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Bear App Store reviews: what users complain about

We ran AppGripe on 500 of the most recent public App Store reviews of Bear - Markdown Notes (Notes, by Shiny Frog Ltd.) from 5 storefronts, dated 2018-01-20 to 2026-10-08. Average rating in this sample: 3.93★. 179 reviews contained a complaint.

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Complaint categories

A review can count in several categories. Severity is the AI's estimate of how bad the problem is for the user.

Top issues, ranked by reviews × severity

1. Ship the most requested feature: 46 complaining reviews, avg severity 2.0/3.
   “Bear would be my perfect notes app, and I would gladly pay the subscription for it. However, the keyboard toolbar/text editor on iPhone is so bad, especially when compared with the default Apple notes. (Please just copy how Apple notes sets up their keyboard…” (4★, v2.6.5, US)
2. Stop data / progress loss: 37 complaining reviews, avg severity 2.4/3.
   “I've been a subscriber for years, and now I am going to cancel it. Sync failed, data possibly lost. That's the last straw, this is just not worth it, there are probably way better tools on the market nowadays, with support for syncing with OSes outside of the…” (2★, v1.8.5, DE)
3. Justify or adjust the price: 32 complaining reviews, avg severity 2.2/3.
   “Honestly, it’s too expensive for what it offers. I can get better functionality from apps like Notion or Miro without having to pay more. I actually pay for apps that are really worth it, like GoodNotes, Procreate, Affinity, or LumaFusion. I think the price i…” (1★, v2.3.12, DE)
4. Soften the redesign backlash: 20 complaining reviews, avg severity 2.3/3.
   “Really don’t like this new version of design and it’s not concise and not as convenient before. I used to use bear everyday for writing but now I’m really disappointed and have to look for an alternative now.” (2★, v2.0.17, GB)
5. Simplify navigation: 18 complaining reviews, avg severity 2.3/3.
   “Tries to do too much. As a result i find it cluttered and hard to use.” (2★, v2.3.12, GB)

How to read this

Apple's public feed only shows recent reviews, so this is a snapshot of the last weeks or months, not the app's full history. Popular apps attract complaints in proportion to their size; the useful part is which issues repeat. Generated 19 October 2026. We have no relationship with Shiny Frog Ltd..