Bear alternatives

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

1. [R7] Bear 1/5 · US All my work is gone: They updated the app and absolutely everything that I’ve kept there is gone and customer service has helped very very little. If ur gonna use the app at least keep your work backed up elsewhere
2. [R16] Bear 1/5 · US Not good: It's garbage. Hours of writing, all gone. Do not recommend. · translated
3. [R22] Bear 1/5 · US Good, but files sometimes disappear.: I have been using this note app to copy and organize my old recipes. It is easy enough to use, once one learns the special characters needed for anything outside of plain script. My problem is that notes occasionally are erased, through no keystroke I can find. If I try to correct a spelling, the note disappears, completely erased. It is not shown on the l
4. [R25] Bear 1/5 · US Notes disappeared: All of my notes that I’ve had for 4 years disappeared due to an “error” and I can’t get them back. Switching to another notes app, what a disappointment.
5. [R6] Bear 3/5 · US Cannot sync well with the Windows web version: I wrote something on the web, and the next day I found it hadn't synced the latest version from the web, but an older version from my phone that didn't have the new content. Do you know how devastating that is? This experience is terrible, because the night before I specifically tested if it would sync, and it seemed fine then, but in the morning it hit me with a big problem. · translated
6. [R19] Bear 1/5 · US App not syncing across devices - iOS 26 broke it: App not syncing across devices - seems to have broken with iOS 26. :(
7. [R27] Bear 3/5 · US Sync Issues: I’m a big fan of this app, but over the last few years there’s been sync issues, where my laptop and phone app disconnect and I’m not able to catch the disconnect/have to troubleshoot months later. The app also closes if I scroll too fast/far down the list.
8. [R31] Bear 1/5 · US Do not rely on sync: I had to reset my phone to factory condition, double checked that the sync was on and was backing my notes up to iCloud… Only to find out after resetting my phone that all of my notes were gone, and it synced to the sample notes on reinstall of the app. Absolutely worthless. I completely regret ever signing up for pro and spending my money on this.
9. [R1] Bear 2/5 · US Clunky messy ui: Sure it looks "clean" at first but it automatically adds markups that show every time you try to edit a word. So if you delete part of it you end up with bunch of asterisks to delete. That's not clean. Would prefer no markups at all. And having to pull up a secondary keyboard for every formatting task gets tiresome and kills work flow. Why not a long press menu for frequent format
10. [R15] Bear 3/5 · US Used to like this more: There’s been a UI revision in the last while that’s made it super confusing to do things like add images to notes from my phone (go to BIU, open a keyboard, hold down on a camera icon, etc). It’s not at all fluid.
11. [R28] Bear 2/5 · US Nice UI, horrible UX: Overall, the app presents a visually appealing and thoughtfully designed aesthetic. However, from a functionality standpoint, the experience is significantly lacking. During my evaluation on an iPad, I found the process of attaching photos to a note to be particularly frustrating. The method for adding images from the photo library is far from intuitive, I had to resort to sea
12. [R30] Bear 3/5 · US Not digging the new: What has become of the ability to add existing photos from your library, or attachments to a note? I shouldn’t have to reverse engineer this at all.
13. [R3] Bear 3/5 · US Good markdown viewer, not a fan of tags, expensive subscription: I’m looking for a new Notes app. I like the color themes that Bear offers. The app looks really good too. The text and paragraph formatting options are limited though. Bear is good as a markdown viewer. What I don’t like, however: 1) in order to create folders and nested folders, I have to use tags 2) I was also very turned off by th
14. [R18] Bear 3/5 · US Honest review: This app has nice features, but it doesn’t beat Apple Notes, which is free. For specific needs, I already use Microsoft Word and Apple Pages. So I’ve got more than enough apps that cover everything Bear does, and more. The only edge is exporting to multiple formats, but copy and paste to Word or Pages does the job. Paying $30/year ($2.5/month) makes no sense with all the overlap. S
15. [R36] Bear 3/5 · US Greed is a sin: This is a 5 star app held back by one simple mistake: pricing. I would GLADLY pay this dev a one time double digit fee to flip the switch to use my own iCloud memory to sync notes between my devices, because this app is very intelligently put together. Unfortunately, they are attempting to charge a monthly fee for that service. You might argue that clicking buttons is very difficul
16. [R40] Bear 1/5 · US Not worth the coin. You have to pay to store to iCloud?!: You have to pay to store to iCloud?! That’s silly and greedy. I have been developing software for over 40 years. I can understand wanting to get paid for your work. But this limitation makes this software untestable for one’s environment. Free apps do save to iCloud. It also doesn’t allow you to edit the raw .md files, which free app
17. [R9] Bear 3/5 · US Sadly, voiceover support is lacking.: I was really excited to try this app especially since so many people love it and because I’m looking for something that is simple that also supports wiki linking. unfortunately, as a VoiceOver user, I’m finding the app very difficult to use. Many of the buttons are not labeled and also voiceover has trouble tracking focus as I move around the app. As such, the
18. [R13] Bear 1/5 · US Voiceover users beware: I didn't even get to read the welcome notes before deleting this app. The side menu will not stop popping out, no matter what I do. The advice was to swipe right from the middle of the screen to avoid this but nothing worked. And if the welcome notes have titles, VO didn't read them. Just skip this one. Save yourself the headache.
19. [R39] Bear 3/5 · US No Cross Platform: I've been using this app on and off for years to journal but the lack of cross platform (pc or browser version with cloud sync) made me move to Obsidian. It's a shame because I'm choosing to pay double the price of Bear Pro for a subscription to Obsidian with enough space to accommodate my files. That money could be going to Bear if they had the capabilities. If cross-platform s
20. [R10] Bear 2/5 · US almost good: if you could send notes to people like in evernote i would drop other note apps and go full bear. upgrade it and grab the money on the table bear
21. [R11] Bear 4/5 · US Almost: It’s almost perfect, it won’t render math or PDFs or anything, it was working, the update broke it I love how it looks but the exporting and rendering are pretty fundamental and I feel like it should really be able to do more, like why not also have rich text as an option and if it’s only markdown then it’s a pretty high priority that it should do markdown literally flawlessly and it does
22. [R21] Bear 3/5 · US App is stutters and very buggy after mathjax update: This is a great app normally, but I hope the mathjax feature gets more polished soon, or please just revert this app back to previous version until the feature is more ready. As it is, the app is almost unusable for me.
23. [R53] Microsoft OneNote 3/5 · US App Issues: Please fix what’s causing the app to crash while typing notes. I have a lot of notes saved and I would like to keep using the app without issues.
24. [R57] Microsoft OneNote 1/5 · US Search is broken: I’ve used OneNote for years. I love it. My note complex has become humongous. Dozens of notebooks. Hundreds of sections. Thousands of pages. Search just keeps disappointing. Unable to search for basic typed text. Search is mission critical. It is not acceptable to suck this bad. Fix it or I’m migrating.
25. [R61] Microsoft OneNote 5/5 · US Best way to organize thoughts and projects: I have used OneNote since it’s first beginnings and have no regrets. Over the decades it has always been my go to and it remains the best place for all of my notebooks, projects, diaries, and journals.
26. [R62] Microsoft OneNote 3/5 · US Is helpful, but with opportunities: I like being able to organize my notes and the easy access. I also love the feature that lets me select the meeting the notes are about. Major opportunities are dragging info down, not working, and making a mess. The text box overlaps, spelling doesn’t work well, and when searching for keywords, it shows you the notebook name but not the tab name. Still love it
27. [R65] Notion 1/5 · US Glitchy: Not sure if it’s AI and rapid development but basic features glitch now
28. [R66] Notion 5/5 · US Best app ever: I organize my whole life here
29. [R67] Notion 3/5 · US I Miss the Old Notion: The button for AI is large and centered on the bottom of your screen instead of a search bar like it used to be. There was also a way to turn it off prior and now there isn't. Like yes, it's an inevitable future but can the interface be less inconvenient.
30. [R70] Notion 3/5 · US SLOOWWWW: Please fix the app, it lags about and the writing is bad, we dont need AI so relax with it because its slowing up the app, please dont ruin the appppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
31. [R79] Notepad 1/5 · US Overcomplicated: I shouldn’t have to click three things just to get to a note
32. [R80] Notepad 5/5 · US I love this!: Now I can vent to myself
33. [R86] Notepad 5/5 · US Purrfect!: It’s nice, because I can release all my thoughts into Notepad!
34. [R87] Notepad 3/5 · US Accidentally deleted info: Nice app & would have given five stars if I hadn’t accidentally deleted a note and realized there’s no way to recover it.
35. [R94] Drafts 5/5 · US A text editor on steroids.: I have never used anything like this. I’ve been using it for years now. It’s one of my most used apps. I discover new functionality that I didn’t know. existed on a regular basis in this app.
36. [R97] Drafts 5/5 · US “It feels like a safe place for creativity and organization to coexist.”: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ve tried a lot of note-taking apps, but Drafts has become my favorite. I love that it’s only $1.99, and everything syncs seamlessly between my iPhone and MacBook. That alone makes it worth it for me. I use it for all kinds of things, planning systems, planning guides, bills, important dates, routines, and regimens.
37. [R100] Drafts 5/5 · US Never lose text you need: Simple, extensible, automatable, text capture and editing
38. [R102] Drafts 1/5 · US Whut: Bizarre little app in how user-unfriendly it is. I suppose this is primarily for people that write code and are used to those sort of tools. I just wanted a straightforward app to write out full chapters of fanfic and my original stories. Guess I simply picked the wrong app. Idk. 🤷🏾‍♂️
39. [R107] We Bare Bears 1/5 · US Lost save progress in latest update: Whatever they did in the newest update, please revert it back. Played for years and with the newest update, I’m back to the very beginning.
40. [R108] We Bare Bears 5/5 · US The game is beautiful: I haven't been able to log into the game for a week, it says connection error. I've tried from different devices, the problem persists. How can I fix this? · translated
41. [R109] We Bare Bears 3/5 · US Various errors in the game since yesterday: Various bugs in the game, including repeated official game levels. · translated
42. [R110] We Bare Bears 1/5 · US Terrible updates: unavoidable ads, entering games stuck with repeating task loading animation, unable to enter the actual game level, keep saying loading errors after finishing a level???????
43. [R5] Bear 4/5 · US I’m using this nonstop now: I love this notes app is just what I needed! Though I’m giving this 4 stars because I really wish the lock notes feature would be free.
44. [R8] Bear 5/5 · US Exactly what I needed: I was looking for an Evernote alternative where I could use tags, and this is perfect. I both like to write and store recipes using tags for season, type, occasion etc. The support for nested tags is much appreciated, and their Pro plan is very reasonable. Not much is paywalled (it’s just cloud features, themes, and search), so give it a try!
45. [R44] Bear 5/5 · US Indispensable: I do a ton of notetaking, and Bear is now my indispensable tool for doing so. The UX is great across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, syncing across devices just works with iCloud without any extra subscription, and the Markdown support is great for portability between systems like blogs.
46. [R14] Bear 5/5 · US Just better than anything comparable: - It works - It works consistently - Great UI - Smooth down to the smallest of interactions - Fast - Same great experience on every Apple device No matter how many times I try other note taking apps, none of them come close to the simple, great experience of Bear.
47. [R26] Bear 5/5 · US Bear is the Best!: Hands down my favorite notes app I’ve ever used. It’s getting more features all the time and has everything I need. Most aesthetically pleasing app, too. I love how it syncs across my iPad and MacBook, and the way it centers the content inside the window is an amazing but simple feature that not all other notes apps have. Well worth the money. My go-to for many years now. Smal