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Popular plain text note-taking app Bear reached version 1.5 on Monday, bringing a handful of user-requested features to the platform on iOS and Mac.

First up, it's now possible for users to give all their created tags custom icons, which can be selected from a library of 169 "TagCons". When a tag is selected on iPhone and iPad, Bear will now display its TagCon in the Notes List header, to remind users of the tag they're currently viewing.

Bear-1.5-800x500.jpg

A new archive notes feature is also being introduced in this version, allowing unused notes to be hidden rather than straight-up deleted. Helpfully, archived notes can be searched at any time from the Sidebar, which also gets new Untagged, ToDo, and Today sections.

Elsewhere, the Export options have been expanded to allow the exporting of all notes of a specific tag, where sub-tags automatically become subfolders. There's also a new EPUB export option for users looking to publish in the digital format.

In addition, the developers of Bear have added a new iPhone and iPad gesture that lets users pull down to search notes and close preferences, and there's a new theme for all devices called "Ayu".

On the Mac side of things, the iPhone X-optimized Dieci theme is now available in macOS, and it's now possible to float individual notes on top of all others, simply by double-clicking a note in the Notes List.

Bear is available to download on the App Store for iPad and iPhone [Direct Link], as well as on the Mac App Store [Direct Link].

Article Link: Bear Notes 1.5 Gains Archive Feature, Custom Tag Icons, New Export Options, and More
 

chas_m

macrumors member
Mar 30, 2016
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How does this stack up against Dyrii Journal app?

Well, it's not a diary app, so ... poorly, probably. Not sure why you are looking to compare the two.
[doublepost=1525130995][/doublepost]Still looking for someone to explain why a simple note-taking app needs to be subscription. It's pretty, it's functional, sure -- but there are many high-quality tools that offer most or more features (starting with Apple's own Notes) for free or at a one-time price. I'm not one of those blindly anti-subscription trolls ... I'm just not seeing $15/year worth of "better" compared to Notes, SimpleNote (both free), Notability, iA Writer, Drafts, Byword ... et cetera, all of which are at most a modest one-time purchase.
 
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Jessica Lares

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Oct 31, 2009
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They're going to be two years into the subscription model this year. It's obviously working pretty well for them. It's very likely that a lot of these people have tried the others in the past and just like Bear's workflow better.

Nice to see another app supporting EPUB exports.
 

TiggrToo

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Aug 24, 2017
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They're going to be two years into the subscription model this year. It's obviously working pretty well for them. It's very likely that a lot of these people have tried the others in the past and just like Bear's workflow better.

Nice to see another app supporting EPUB exports.

Past performance is not guarantee of future profits. I tried Bear when looking for an Evernote replacement. Couldn't justify it's subscription cost then, still can't now.

Last I saw it was still just the three developers who'd founded the company who were doing everything. May explain the glacial development pace. At some point in time they need to pick up the pace, that's when the rubber meets the road.
 

macintoshmac

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May 13, 2010
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disgreed. it shouldn't be subscription based.

Again, for the price, the idea of subscription hurts a little less. At $30 it is more reasonable and palatable per year than $50. And I am talking from the standpoint of using Bear, and what it offers me.

I like I can write in MD, I like I can see creation date as well as modification date of my notes. This is the single reason I pay for it, if I were to choose just one reason. To each his own, :) !

I do not like DayOne at $50 retail subscription, but it could do at $25 they offer for previous users. However, Dyrii undercuts it and does a better job for me. So, while subscriptions as a trend are not ideal, this is what we are going to get. The deal will be how well-priced they are, or not.
 

farewelwilliams

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Jun 18, 2014
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Again, for the price, the idea of subscription hurts a little less. At $30 it is more reasonable and palatable per year than $50. And I am talking from the standpoint of using Bear, and what it offers me.

I like I can write in MD, I like I can see creation date as well as modification date of my notes. This is the single reason I pay for it, if I were to choose just one reason. To each his own, :) !

I do not like DayOne at $50 retail subscription, but it could do at $25 they offer for previous users. However, Dyrii undercuts it and does a better job for me. So, while subscriptions as a trend are not ideal, this is what we are going to get. The deal will be how well-priced they are, or not.

subscriptions are good for bigger apps like Adobe CC where the barrier of entry used to be $1-$2k

For small apps, it doesn’t make sense. I’d rather pay $70 one time than $1.99 a month, even if in the long run, it costs me more.
 
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