Bear - Markdown Notes

I absolutely love Bear. It has the perfect balance between usability and more advanced features. It sits on the sweet spot between Apple Notes and Obsidian. And I’m super happy there’s a web version now that I can access from my work pc. However, I am a little worried about the development. The newly released features (callouts, pin-per-tag, liquid glass implementation) are a bit messy and seem to lack the vision and polish that characterized Bear until now. I hope it can maintain its perfection

Great design and feel but got some bugs. Apple pencil text recognitions with blue underlines cannot be selected for correction.

Bear is great for writing, linking and retrieving notes. Export and sync work very well. Encryption is now up to par as well. I would welcome transclusion/mirrored notes (edit note or part of a note, like a bullet point, and view it in different places).

Today updated the app on my iPhone: it crashes while ‘doing something’ with my database… So I lost everything! NOT NICE

Used this as my main app in 2020-2022.
Tried many different apps afterwards, from Apple notes, Noteplan, Obsidian, Notion, Things, Logseq, and others, thought about coding my own.
I’m back and paying.

Bear is great for writing, linking and retrieving notes. Export and sync work very well. But this app really needs E2EE with ADP, which so far the developers have not wanted to add, because it would mean people on very old iOS versions could not use the app. But in these times, really, we can’t trust companies like Apple with our encryption keys. This is why I am always on the lookout for alternatives.

The 2.0 version is great. I abandoned 1.x at the time, but subscribed again now. The pricing scheme is like a bad joke though. Pay for a whole year instead of monthly, and save… 1 euro? Not funny.

Didn’t open the app for a while. All my notes from a project I worked on for 4 years are gone.

…but real improvements take way to long. Also using its own proprietary storage. Yes its markdown-based for writing and yes you can export notes, but it hardly integrates with other storage solutions so you basically lock your notes into the app.
Solutions like Obsidian store notes securely as separate MD-files into your file system (your personal Apple file system is encrypted), which can be synced through iCloud (or any other more secure and flexible sync solution) and/or accessed edited by any other app you like. In my case DevonThink for storing, indexing and searching all kinda files and Scrivener for converting a bunch of notes to documents.
The last significant update of Bear took also way to long and there is still no web version. In the meantime the subscription plan continued. So yes, it once was a great note-taking app, and for this single purpose it still is… but if you need an overall slim workflow it became way too limited. That’s why 5 => 2 stars. Exit.

Prachtig vormgegeven app. Fijn dat themes en icons nu van elkaar losgekoppeld zijn, maar ik vind de nieuwe kleur icons geen succes. Harde primaire kleuren. Weinig keuze. Ik mis de kleuren met wat meer nuance.

Betalende gebruikers hebben twee jaar moeten wachten op update 2.0 en die is er nu… een aantal mooie nieuwe features, maar ook verslechteringen zoals performance. Waar de competitie zoals Obsidian steeds nieuwe features released en toevoegt, moest de ontwikkelaar van Bear zonodig één complete rewrite doen en in één keer uitrollen, met als gevolg dat de update minder toevoecht dan verwacht (waar is die webversie nou?) en er in krap twee maanden alweer 7 bug fix releases nodig zijn. Ja, ik blijf nog even klant, maar van 2 terug naar 4/5 sterren vraagt wel de nodige verbeteringen.

Sure there might be cool new features, but the app feels slow and unresponsive now.
Wish I could go back to the previous version 1.0
Typing is a drag. Please fix.

Over the past years, I have always considered myself the target demographic for highly advanced “second brain” type apps. It can be very satisfying to have a ton of features where there is a template of system for every part of your life. But I got frustrated by the fact that those second brain apps like Notion are so complex that you are typically spending more time configuring your (digital) life instead of living it. Then I found Bear (through Reddit) and I was sold. The developer somehow found a sweet spot between simplicity, great design, and the right features needed to keep track of everything in your life. It’s even better if you combine it with either Things 3 or Apple Reminders, and Shortcuts. It’s such a joy to use. And Bear 2.0 which should be coming soon will make the experience even better.
I want to sincerely thank the developers for this app, and for a bit of calmness in this sometimes overwhelming world.
PS: the subscription is more than fair. If you like Bear, get it fast because the price will go up a bit when 2.0 launches (for new subs).
Edit: Bear 2.0 has now been released and it is everything I wanted to be. It’s fantastic. This app has a Things-like level of quality and timelessness.

I am so so so so so so so excited about this app! I only downloaded it today, so I’m sure I’ll update this review with bugs and/or potential improvements later on, but as of right now the only downside I can think of is how apple-based it is (I’d probably buy the subscription if it opened up the possibility of using the app on a non-apple desktop or laptop and syncing it with my iPhone). The biggest plus? How simple yet all-encompassing it is! You can quickly pen down and organise your notes without moving mountains. Bear has an intuitive interface with enough options to make it valuable, but not so many that it becomes unnecessarily complicated (which is my usual complaint with apps such as these). Wow, I never knew one could be THIS excited about a notes app! It’s perfect for finding some order in the chaos that is my novel outlines and character sheets. I also love how the subscription adds handy features, but the free version is still great. Alright, I’ll stop glorifying Bear after this final remark; I have the distinct feeling the creators of this app are a bunch of passionate nerds - which, by the way, is a compliment - after seeing their responses to reviews and little in-app details like the geek section of possible folder icons (the Dalek is my personal favourite). So yeah. If you made it through this long review, you should probably try the app out; I already got my mum to download it :)

Over the past years, I have always considered myself the target demographic for highly advanced “second brain” type apps. It can be very satisfying to have a ton of features where there is a template of system for every part of your life.
But I got frustrated by the fact that those second brain apps like Notion are so complex that you are typically spending more time configuring your (digital) life instead of living it.
Then I found Bear (through Reddit) and I was sold. The developer somehow found a sweet spot between simplicity, great design, and the right features needed to keep track of everything in your life. It’s even better if you combine it with Apple Reminders and Shortcuts.
It’s such a joy to use. And Bear 2.0 which should be coming soon will make the experience even better.
I want to sincerely thank the developers for this app, and for a bit of calmness in this sometimes overwhelming world.
PS: the subscription is more than fair. If you like Bear, get it fast because the price will go up a bit when 2.0 launches (for new subs).

Nice app and does everything well with nice themes. But for 1,5 year they promise a great update which is still pending. So wait before you take a subscription.

The simplicity is key. I use it as an index for my book notes & recipes which works really nicely through the linking feature.
For other purposes it also works really well. The text editor is simple and that makes it great to write and edit.
The pdf export feature i use a lot just to deliver text documents in a more nice/professional style (without hassle).
As a stationary person this app has simply replaced notebooks & paper.

The app is fairly easy to use, and convenient. However, that the undo only works if you don’t leave the note is very frustrating. I accidentally passed over a significant portion of an essay, and because I looked up how to undo it, I became unable to undo it.