Name: Bear
Rating: 3.4688 (18 reviews)

Free

In-app purchases

Bear overview

Bear is a flexible writing app for crafting notes and prose. Link notes to each other to build a body of work. Use hashtags to organize for the way you think. And yet, all notes are stored in plain, portable text. Bear is perfect for everything from quick notes, to code snippets, to in-depth essays.

A focus mode helps you concentrate, and advanced Markdown and other markup options are an online writer's best friend. Full in-line image support brings your writing to life, and keep yourself on task by adding todos to individual notes. Bear can instantly search all your notes, but it can also focus on specific things with Search Triggers. Use @task to find all your todos, @tagged "ideas" to find your notes that are waiting to blossom, or @files to find all notes with attachments.

Features:

Rich previews while writing so you see prose, not code
In-line support for images and photos
Advanced Markup Editor that supports and highlights over 20 programming languages
Use Cross-Note Links to build a body of work, quickly reference other notes, and more
Quickly add todos to individual notes to keep yourself on task
Multiple export options including HTML, PDF, DOCX, MD, JPG, and more
Smart Data Recognition of elements like links, emails, addresses, colors, and more to come
Hashtags to quickly find and organize notes however you like
One-tap formatting on iPhone and iPad with a custom shortcut bar
Focus Mode hides notes and other options when it matters
All your notes are stored in plain text for the ultimate in portability
Effortless, secure, and private multi-device sync via iCloud
Regular updates to keep you and your writing current

What’s new in version 2.1.2

Updated on Feb 12 2024

PDFs and images imported using App extensions or API are no longer ignored by the OCR scan
Fixed search result sorting issue
Various improvements to the Webclipper image support
French localization fixes
Minor fixes for the DayOne importer
Support for DayOne videos
Fixed backlinks related crashes
Fixes for sketches coming from sidecar (iPad/iPhone)

Information

License

Free

Size

42.3 MB

Developer’s website

https://bear.app/

Downloads

4307

App requirements

Intel 64
Apple Silicon
macOS 11 or later

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Comments
User Ratings

EdFlicker

Nov 15 2023

2.0.17

1.0

Version: 2.0.17

There are more better alternatives, don’t appreciate UI and the quality of features

bobembry

Jul 15 2023

2.0

5.0

Version: 2.0

Bear 2.0 Pro feature set is substantial. I'm still exploring.

Gazman

Jul 12 2023

1.9.6

Version: 1.9.6

Bear has (finally) received an update - to version 2.0! The new version includes tables, hiding of marking syntax and backlinks among other features.

Rnetter

Jan 31 2021

1.8.2

Version: 1.8.2

Best app, replaced OmniFocus and DEVONthink for me and it just works. Spaces. which is the new kid on the block and copies bear (not fair) still has a lot of bugs but bear just works. thanks guys

soheiloliaei

Apr 5 2020

1.7.10

Version: 1.7.10

Does the pro have the export option to 'Confluence'? I want to be able to import Bear Notes in Confluence.

Gakesmith

Jan 20 2020

1.7.8

Version: 1.7.8

I have used this for over a year and found it very reliable, very easy on the eyes, and best at handling simple markdown and links. Well worth the subscription price.

Dec 18 2019

1.7.7

Version: 1.7.7

The more I use Bear, the more I like it. I love the tagging/nested tagging way of organising my notes. The interface is clean, the web clipper works well, and even things that used to annoy me (like constantly seeing the markdown code instead of the preview) have grown on me. It is now my default notes app on all my devices.

1920 Riverside

Sep 16 2019

1.7.2

3.0

Version: 1.7.2

No typewriter mode. No list notes unless tagged them. Not worth for rent.

May 2 2018

1.5.1

Version: 1.5.1

Bear sells itself disingenuously. First, it markets itself as "Rich previews while writing so you see prose, not code." This is only partially correct. Bear uses markdown, and while it displays the rich previews, it still shows the code (e.g. H1 for heading, ** for bold, etc.). Also, it advertises a 'Focus mode' (even though there's no such menu item in the app itself), which simply hides the sidebar and notes. It's nothing like the focus mode on apps such as iaWriter which turn the app full-screen and turn on typewriter scrolling. Which brings me to my final peeve. Users have been requesting typewriter scrolling since the very early days, which myself and many others feel is indispensable in any serious 'writing app', but the developers have steadfastly refused to implement it. I bought a year's subscription to help fund development, but won't be buying another one.

chasjunk

Feb 28 2018

1.4.3

Version: 1.4.3

Not to sound combative, because the program looks beautiful and functional, but ... can someone explain to me why it needs a subscription? I have and use a wide variety of word processing and note-taking software (pro writer, y'see) but haven't been able to discover why Bear is better than, let's say IA Writer or Byword (to name but two candidates that don't require a subscription).

Drdul

Apr 12 2017

1.1.2

Version: 1.1.2

Bear can't sync between two or more persons. I share an Evernote account with my wife and would like to switch to Bear, but it's restricted to syncing with only one iCloud account. I asked the dev about syncing with other people and syncing using another service like Dropbox (which my wife and I share), and got this reply: "Currently, this is not possible as the Bear app can only sync notes via a single iCloud Drive account but we will add this option in the future. We are evaluating this, and there is no ETA to it."

Aeschylus

Apr 11 2017

I don't like the idea of "renting" software on a yearly basis. It just goes against my grain that I don't own what's on my Mac. I'll pass on this.

JuliaTin

Apr 7 2017

1.1.1

Version: 1.1.1

Just bought this fine app, I'm adding it into my dock. I'm also going to recommend this to my kids. Just get it, I don't think you will be disappointed.

Tim27

Apr 5 2017

Unfortunate that the developer is putting so much time into this app and none into Pixa.

Mar 22 2017

1.1

Version: 1.1

Still no typewriter mode for longer pieces of writing. This has been a highly requested feature on their website, but they still haven't implemented it. Until they do this, I will keep using alternatives such as Ulysses.