Comparison

Aperio vs Bear

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Aperio

This flashcard app allows users to create, import, and study custom card decks. It offers features like automatic narration, progress tracking, and the ability to reverse card sides. Predefined decks for languages are available, with custom creation accessible via a web page.

Highlights
  • Create and import custom flash card decks
  • Automatically narrated cards
  • Import decks via web page or CSV
  • Track study progress
  • Reverse card sides
  • Predefined language decks
Features
Read full description

Turn everyday study into lasting knowledge with Aperio—a flexible flashcard app for languages, school subjects, professional training, and more. Create your own decks directly in the app, import existing material, or build and share decks online—no registration required. Key features: - Automatic card narration - Create and manage custom flashcard decks - Import decks from CSV files - Open CSV files from Files, Mail, your computer, or the web - Create and import decks at https://aperio.oratu.eu - Track your learning progress - Reverse card fronts and backs for two-way practice - Start learning with included German, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese decks Whether you are learning a new language, preparing for an exam, or mastering a new topic, Aperio helps you study at your own pace. For additional information and support, please visit the Aperio support website.

About

Bear

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.

Highlights
  • Distraction-free writing environment
  • Flexible Markdown formatting
  • Tag-based organization
  • Task management
  • Note linking (WikiLinks)
  • Web clipping extension
  • Apple Pencil sketching
Features
Read full description

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/

Screenshots

Aperio4 screens
Bear4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bear at 77% against Aperio's 0%. Bear also leads on price (Free vs $0.99) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 19 months). Aperio's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Bear is free to download; Aperio costs $0.99 up front. Bear sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Aperio asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aperio ships an update every 19 months, Bear every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 13, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Aperio versus Bear: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAperioBear
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating—4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews76.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—6.9K — better
Update frequencyEvery 19 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.016 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB230 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOratu, s.r.o.Shiny Frog Ltd.

Customer experience

Aperio

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bear

All ratings6,871 ratings
Positive91.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews1,753 reviews
Positive76.8%
Neutral9.5%
Negative13.7%

Bugs and requests

Aperio

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Bear

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

In-app purchases

None

Aperio

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Bear

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Pro subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Yearly Pro subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Aperio free?
Aperio costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bear free?
Bear is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Aperio or Bear have ads?
Neither Aperio nor Bear shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aperio or Bear?
Aperio ships an update every 19 months, and Bear every 2 weeks. Most recently, Aperio was updated on October 13, 2026 and Bear on October 13, 2026.

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