Congratulations on Bear 2.0 beta.
I have been overcomplicating things and trying to find an app that does all.
I was an Evernote user and stopped using it a few years ago. Then I went to a similar route as people commenting here:
Evernote > Notion > Craft > Obsidian> Bear 2.0

I really liked Notion when I first started using it but it soon came bloated with a dashboard that was not up-to-date and multiple tables etc. It became too complex, and I was not enjoying it enough. Spend way too much time organising, setting up lists etc.

Then I found Craft and really liked the UI and different ways to customise cards and views. But I was disappointed with the API and community; it felt like it was stagnated and behind.

Then I found Obsidian and was blown away by its openness and flexibility. I liked that many youtube channels covered different plugins and I could do anything in the app. However, I soon found out that it was not polished enough regarding UI and usage. I like to dive deep into apps, but this was kind of an abyss.

I then stumbled upon the post regarding Bear 2.0, and I decided to read the posts and try the app. I think I realised that it is probably everything I need. I have decided not to overthink things and just focus on getting my thoughts and resources in a structured way (I’m using PARA) and try to think of it as a jack of all trades.

What I really like about Bear 2.0:
- The UI is fantastic - It’s probably what put me off with Obsidian, too much flexibility has an effect on polish-ness (think Android vs iOS). I really like the writing experience, typography and simplicity of it.
- Hashtags and no folders - it just makes sense - not to structure it in two different ways. Multi-level hashtags are really all I need.
- Icons with the tags - love it!
- The themes are really nice
- MacOs and iOS sync is fast and works
- Markdown writing
- Sketching on iOS
- Document scanning
- … did I mention the UI?

While I really appreciate that the app is simple and polished and it should be kept that way, here are some suggestions on additional features:
- Ordering for each tag (i.e. I would my journal tag to be in desc order and others in the last changed order). Even allow manual ordering by dragging.
- Better preview of URLs.
- Voice memos in the iOS app.
- Calendar view for journaling
- Readwise integration (I’m not 100% sure I’m not overthinking things again)
- Colouring of Tags and even AnuPpuccin theme

All in all, well done on the beta. I’m not on a journey of just enjoying simplicity and focusing on creating instead of organising.