Comparison

Compose vs Bear

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

Head to head
About

Compose

This app offers a streamlined way to compose and send emails without the distractions of a full inbox. It focuses on a minimalist writing experience, allowing users to quickly draft messages. Email accounts must be pre-configured on the device.

Highlights
  • Minimalist email composition
  • Distraction-free writing environment
  • Quick message drafting
  • Requires device email configuration
Features
Read full description

Compose is a simple little app that lets you send email without being overwhelmed by what's in your inbox. Just open compose and start writing. Currently, Compose requires email accounts to be configured on your device.

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

Compose1 screens
Bear4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Bear at 4.7 against Compose's 3.9. Bear also leads on ratings volume (6.9K vs 7) and review sentiment (77% vs 67%). Compose's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (8.1 vs 15.6). On price and ads 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

Both are free to download. Bear sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Compose asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bear holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bear has 6.9K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Compose's written reviews are positive against 77% of Bear's.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Compose versus Bear: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterComposeBear
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (7 ratings)4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews76.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings76.9K — better
Update frequency—Every 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS8.1 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB230 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCluster Labs, Inc.Shiny Frog Ltd.

Customer experience

Compose

All ratings7 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Bear

All ratings6,858 ratings
Positive91.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews1,753 reviews
Positive76.8%
Neutral9.5%
Negative13.7%

Bugs and requests

Compose

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

Compose

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 Compose free?
Compose is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bear free?
Bear is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Compose or Bear?
Bear is rated higher. Compose averages 3.9 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while Bear averages 4.7 from 6.9K ratings.
Do Compose or Bear have ads?
Neither Compose nor Bear shows ads.

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