Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

Writing app, notepad & editor

6.9K ratings
1759 reviews
Free
In-App Purchases

Details

Released
November 2, 2016
Updated
November 3, 2026

Features

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal screenshot #1 for iPhone
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Bear Markdown Notes & Journal screenshot #10 for iPhone
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About

Capture, write, and organize your thoughts and ideas with a beautiful and powerful Markdown editor. Create lists, tasks, link notes, and export in various formats. Offers a private and distraction-free writing experience.

✓Markdown editor with formatting
✓Note linking and organization with tags
✓Task creation and management
✓Web content clipping
✓Apple Pencil sketching support
✓Export to multiple formats
✓Dictate notes with Apple Watch
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What users say about Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

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What's New in Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

3.0.4

November 3, 2026

It’s time to celebrate Bear’s 10th birthday! To mark the occasion, this update brings brand-new app icons and a fun new widget for your Home Screen: meet the Kumagotchi! A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has used and supported Bear over the years. You made this milestone possible.

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Subscriptions & In-App Purchases

Monthly Pro subscription

Full access to all features for 30 days.

$2.991 Month
7 Days trial
How to cancel Bear Markdown Notes & Journal subscription ⁉️

Events

Read more about Happy 10th Bearthday! 🐻🎂

Happy 10th Bearthday! 🐻🎂

Celebrate a decade of writing beautiful notes

Nov 2, 2026 — Dec 3, 2026

Read more about Back to School with Bear

Back to School with Bear

Explore features that help you study smarter

Sep 3, 2026 — Sep 15, 2026

Read more about Write Mermaid diagrams in Bear

Write Mermaid diagrams in Bear

Draw diagrams and charts right inside your notes

Jul 28, 2026 — Aug 28, 2026

User reviews

Favourite app of a psychotherapist, with future possibilities.

This is my favourite app, and outside of the usual Apple built-in iPhone fanfare, the only one I need use. It’s a real life belt. Aside of what’s already been said by other more competent reviewers on here, I have a question to extend to the developers: are there any plans in the pipeline to integrate a voice recording / speech-to-text / transcription feature? Wishful thinking on my end, I know, because it’s something I’ve been really utilising as a counsellor with the separate Apple voice recording application, and I think it’d be neat if I could absorb that aspect of my practice into my Bear Notes App along with everything else. Anyway, appreciate you regardless. From a yearly membership subscriber - here’s to many more years to come.
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Huge ripoff

Very expensive and the iCloud sync function never works, you lost all your data

No folders after 100 notes

Beautiful, fast Markdown editor and the cleanest export options I've found on iOS. Two things keep it at 4 stars: everything lives in tags (no real folders once your note pile grows) and Pro is subscription-only. Still my daily writing app.

Beary great

The best, most beautiful note-taking app. Genuinely delightful to use. The attention to small details is astounding and truly appreciated.

Fixed!

Spreadsheet table was completely unusable last update, but was resolved quickly! I’ve been using Bear Pro since Jan 2021.

The only feature I’ve been asking for after all these years is custom themes. I like OLED black and dark grey themes but dislike how washed out the highlight marker gets, but in lighter themes it’s bright yellow like IRL.
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User experience

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Reported Bugs

3 issues

Sync issues causing note conflicts and data loss

Bug

Cursor jumping and input issues on iPad

Bug

Inconsistent behavior when importing/exporting content

Bug
✨

Requested Features

5 requests

Add password protection for individual notes

Feature

Improve search capabilities to find text within notes

Feature

Implement table support for more robust note-taking

Feature

Develop a web-based version for broader accessibility

Feature

Allow manual sorting and organization of notes

Feature

FAQ

What is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal?

Bear is a writing app designed for capturing, writing, and organizing notes using Markdown. It offers a clean interface, flexible organization with tags, and various export options.

Does Bear Markdown Notes & Journal have ads?

No, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal does not contain advertisements. The app is free to use with optional Pro features available via subscription.

What are the subscription options for Bear Markdown Notes & Journal?

Bear offers a monthly Pro subscription for $2.99 with a 7-day free trial, and a yearly Pro subscription for $29.99 with a 7-day free trial. These subscriptions unlock advanced features across all devices.

What devices is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal compatible with?

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal is available on iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Apple Watch. Syncing across devices requires a Bear Pro subscription.

How does Bear Markdown Notes & Journal handle privacy?

Bear is designed with privacy at its core. The developer states they cannot access your notes, tags, or any other personal data, ensuring your information remains private.

What are the benefits of Bear Pro?

Bear Pro enables seamless syncing of notes across all your devices, access to nearly 30 themes for customization, custom app icons, and advanced search capabilities like searching text within photos and PDFs.

How often is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal updated?

The latest version is 3.0.4, released on November 3, 2026. While this indicates a recent update, specific update frequency can vary based on developer plans.

What export formats does Bear Markdown Notes & Journal support?

You can export notes to plain text, Markdown, TextBundle, Bear note, and rich text. For HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub exports, a Bear Pro subscription is required.