s Notes app is about 10x more usable than this app. It’s just such a shame, since the web based app offers so much functionality. But it’s 2025. I need to use work apps like this at work, on planes, during travel, or even in bed in the middle of the night.