About Donesafe
I saw a random comment about Donesafe on a forum last Tuesday night while I was procrastinating on an essay. The description made it sound like a free, all-in-one organizer for tasks and notes, which is exactly what I’m always hunting for as a broke student. I downloaded it right then on my iPhone 14, thinking it could be the one app to finally keep my class deadlines, grocery lists, and project ideas in one place. Three days later, I’m deleting it. What I found wasn’t a helpful assistant but a confusing, slow app that felt like it was built for a completely different purpose, maybe for a big company, not for someone just trying to remember to buy laundry detergent.
Core Features
The app’s main screen is a dashboard with boxes labeled things like “Incidents,” “Actions,” and “Hazards.” Right away, that felt off. I was looking for a simple to-do list or a calendar, not terminology from a safety manual. I poked around and found a section called “Forms” where you could supposedly create custom lists. I tried to make a weekly chore tracker. The form builder had a ton of fields like “Severity Rating” and “Corrective Action Required,” which made zero sense for tracking “vacuum dorm room.” You can’t hide or rename these fields, so my simple list was filled with nonsense options. The only feature that sort of worked was a basic note-taking area, but even typing there felt laggy, like the app was struggling to keep up.
Real-World Use
My real test came Wednesday morning before my 10 AM lecture. I wanted to quickly jot down the three key points from my pre-read. I opened Donesafe, navigated to the notes area, and started typing. The keyboard input was delayed, creating a frustrating gap between my taps and the letters appearing on screen. I gave up and used Apple Notes instead, which took five seconds. Later, I thought maybe I could use it to log expenses, since I’m on a tight budget. I found a “Report” feature and tried to log a $4.50 coffee. The form asked for a “Site Location,” “Department,” and “Witnesses” before I could even enter the amount. It was utterly useless for my life. The whole experience felt like trying to use a industrial forklift to move a single textbook.
Pricing & Value
It’s free, which is the only reason I gave it a shot. For a student, price is everything. But “free” here doesn’t mean “good value,” it means “confusing demo.” It became clear this app is just a mobile window into some expensive business software that my university might buy. For my personal use, the value is negative. It wasted my time, frustrated me, and took up space on my phone. I’d rather use a combination of the free Reminders app and a Google Doc, which are actually designed for the simple, fast tracking I need.
Updates & Support
After the laggy typing drove me nuts, I figured I’d report it as a bug. I found a contact form buried in the app’s settings. I sent a message Thursday afternoon describing the keyboard lag on my iPhone 14. By Friday evening, I got a reply. It was a generic, copy-pasted response asking me to “ensure my app was updated to the latest version” and to “check my network connection.” My app was updated, and I was on Wi-Fi. I wrote back clarifying, but it’s now Sunday and I’ve heard nothing. That slow, unhelpful reply just confirmed my feeling that this app isn’t meant for, or supported for, regular people like me.
Data & Privacy
The privacy policy is long and full of legal jargon about “enterprise data management” and “compliance storage.” It mentions data can be stored on servers in different countries. For my silly test notes about groceries and essay ideas, that level of corporate data handling feels both excessive and vaguely unsettling. I have no idea what the developer, HSI Product Development, actually does with the random bits of text I put in there. Since the app doesn’t do anything useful for me, I’m not comfortable letting it hold any of my information, even if it’s just a shopping list.
What are the main features of Donesafe?
Donesafe is built around workplace safety terminology, with a dashboard featuring sections like Incidents, Actions, and Hazards. It includes a customizable form builder, but the fields are geared toward safety reporting, such as Severity Rating and Corrective Action Required, which can't be renamed or hidden.
Can I use Donesafe as a simple to-do list or note-taking app?
Technically yes, but it's not designed for that. The form builder forces you to use safety-oriented fields, making a simple chore list awkward, and the basic note-taking area suffers from noticeable typing lag, so it's not reliable for quick notes.
Why is Donesafe so slow and laggy when I type?
This is a common complaint; the app has input delay, especially in the notes area, causing a frustrating gap between tapping and seeing text appear. To fix this, try restarting the app or your phone, but many users find the lag persists and end up switching to a faster alternative like Apple Notes.
How do I create a custom list without seeing safety-related fields?
Unfortunately, you can't hide or rename fields like Severity Rating or Corrective Action Required in the form builder. This is a core design limitation—Donesafe is intended for workplace safety compliance, not personal task management, so you'll have to work around those fields or use a different app.
How does Donesafe compare to Apple Notes for personal organization?
Apple Notes is far better for personal use—it's faster, simpler, and has no lag, letting you jot down thoughts or lists in seconds. Donesafe is cluttered with safety jargon and feels built for corporate incident reporting, making it a poor choice compared to the streamlined experience of Apple Notes.
