You can download the app today from the Apple Store, or if you already have it installed it will of course automatically update.

1. New Export Options

Previously, when exporting mind maps, you could only send them via email as attachments. We’ve now implemented the new(-ish) iOS share popover, enabling you to choose from a number of options to share your exported mind map. Open in any supporting app, upload to Dropbox or Google Drive, or print the map right from your device – all at the tap of a button.

2. Boundary Support

On the web version of MindMeister you’ve been able to adorn your mind maps with stylish topic boundaries for a while. Now we’ve brought support for displaying boundaries also to the iOS apps. All boundary types – even custom styles – created on the web version will display also on your mobile app, true to the original. Boundaries enable you to visually attract viewer attention to specific sections of a mind map.

3. UI Refresh

Last but not least, we’ve given the user interface of the iPhone and iPad app a refresh. In line with current design thinking we’ve trimmed some of the fat, given the dialogs and popovers a more consistent look and refreshed some colors and icons. Hope you like it!

We won’t go through all of the results in this post, but the standout and the most interesting findings for the majority of people are about our features.

We asked the question ‘How familiar are you with the following MindMeister features?’ with the options, I don’t know it, I know but don’t use, and I use it. These results are very interesting for us because they indicate which areas are best for focusing our resources when developing features in the future.

In the graph below you can see what percentage of users regularly use specific features.

The bar chart below has been generated from the question “What else would you like to do in MindMeister?”. Participants had the option to pick the type of features which are most important to them.

In addition to this we gave you a text box to tell us exactly what you’d like to see included in MindMeister. There were some very interesting responses in this section. In the chart below we’ve summarized and displayed all the answers you guys gave us. Another interesting thing to note was the number suggestions we received for features which have been a part of MindMeister for a long time!

We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone for taking part in the survey. It’s great to get so much feedback and quality data. We’ve already begun with discussions and brainstorming sessions for new features based on what you guys are looking for. We’ll have some more feature announcements coming soon.

1. Mind Mapping in the Classroom

Edu On Air Hangout focusing on mind mapping uses in the classroom:

Learn how to introduce mind mapping to your students and how to facilitate collaboration using web-based mind mapping. In this hangout we covered presentations, assignments, essays and group projects.

2. Mind Mapping Pilot – Introduction and Evaluation

Edu On Air Hangout focusing on IT leads/admins’ needs:

Learn how to introduce mind mapping to your school. In this hangout we covered license management, communication and evaluation of the project.

3. Mind Mapping for Leaders

Edu on Air Hangout focusing on school/district leaders’ needs:

Learn how to foster a spirit of collaboration between different project members. In this hangout we covered aspects of project management, including brainstorming, tasks, collaboration and information management.

Sometimes when creating a plan in a mind map it can grow quite fast and get a bit complex. In MindMeister you can quickly turn a large subtopic, with lots of ideas, into its own mind map. You can automatically generate a link to the new map and a back link to the original. The original map is then used as an overview of topics for the plan.

The example below shows how an annual marketing plan can be organized into multiple mind maps.

1. Create the mind map ‘Marketing Plan 2013′
2. Add all your sub topics i.e. content plan, business development, marketing ideas, marketing budget etc.
3. Right clicking on a subtopic and under tools select ‘create as map’ -> this will prompt you to create a link to the map and a link back to the original mind map. (see screenshot on right)
4. Repeat for each subtopic.

This public mind map can be cloned to your account to be used as a template. 

Example uses:

• Marketing plan
• Business plan
• Lecture course
• Class planning
• Advertising plan
• Company structure by department
• Organizing study notes by course

For anyone not familiar with Google Hangouts, it’s a new video chat room in Google+. A Hangout is set up by the host with up to 9 other people on Google+ which can then be broadcasted publicly. All participants can take part in the discussion with the presenter.

The three webcasts are part of Google’s ‘Edu on Air’ series which offers educators, education professionals and academic service providers, from around the world, a place to connect. The webcasts are being presented by MindMeister’s Thomas Thornton and will include a number of mind mapping enthusiasts currently using mind mapping in education.

Check out the schedule and description for each event below:

Events and Schedule

1. Mind Mapping in the Classroom

Learn how to introduce mind mapping to your students and how to facilitate collaboration using web-based mind mapping. We will cover presentations, assignments, essays and group projects.

April 9th 11.00am EST – register here

2. Mind Mapping Pilot – Introduction and Evaluation

Edu On Air Hangout focusing on IT leads/admins’ needs:

Learn how to introduce mind mapping to your school. We will cover license management, communication and evaluation of the project.

April 10th 11.00am EST – register here

3. Mind Mapping for Leaders

Edu on Air Hangout focusing on school/district leaders’ needs:

Learn how to foster a spirit of collaboration between different project members. We will cover project management; including brainstorming, tasks, collaboration and information management.

April 11th 11.00am EST – register here

Taking Part

If you would like to participate in the discussion with Thomas we still have a few spaces available. Please comment on the page of the event you would like to take part in.

Event structure:

• Each webcast will be approx. 30 minutes.
• Thomas and the panel will address comments/questions during the webcast.
• There will also be a 30 minute Q & A session following each discussion.

How to be involved:

• Visit the event page and state that you will be attending.
• Please arrive to the webcast at least 10 minutes before it begins to check audio and camera.
• Prepare some questions on areas you would like to be included.

We look forward to welcoming you to our first Google Hangout Webcasts!

Improving integration with other major cloud players, we’ve added Dropbox and Evernote attachment upload, as well as implemented many more small features and enhancements.

We hope you enjoy using these new features in MindMeister and as always we’re really interested in hearing your feedback. You can leave us your thoughts below

After some extensive rewrites of the migration procedure we’ll launch a new attempt on Monday, March 11, 4am UTC, this time scheduling a downtime for a full hour. If you want to see what time that is in your time zone, go to timeanddate.com.

This downtime also applies to the offline mode and the sync features of our mobile apps. Please ensure that you go back online before Monday, any work done on the mobile apps has been saved directly on the device. The sync features will be available again the minute our servers are back online.

Let’s hope things go smoother this time, and thanks again for your patience!

This downtime also applies to the sync features of our mobile apps. Please ensure any work done on these applications have been saved directly on the device. The sync features will be available again the minute our servers are back online.

Downtime might sound like bad news, but not this time. As soon as we’ve a successful deployment on Friday we’ll make a very exciting announcement about the integration of some cool new features and upgrades in MindMeister.

Thank you for your patience!

Download MindMeister 5.1 from the App Store >>

Keep aligned mode

Just as in the web version of MindMeister, the keep aligned mode will automatically align your ideas to the root topic.

To enable keep aligned mode:

1) on the iPad, switch the toggle button to ‘on’ in map info

2) on the iPhone, select ‘keep aligned’ in map actions

Selecting topic links

In previous versions you could only select a link by tapping the circle at the start point, now you can simply select links by tapping directly on the curve (connection line).

Bug fixes and enhancements:

✔ Improved map loading speed with low connectivity
✔ Improved rendering for maps with pictures
✔ Automatic zoom level reset disabled when editing
✔ Added full support for read only maps
✔ Added missing German localizations
✔ Same tree layout as the web version
✔ Topic images loaded the moment they’re visible
✔ Task creation behavior
✔ Crashing on maps with very big images
✔ Overlapping tree branches
✔ Pasting images
✔ Automatic scrolling on different zoom scales
✔ Connection control points involving the root topic can now be changed

Assigning Tasks

Tasks can be assigned to yourself or to other team members using the task widget on the right hand side of your mind map.

• Attach tasks to topics using the sidebar widget




• Set the priority and completion using icons




• Tasks are assigned to team members by their name




• Set deadlines for tasks using a ‘Due Date’

Enable Task Feeds

You can export your tasks to most modern task or calendar applications (iCal, Google Calendar, etc.)

• Select settings (wheel icon) in the MindMeister Dashboard




• Under tools enable ‘Task Feeds’ for your account




• Choose your desired feed format and copy the URL to your favourite application

Notifications

When working with a team on a project you may wish to track the progress of each member. This is made possible using the MindMeister ‘Notification’ feature in your mind map.

• Go to map properties and set up notifications




• Under the ‘Notifications’ tab, choose to receive alerts via email or by SMS using Twitter




• Receive notifications each time a change is made to the mind map