Bear vs Microsoft OneNote

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 60 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. [R3] Bear 3/5 · US Cute Idea: When I was looking for a notes app, the name and icon to this felt cute, so I checked it out. I like the simplicity and childlike feel to it. It has the features you would expect. A three columned layout, ability to create tags, ability to attach files, and plenty of text formatting options. One thing that I wasn’t a fan of is how to create tags. You have to create a hashtag symbol in
2. [R18] 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
3. [R34] Bear 2/5 · GB Over hyped app: In this day and age it is odd to find an app asking for payment just to get notes synced! It saves data in plain text format. Markdown cannot hide the fact that the app cannot handle rich text formatting. There is no web or Windows app so not a cross platform model.
4. [R1] 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. [R4] 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
6. [R6] 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.
7. [R2] Bear 5/5 · US Just wonderful: Like many other people, I have used practically every Notes app on the planet trying to find “the one“. Bear is “the one”. I think the biggest advantage Bear has is its broad feature set is grounded in focused simplicity. No app can be all things to all people and still be usable, so the developers have had to say “no” a lot. Making the vastly improved text editor is going to hel
8. [R7] 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. [R10] Bear 1/5 · US Hang on to your notes: All of my notes were deleted upon update.
10. [R15] 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
11. [R19] Bear 1/5 · US Not “in-app” purchase. SUBSCRIPTION based!: EDIT 04/16/25: Annual price raised to $29.99. Same complaints as before. Software is not a service and I will not RENT it from you., Previous review: I am sick and tired of all these apps that claim to be free with “in-app purchases” that you think will be a reasonable $3 or $5 price tag for something simple like the basic ability to sync your writin
12. [R35] Bear 4/5 · US Good & Smooth: Good, smooth app. Super helpful w/ all the extra quirks Apple does not have in notes. Only thing missing is the pinch to zoom like Pages has (for me). I wud give it 5 stars but I feel like customer service could be better. When they wrote back on inquiries there short & not very well explained. Short replies which makes more email response for at least the times I’ve reached out 😞.