# Bear Published January 1, 2026 · Updated August 10, 2026 Beautiful and flexible Markdown writing app for notes and long-form writing on Mac. Category: Productivity · Paid · [Official website](https://bear.app) ## Install with Homebrew `brew install --cask bear` ## Quick take In August 2026 Bear is still the best-looking serious notes app on Apple hardware, with honest freemium pricing. Pro earns its keep through sync, encryption, themes and OCR more than through flashy new features. It will not solve Windows access or team wiki needs, and it will not match Obsidian for extensibility. For writers who live on Mac and iPhone and care how a tool feels to write in, Bear Pro at about $30 a year is still an easy recommendation. Best for: Apple-only writers and journalists, Students who want beautiful Markdown, People escaping Evernote clutter without entering plugin hell, iPad Pencil note-takers who also write long-form on Mac ## What is Bear? Bear is Shiny Frog's Markdown notes app for the Apple ecosystem, covering Mac, iPhone and iPad, with an optional web companion. In August 2026 it remains freemium: the free app handles local notes with solid export options, while **Bear Pro** unlocks iCloud sync across devices, note encryption and lock, advanced exports to PDF, HTML, DOCX and JPG, more than two dozen themes, extra app icons, and OCR search inside PDFs and images. Bear Pro pricing is straightforward through the App Store and Mac App Store: **$2.99 per month** or **$29.99 per year**, with a **7-day free trial**. One subscription covers every device signed into the same Apple ID. There is no Android or Windows app; Shiny Frog says they stay small and focused on Apple platforms. **Bear Web** exists as a public beta for browser access; Pro is required to sync Web with native apps and will be required when Web leaves beta. Bear 2 was the full rewrite that shipped years earlier; the 2.x line continues with polish rather than a flashy rebrand. Wikipedia lists stable 2.2.x releases. The competitive set in 2026 is crowded: Apple Notes, Obsidian, Notion, Craft and UpNote. Bear's pitch is still taste, typography, tags as organisation and a focused writing mode, not building a second brain OS. If you want aesthetics and Apple-native feel without plugin babysitting, Bear remains a top pick. If you need Windows, backlink graphs or team wikis, look elsewhere. For Mac users, Bear feels at home next to system apps: keyboard navigation is solid, the sidebar is predictable, and dark mode themes pair well with macOS Tahoe. Performance on Apple Silicon is light compared with Electron note clients. The main caveat is collaboration, Bear is personal first. Shared team knowledge still belongs in Notion, Confluence or Git-based docs. Automation is the other limit, there is no plugin marketplace to wire custom AI agents into your vault. People who want GPT-5.6 class assistants inside notes usually pair Bear with system-wide tools such as Raycast AI, the Claude Mac app or Gemini for Mac, rather than expecting Bear to become an agent platform. Migration into Bear is easiest from plain Markdown or text bundles; migration out is equally feasible if you export regularly. That portability is part of why Markdown fans tolerate the Apple-only constraint. In short, Bear is a writing instrument, not an operating system for your life, and in 2026 that restraint is a feature for users tired of all-in-one workspaces. ## Features - **Markdown-native editor with Bear flavor.** Bear is built around Markdown with clean inline styling, rich previews and an editor that stays out of your way. You get focus-friendly composition without learning a proprietary block language, and your markup stays portable through export when you need to leave. That combination makes long drafts on a MacBook feel closer to a text editor than a database. - **Tags and nested organization.** Bear popularised tag-based organisation instead of heavy folder trees, including nested tags so a note can live in multiple contexts. Sidebar navigation and TagCons make large libraries browsable without turning into a file manager. Once you have a few hundred notes, that tag web is what keeps the archive scannable. - **Bear Pro iCloud sync.** Pro syncs notes and organisation across Mac, iPhone and iPad through iCloud using your Apple ID. Free users keep notes local. For anyone who captures on phone and edits on Mac, sync is the main reason to subscribe. Setup is just enabling iCloud for Bear on each device. - **Encryption, lock, and privacy controls.** Pro can encrypt individual notes and lock the app. That matters for journals, stray credential snippets you should not keep in plain text, and shared family Macs where someone else might open Bear. You pick which notes need it, rather than encrypting everything and adding friction to search. - **Advanced export and OCR search (Pro).** Pro unlocks advanced export to PDF, HTML, DOCX and JPG beyond the free formats, and adds OCR search that finds text inside PDFs and images. If your archive includes scans or exported slide decks, that text recognition turns dead images into searchable notes. - **Themes and app icons (Pro).** Pro adds extensive theme packs and alternative icons so Bear feels personal. Free users get a small set of themes and one icon. The look is not decoration alone, it is the reason many people choose Bear over a plain utility, especially during long evening writing sessions. - **Apple Pencil drawings and document scanning.** On iPad you can draw with Apple Pencil and edit those drawings later, while document scanning captures paper into the same library as Markdown notes. Both work alongside typed notes, so a meeting sketch and its follow-up checklist live together without switching apps. Free tier includes scanning and local access. - **Bear Web (public beta).** Bear Web complements the native apps for browser access. You can open it in beta without Pro, but syncing Web with native Bear requires Pro, and Pro will be required after beta. Shiny Frog still has no plans for full Android or Windows clients, so Web is the bridge for occasional borrowing of a PC rather than a platform shift. ## How to Install Bear on Mac Bear is distributed through the Mac App Store (and iOS App Store for devices). There is no separate Windows installer because the product is Apple-only. 1. **Install from the Mac App Store.** Search for Bear Markdown Notes by Shiny Frog and install. Sign in with the Apple ID you will use on iPhone/iPad if you plan to subscribe. 2. **Grant iCloud access if using Pro sync.** Ensure iCloud is enabled for Bear on each device after purchasing Bear Pro so notes synchronize. 3. **Start Bear Pro trial (optional).** Open Preferences → Bear Pro on Mac (or Settings on iOS) to start the 7-day trial of monthly or yearly Pro. ## Pros - Best-in-class visual design and writing focus on Apple devices - Simple Pro pricing with universal Apple ID unlock - Capable free tier for single-device local use - Tags-first organization scales without deep folder nesting - Pro encryption and OCR search for real-world archives - Bear Web beta reduces "Mac-only jail" anxiety for occasional browser access ## Cons - No Android or Windows apps by design - Pro required for the multi-device sync most people actually need - Less extensible than Obsidian's plugin ecosystem - Not ideal for team knowledge bases versus Notion/Confluence - Web remains beta and sync still orbits Apple ID/iCloud assumptions ## Bear's narrow bet still works Shiny Frog's refusal to ship Android or Windows looks stubborn until you use the app daily, where the polish comes from focus. In a market where Notion chases agents and Obsidian chases extensibility, Bear chases the feeling of writing. That is a durable niche. Pro pricing has stayed simple at $2.99 and $29.99 while other productivity suites invent credit meters. The risk is platform concentration: if you leave Apple, migration is export and rebuild. Bear Web reduces but does not eliminate that risk. Feature wise, OCR search and encryption are the Pro justifications beyond sync. Themes are emotional, not frivolous; retention in notes apps is emotional. If tags feel limiting, you may want Obsidian folders and links. If Markdown feels limiting, you may want Craft or Notion blocks. Recommendation: start free on one Mac. If you reach for your phone to continue a note within a week, buy yearly Pro during the trial and stop thinking about it. Competitive moves since mid-decade also matter. Apple Notes continues to gain features every WWDC cycle, narrowing the gap for casual users. Obsidian's multi-platform story keeps stealing power users who buy a Windows gaming PC or Android phone. Notion's AI packaging on Business plans attracts teams. Bear rarely wins a feature checklist war, it wins on daily pleasure. That is harder to market and easier to feel. Pricing psychology: $29.99 a year is less than many streaming add-ons. The monthly $2.99 tier exists for skeptics. Because billing is through Apple, refunds and subscription management follow App Store rules, not a custom Shiny Frog portal. Families who share an Apple ID for purchases should remember Pro is tied to that ID's devices. If you are a bundl reader standardizing a Mac kit, Bear pairs well with Things or Reminders for tasks, and with iCloud Drive or Git for file artifacts. Do not force Bear to be your task manager or your database. Use tags liberally, attachments carefully, and encryption rarely. That discipline keeps the library fast and searchable for years. Daily use tips: keep one tag per project and one per status, so #work/client and #status/draft do not compete. Archive finished notes by moving them to #archive instead of deleting, that preserves search history. When you scan a document, name it immediately with date and source, otherwise OCR finds the words but you will not remember why you saved them. Practical setup: turn on Pro encryption only for a few sensitive notes, not the whole library, so daily search stays fast. Pick one light theme and one dark theme and stick with them, constant switching costs more time than it saves on eye strain. Export a TextBundle backup each month to an external drive, iCloud sync is convenient but it is not a versioned backup. ## FAQ ### How much is Bear Pro? $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year through Apple's App Stores, with a 7-day free trial. One purchase covers Mac, iPhone, and iPad on the same Apple ID. ### Is Bear free? Yes for local use with a useful free feature set. iCloud sync, encryption/lock, advanced exports, most themes/icons, and OCR search require Bear Pro. ### Does Bear work on Windows or Android? No native apps. Shiny Frog says they do not currently plan Android or Windows clients. Use Bear Web beta for browser access; Pro is required to sync Web with native apps. ### Does Bear support macOS Tahoe and Apple Silicon? Bear is a native Apple App Store app continuously updated for current macOS/iOS releases, including Apple Silicon Macs and modern macOS versions such as Tahoe 26.x. ### Bear vs Obsidian , which should I pick? Pick Bear for beautiful, low-maintenance Apple-only writing. Pick Obsidian for local-first PKM, plugins, graph relationships, and multi-platform needs. ### Bear vs Apple Notes? Apple Notes is free and integrated. Bear offers a more writerly Markdown experience, richer theming, and tag workflows. Many people keep Apple Notes for quick system shares and Bear for crafted long-form notes. ### Can I export my notes if I cancel Pro? Yes. Export options exist so you are not trapped; free tier still exports to common formats. Canceling Pro primarily removes sync and Pro-only capabilities, export before you depend on a single vault. ### Is there a student discount? Bear sells through Apple IAP; any educational pricing would be via Apple’s mechanisms rather than a separate Shiny Frog storefront. Check App Store regional offers. ### What happened to Bear 2? Bear 2 was the major rewrite; current shipping apps continue the 2.x generation with ongoing polish rather than a separate Bear 3 brand as of August 2026. ## Sources - [Features and price of Bear Pro](https://bear.app/faq/features-and-price-of-bear-pro/) - [Bear official site](https://bear.app/) - [Bear for web, Android, & Windows FAQ](https://bear.app/faq/what-about-bear-for-web-android-windows/) - [Bear (app) Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_(app)) - [The Verge Bear 2 review](https://www.theverge.com/23786996/bear-2-notes-app-iphone-ipad-mac) - [Bear on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bear/id1091189122) ## Related - [Raycast](https://bundl.run/apps/raycast) - [Notion](https://bundl.run/apps/notion) - [Obsidian](https://bundl.run/apps/obsidian) - [Loom](https://bundl.run/apps/loom) - [Linear](https://bundl.run/apps/linear-linear) - [Grammarly](https://bundl.run/apps/grammarly-desktop) - [Bear vs Obsidian](https://bundl.run/compare/bear-vs-obsidian) - [Bear vs Craft](https://bundl.run/compare/bear-vs-craft) - [Bear vs Apple Notes](https://bundl.run/compare/bear-vs-apple-notes) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization", "name": "Bundl.run", "url": "https://bundl.run", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://bundl.run/og-image.png", "width": 1200, "height": 630 }, "description": "The Ninite for Mac. 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