# Bear Markdown Notes & Journal — user reviews > 1,754 indexed App Store user reviews of Bear Markdown Notes & Journal by Shiny Frog Ltd., rated 4.70/5 from 6,870 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bear-markdown-notes-and-journal/id1016366447/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bear-markdown-notes-and-journal/id1016366447.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 5,888 · 4★ 404 · 3★ 178 · 2★ 142 · 1★ 258 ## Is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal safe? Bear Markdown Notes & Journal appears safe based on user ratings. The AppsHunter Safety Score for Bear Markdown Notes & Journal is 94 out of 100. This assessment is based on 6,870 user ratings, with an App Store average of 4.7 out of 5. Of 6,870 App Store ratings, 91.6% point to a safe experience, 2.6% suggest some concerns, and 5.8% point to a risky experience. ## Is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal legit? Bear Markdown Notes & Journal appears to be a legitimate app. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Bear Markdown Notes & Journal is 93 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data. ## What do users think of Bear Markdown Notes & Journal? Reviews of Bear Markdown Notes & Journal are mostly positive: the Productivity app is rated 4.7/5 from 6.9K App Store ratings. What users like most: elegant and minimalist design, smooth and fast performance. Top complaints: subscription required for syncing and advanced features, limited search functionality within notes on iOS. Summarized from real user reviews. **Pros** - 👍 Elegant and minimalist design - 🚀 Smooth and fast performance - 💡 Flexible tagging system for organization - 🔒 Secure and private notes - 🎨 Customizable themes and fonts - 📱 Seamless sync across devices - ✨ Charming and inspiring user experience **Cons** - 🔒 Subscription required for syncing and advanced features - 🔍 Limited search functionality within notes on iOS - 🖼️ Issues with image handling and resizing - 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes reported - 💻 Lack of web/Windows app for cross-platform access **Commonly reported bugs** - Sync issues causing note conflicts and data loss - Cursor jumping and input issues on iPad - Inconsistent behavior when importing/exporting content **Most requested features** - Add password protection for individual notes - Improve search capabilities to find text within notes - Implement table support for more robust note-taking - Develop a web-based version for broader accessibility - Allow manual sorting and organization of notes ## Newest reviews (18 of 1,754) ### 4/5 — one thing that bugs me *2026-10-08, version 3.0.1* i like the app and that it's free to use, but i just do not like how words/sentences are presented in note previews. it just looks rather...unprofessional? it's most notable when i write my recipes in bullet order. instead of subhighlighting the first word/s in the preview like what apple notes does, it tries to fit most of what i wrote instead without accounting for the bullet points. i know i can turn this off by setting the preview to small, but i like having my notes be visible :( i just don't want them to look so garbled. hopefully this can be fixed in the future! ### 3/5 — Great, but broken? *2026-07-24* I love this app and have been using it for a long time - perhaps almost a decade. Its clean, simple and effective. But for the last year or so it has become almost unusable for notes that are longer than a few paragraphs. When i go to add something in my iPad to a longer note, it ceaselessly flips up to the start of the note so I cant write into the end. It happens over and over. Often i have to start a new note to write what i wanted to record and label it as a continuation of another note, but this is messy and annoying. I keep thinking its a glitch that will get fixed with an update but this fix never happens - do i have to abandon Bear after all these years? Is it just not made for longer notes? **Developer response:** Hello, and thanks for reporting this issue. Do you mind contacting our customer support about this issue? We'd like to ask more questions about this bug to find a solution. https://bear.app/contact/ Best Regards. ### 2/5 — Windows bug *2026-07-20, version 2.9* I’ve been using this app for over 3 years, I love it. It works just fine on Mac. Recently, I got a PC and I moved my workspace there. There is a webpage version of this app but it doesn’t sync right. I was writing on my PC yesterday for all night and I woke up today check the same file on my phone. BOOM, nothing is there, nothing got saved. And the worst part is, the website will auto sync to the phone no matter what. Which means it will erase whatever I wrote on the website and go back to the old version of the file on my phone. ISN’T THIS STUPID? ### 2/5 — Everything is GONE. *2026-07-15, version 2.8.2* I love this app. I have been using it for probably several years at this point. I have kept everything in my notes, and I happen to tap too fast getting into the app, thinking I’m getting a “leave a review” pop up; they asked to make storage on my device and EVERYTHING is deleted, not even in the trash can, I mean completely gone! I hope there is a way to get them back, I hadn’t made any backups 🥲 ### 3/5 — Good markdown viewer, not a fan of tags, expensive subscription *2026-07-13, version 2.8.2* 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 the subscription.. $30 a year? I’d like to see a reasonable one-time pay, or reasonable yearly subscription price. $30 a year is patently absurd if you’re not a heavy user and only just using the app as a markdown viewer. ### 2/5 — Clunky messy ui *2026-06-25, version 2.8.2* 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 formatting functions? And can't select more than one cell in tables. Honestly would rather go back to apple notes if wasn't so slow on my older device. ### 5/5 — Great app at a great price *2026-06-25, version 2.8.2* I love the Bear app. It’s WAY better than Evernote and reasonably priced. Keep up the great work! ### 5/5 — 不具合 *2026-06-23, version 2.8.2* 課金をして使っています。同期も早いし、タグを複数つけて管理できるので重宝しています。 ただ、しばらく前から長文を打って、後から編集したり続きを打とうとするとカーソルがおかしなところに行くようになってしまいました。 それだけが地味にストレスです。 ### 5/5 — 5 sao nhà quản lý *2026-06-23, version 2.8.2* 5 sao nhà quản lý ### 4/5 — I’m using this nonstop now *2026-06-20, version 2.8.2* 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. ### 3/5 — 无法和windows网页版很好同步 *2026-06-19, version 2.8.2* 在网页上写东西，第二天起来发现没有按照网页上最新写的同步，而是同步了手机里没写新东西的旧版本，天塌了你知道吗。这体验太差了，因为我前一天晚上专门试验过会不会同步，看的时候没有问题，结果早上起来给我开大招。 ### 5/5 — Browser access is a game changer *2026-06-14, version 2.8.2* I was originally put off bear as it’s limited to the Apple ecosystem; as I have to use a windows PC at times. They’ve recently released a beta of browser access to your notes. It’s awesome. Feels great and acts like a Mac app. I rarely write reviews, but I feel Bear have really earned it. They price their app fairly, have a beautiful product and are a small team. They certainly have my support going forward. ### 5/5 — Vale a pena testar *2026-06-12, version 2.8.2* O aplicativo é muito útil, tem muitas funcionalidades que condensam inúmeros apps que você poderia ter para funções diferentes, tudo num único local. Uso para minhas notas acadêmicas e logo se tornou meu principal meio de criação de um segundo cérebro. Os preços são justos, mas o foco no usuário é tão óbvio que você logo de cara se sente inclinado a contribuir com o projeto. Recomendo! É simples mas elegante, fácil e pronto para usar. ### 5/5 — Space need improvement *2026-06-03, version 2.8.2* I use your app frequently. It is amazing and useful. But, I found when my notes,including photos and videos, became more, it use most of my iPhone & iPad’s memory. Can you improve my app by minimising the space. Thanks. ### 5/5 — Love letter *2026-06-03, version 2.8.2* Simply the best app I’ve ever used - not just among note-taking apps, but out of all the apps I have. It’s kind like apple notes extended and in markdown. Tag system is extremely useful. Simple yet powerful. Beautiful, minimal. Worth every penny. ### 5/5 — Please Make Bear Available for Ubuntu 🫶 *2026-06-03, version 2.8.2* Bear is a beautiful, convenient, and reliable Markdown reader for Apple devices. I really enjoy using it. My only request to the developers: please make a version for Ubuntu. I would gladly buy it. ### 3/5 — Sadly, voiceover support is lacking. *2026-06-02, version 2.8.2* 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 app is currently not usable for me at least on iOS. I hope that the developers will consider adding more robust voiceover support in the future, I would definitely be a very happy user.. ### 4/5 — Değerlendirme ve talep *2026-05-31, version 2.8.2* Türkçe dil desteği gelirse Bear proyu satın almayı düşünüyorum günümün çoğu Bear ile geçiyor diğer uygulamalara nazaran çok iyi ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Windows bug *2026-09-22, version 2.10.1* I’ve been using this app for over 3 years, I love it. It works just fine on Mac. Recently, I got a PC and I moved my workspace there. There is a webpage version of this app but it doesn’t sync right. I was writing on my PC yesterday for all night and I woke up today check the same file on my phone. BOOM, nothing is there, nothing got saved. And the worst part is, the website will auto sync to the phone no matter what. Which means it will erase whatever I wrote on the website and go back to the old version of the file on my phone. ISN’T THIS STUPID? 这个软件真的哪里都好，就是这个在windows上跟mac的sync会出问题。不会即时同步，总是会以mac的版本为准。导致在windows上写的东西存不下来，一刷新就消失。又因为这个丢了一次东西，web到底怎么回事。 ### 1/5 — Please, shut down your web app *2026-07-29* I'm an otherwise happy paying subscriber of beer for the last nearly two and a half years, but the web app on Windows and Chrome just simply broken which does not sync. It made me lose two hours of my intense research. Shame on the developers for shipping such a useless web app which does not even sync nor inform the user to save their work Just please shut it down. It's okay, we will not mind that, but giving me a web app which does not indicate that it is not syncing, and then when you put the laptop to sleep and reopen the laptop, it syncs from the web, not this local cached version. Pathetic. Shame on the developers. **Developer response:** Hi there, thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with us! Our team has been working hard on the Bear web version, and right now it is still in beta. That means it has not been officially released yet and there is a lot still in progress. We are doing our best to improve the experience and fix any bugs and issues, and feedback like yours plays a big part in that. As a gentle reminder, we always suggest treating beta software the way you would any app still in testing, so it is best not to keep important notes there for now. Your feedback truly means a lot to us, and we will look into this closely. Please write to our support team at bear-support@shinyfrog.net and we will investigate the issue asap. Thank you for helping us make Bear better! 🐻❤️ ### 1/5 — Wtf *2026-05-20, version 2.7.5* Un matin je me lève et tout à ete effacé! Plus rien nul part ni dans ma corbeille aucune trace de 1 an de note et de rédaction importante! J’aurais du rester avec Notes sur IPhone je suis écrivain et j’ai perdu la moitié de mes textes cest inacceptable ! Visiblement je réécris à la main ### 1/5 — Confused subscription info *2026-04-28, version 2.7.5* The message on app was 7 days trial but when I confirmed it charged immediately. ### 1/5 — Nice interface *2026-02-27, version 2.6.7* Just unable to save files. This is clickbait. ### 1/5 — Underhanded *2026-01-27, version 2.6.5* Taking away previously free features and charging for them is a pretty underhanded move Edit * How dare you lie and tell me you haven’t removed any features? You literally pay walled changing the app icon. Do not be disingenuous. I would have had more respect for you if you simply owned that you become money hungry. Edit 2: I lost any confidence in this developer when they just flat out lie and try to gaslight their user base. Anyone who reads this: just use OBSIDIAN instead. Much better note taking app and the developer isn’t a liar. ### 1/5 — Underhanded *2026-01-22, version 2.6.5* Taking away previously free features and charging for them is a pretty underhanded move Edit * How dare you lie and tell me you haven’t removed any features? You literally pay walled changing the app icon. Do not be disingenuous. I would have had more respect for you if you simply owned that you become money hungry. ### 1/5 — stressful *2026-01-21, version 2.6.5* this app ALWAYS freezes whenever i try use the search function. i’m now trapped in a loop of trying to get out of the search function, force closing the app, the app opening on the search function, freezing, repeat. i can’t use it and it’s very frustrating ### 1/5 — All my work is gone *2026-01-20, version 2.6.5* 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 ### 1/5 — Change text formatting options all you want in the app; the printed or exported version won't match. *2025-12-31, version 2.6.5* I'm stunned that a dedicated writing app—running on what we'd once call a supercomputer—can't replicate a feature Apple perfected over 40 years ago on the 128K: WYSIWYG text editing. The problem is simple: This award-winning app can't print or export exactly what you see on screen. It lets you customise line spacing, fonts, paragraph gaps, and indentation—stupidly none of it transfers to PDF or print. The layout you craft on you screen simply vanishes on export. This isn't a minor inconvenience. It's a fundamental failure of a writing tool. Maybe no one prints anymore. But I do. And this is unacceptable. Very disappointed. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — My Teddy BEAR! *2026-09-21, version 2.10.1* This app has so many features that allow you to organize info under appropriate headers, and sub-headers! Once you get the hang of it you’ll have a cleanly organized listing of your data. > You will likely find yourself resetting the hierarchy of data in order to keep it organized in the area(s) where it belongs — otherwise you’ll find data under the correct Headers but in several locations. 🔅With patience & time you can organize it into a clean collection of your data. ### 5/5 — LOVE this app *2026-09-16, version 2.10.1* I’m a big notes guy, and used to always just use the Notes app from Apple, but one day I needed to just scribble a drawing to get my point across and couldn’t do it, found this app and the rest is history. Everything from the super clean interface, to the quick and efficient way to jot down notes and label them with hashtags to help categorize things - it’s seamless and honestly, one of the quickest subscriptions ive ever paid for. I use it daily, if not hourly ### 5/5 — 👌 *2026-09-11, version 2.9.4* i feel like all the other note taking apps are more for aesthetic but i like that this one is actually practical and everything isn’t locked behind a paywall ### 5/5 — Beautiful interface and system *2026-08-16, version 2.9.3* Tags are great for organisation ### 5/5 — Just keeps getting better *2026-07-29, version 2.9.2* Love Bear, love everything about it. And the recent addition of mermaid and workspace as tags just keep making it better. It truly is a dream app. ### 5/5 — Very easy to use *2026-07-28* I found this notes app very clean and easy to use, the tutorial at the start was very appreciated since I’m able to go back to it but overall I didn’t need it just because of how simplistic this app is. I’d definitely recommend this to any writers who need to write things down quickly or for a place to put things in general ### 5/5 — I love this app!! *2026-07-17, version 2.9* I love this app!! I love the different themes available, I love the live updates for the time of an entry, & I love the pin to top feature. I use this app for notes, to save links & package tracking numbers. I would like to suggest each entry show the day of the week, & the time. I also would like to suggest entries be stored together by each different month. Thank you for this app!! I use this app every day. ### 5/5 — I’ve never written a review but this deserved one *2026-07-17, version 2.9* I’ve used every note app in the App Store and always end up back on my iPhone notes app…until now. It’s perfect. Visually refined. Clean. The typography is so refreshing. I believe it’s their font which is cool. Shows they care. One of the reasons the other apps frustrate me is they’re all too clunky. This one is as simple as Notes but has every possible features cleverly hidden. The way menus are built is so intuitive. Endless ways to easily organize without the clutter of endless folders. You can customize everything. I can’t believe I’m saying this but it makes me feel good using it. lol Incredible job by the developers. Please make other apps. This level of artistry in app design is desperately needed. The craziest part it’s $30 a YEAR! Immediately cancelled my Evernote subscription which was $12 a month and sucks compared to this app. ### 5/5 — Best Note-Taking Experience *2026-07-17* I’ve been using this app for years, and it’s still one of my favorites. I really like how simple and easy it is to use. The overall experience is smooth, and syncing between my devices works perfectly. The themes look great, and typing in Markdown is such a nice experience. Thanks to the whole team for making such an awesome app and continuing to improve it! ### 5/5 — Workspaces are great! *2026-07-16, version 2.9* It’s great that Bear is adding workspaces, specially making them as an optional opt-in/opt-out unlike something like Ulysses. Keep going in the right direction Bear and I’ll keep being a happy paying customer --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-23.*