Bear Markdown Notes & Journal vs +focus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal
A beautiful and simple Markdown app for capturing, writing, and organizing your thoughts and ideas. It offers a distraction-free writing environment, flexible formatting, and powerful organizational tools like tags and tasks. Ideal for anyone looking to streamline their note-taking and creative processes.
- Distraction-free writing environment
- Flexible Markdown formatting
- Tag-based organization
- Task management
- Note linking (WikiLinks)
- Web clipping extension
- Apple Pencil sketching
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Bear is a beautiful, powerfully simple Markdown app to capture, write, and organize your life. Take notes, plan your day, journal thoughts, organize tables, create lists and tasks, sketch ideas, link notes together, write a book, and much more. Bear is used by writers, lawyers, chefs, CEOs, teachers, doctors, engineers, students, parents.. you get the picture. Getting started couldn’t be faster—no signup and no account. Just open a note and write naturally. "My journaling app of choice is Bear" - Kit Eaton, New York Times * 2017 Apple Design Award * 2016 App Store App of the Year * Editors' choice for 7 consecutive years * Most of our parents love it ## BEAUTIFUL. SIMPLE. POWERFUL. PRIVATE - Tools stay out of your way so you can just write - Sketch ideas on iPad with an extendable canvas and Apple Pencil (and other styli) - Clip web pages and other content with Bear’s app extension - The redesigned Info Panel now with Table of Contents and Backlinks - Use Apple Watch to dictate and append to recent notes - Support for all the scripts including RTL languages like Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian - Easily create notes with Siri and Shortcuts - Your notes, not ours - Bear is private at its core: We cannot see your notes, tags, or anything else ## FLEXIBLE MARKDOWN - Work in plain text - easy to move between apps - Still use formatting like bold, italics, strikethrough, links, tables, and more with Markdown - Combine text styles like bold and underline, even in headings - Markdown hides for a clean reading experience - Use WikiLinks to connect notes and build a personal wiki or knowledge management tool ## GET ORGANIZED with #tags, tasks, and more - Add #tags, #multi-word tags# and even #multiple/nested/tags anywhere in a note for quick organization - Pin important tags to the top of the Sidebar - Make important tags stand out in the Sidebar with TagCons - Add tasks to notes and easily view all notes that include tasks - Fold sections to get them out of the way ## SHARING MADE EASY - Export notes to plain text, Markdown, TextBundle, Bear note, and rich text - Export notes to HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub (Bear Pro required) - Easily share your notes to any third-party app with the Share Sheet ## SEARCH FAR AND WIDE - Use Spotlight to search your notes from anywhere - Search for text inside photos and PDFs (Bear Pro required) - Focus on specific types of notes with powerful Special Searches like @todo, @images, and @yesterday ## CREATE YOUR COZY SPACE * Pick from nearly 30 themes for the perfect writing space in both Light and Dark Mode (Bear Pro required) * Choose an app icon that speaks to your personality (Bear Pro required) * Set your own fonts for plain text, headings, and code * Set line height and width, paragraph spacing, and more ## GET MORE WITH BEAR PRO One subscription enables a variety of features on all your devices and keeps the Bear hugs coming. - Sync notes between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud - Encrypt individual notes with a password that is entirely private to you - Lock Bear with Face/Touch ID - Export to more formats including HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub - Search for text inside images and PDFs in Bear notes - Over 30 beautiful app themes & app icons $2.99 monthly $29.99 yearly 14-day free trial ----- Price may vary by location. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your App Store account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. After purchase, manage your subscriptions in App Store Account Settings. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription. ----- bear@shinyfrog.net Twitter: BearNotesApp Reddit: reddit.com/r/BearApp Facebook: BearNotes Instagram: BearNotesApp Privacy Policy: http://www.bear.app/privacy/ Terms of Service: http://www.bear.app/terms/
+focus
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+focus は、集中を始める、集中を続ける、そしてもう一度集中へ戻るための、そっと側に寄り添うポモドーロタイマーです。 ポモドーロ・メソッドの考え方はとてもシンプルです。 一定時間集中し、そのあと短い休憩を取る。 このリズムを繰り返すことで、集中を保ちやすく、疲れをためにくく、時間をより有効に使いやすい状態をつくります。 +focus は、その考え方を静かでシンプルな形にしました。 集中タイマー、短い休憩タイマー、やわらかな画面、そして時間が切り替わる時のやさしい音と振動。 スコアはありません。 プレッシャーもありません。 複雑な設定もありません。 +focus はあなたを管理しません。 自分の時間を整えるための、あなたに寄り添う静かなツールです。 あるのは、見やすいタイマーと、残り時間を一目で感じ取れる水平線だけです。 自分のツールとして使うために必要な機能も、シンプルに整えました。 集中時間と休憩時間の設定、アクセントカラーの選択、振動、音量の調整。 さらに、ホーム画面ウィジェットと、ロック画面のLive Activity表示にも対応しています。 仕事、作業、趣味、学習、読書、文章を書く時間、ゲーム、創作時間、またはただひとつのことに少しだけ向き合いたい時に、+focus をそっと側に置いてみてください。 主な機能: - シンプルな集中タイマーと休憩タイマー - 落ち着いたミニマルな画面 - 集中時間と休憩時間のカスタマイズ - アクセントカラーの変更 - 音と振動によるフィードバック - ホーム画面ウィジェット - Live Activity対応 - アカウント不要 - データ収集なし リズムよく集中し、意図を持って休む。
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Bear Markdown Notes & Journal at Free against +focus's $0.49. Bear Markdown Notes & Journal also leads on device support (4 vs 1). +focus's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (daily vs every 10 days). On ads and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal is free to download; +focus costs $0.49 up front. Bear Markdown Notes & Journal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. +focus asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal ships an update every 10 days, +focus daily. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bear Markdown Notes & Journal | +focus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.49 |
| Rating | 4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 76.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6.9K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 230 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Shiny Frog Ltd. | norihiro ito |
Bugs and requests
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal
Reported bugs
3 issues- Sync issues causing note conflicts and data loss
- Cursor jumping and input issues on iPad
- Inconsistent behavior when importing/exporting content
Requested features
5 requests- 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
+focus
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal
- Monthly Pro subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Yearly Pro subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
+focus
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal free?
Is +focus free?
Do Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or +focus have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or +focus?
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