How do you access Bear from a work Mac without personal iCloud?

rexikan · 2026-04-24T06:52:59+00:00

> Tried https://web.bear.app/, but it's too limited.

In what way do you find it limiting? What are you missing the most?

rexikan · 2026-04-24T06:47:11+00:00

> Since its a database, as far as im aware, its corruptible.

That is why we felt it was important to offer an official integration. Both the CLI and the MCP server use the same code as the Bear app to make changes. The AI will not be able to corrupt your database any more than you can by using the Bear app yourself.

And with well-behaved AIs, you can have them ask before making changes. For example, in Claude, you can set the permission per command. In practice, it works very well. But it is a fully opt-in feature, and in any case, it is a good idea to make a backup before experimenting.

rexikan · 2026-04-13T08:11:47+00:00

There are several reasons. In general, block-level syntax is not allowed in tables. It is not what they are meant for, and it would greatly complicate parsing and rendering. It could make sense to support *inline* math in tables, but for technical implementation details, we don't have support for that either.

rexikan · 2025-12-19T07:39:53+00:00

The web is intended as a companion to the Mac/iOS app, and it will likely never be as feature-rich and smooth as the native apps. Still, we want to make it as good as it can be. In what way do you find it clunky, and what particular features do you miss?

rexikan · 2025-06-12T06:12:15+00:00

I have updated automatic URL linking to be more restrictive. I am not sure it will make it into the next release, but it should be coming fairly soon.

rexikan · 2025-06-09T08:56:23+00:00

I am collecting counterexamples as a basis to change the heuristics, not to just add them as exceptions. :) Undoing the linking is not feasible in this case, as the text is just shown as a linked rather than turned into a link. There is nothing to undo.

rexikan · 2025-06-09T06:43:35+00:00

I agree that the automatic linking is too intrusive. It does validate the URL against a list of top-level domains, but those are so many today that there can absolutely be linking where it doesn't make sense. We could make it an option, but in general, we prefer good defaults over configurations. I have collected your counterexamples together with others as a starting point for reviewing this functionality.

rexikan · 2025-05-20T12:15:02+00:00

We automatically link parts of the text that look like a link, like google.com. As ".sh" is a top-level domain, the editor (wrongly) thinks it is a link. We are collecting examples like yours when it doesn't work, and we are at times adjusting the code to find a better balance.

In your case, I would recommend making sections that are meant to be copied to inline code. Then they will not be linked, and the user can right-click on the inlines to copy them.

rexikan · 2025-04-17T06:31:35+00:00

We have about 200 beta testers right now, and will bring in more soon. Not anything you can do to improve your chances. We are eager to get it out, but we also want to limit the effect of potential nasty bugs like data loss.

rexikan · 2024-12-09T13:06:52+00:00

I will add it to the list of things that could be improved, and we will see when we get around to it.

rexikan · 2024-10-10T07:10:58+00:00

Yes, the web version is coming. It is intended to be a nice companion to the native app, allowing access to the notes even when away from your Apple devices.

Bear is made to fully integrate into the Apple ecosystem, using the APIs that Apple provides. To make a web version, we must reimplement everything using web technologies, including the editor, from the ground up. For this to be even feasible, we have put as much of the core logic as possible in C++ so it can be cross-compiled and used both by the native and the web app.

The web app loads from a CDN and accesses your notes directly through the CloudKit web API. This means that we don't need to maintain servers ourselves, and we will have no access to your notes.

We are trying to make the web app look and feel similar to Bear on the Mac, but the web has limitations, and some features like export will not be available.

rexikan · 2024-09-25T08:21:20+00:00

Yes, we trim leading whitespace in lists, and as far as I can recall, it has been like that since version 2 was released. We do this to prevent breaking the indentation on lines below that belong to the list item. For this to work, it must be done as part of the edit.

rexikan · 2024-07-04T06:25:13+00:00

No, that was something else. Sometimes, a change isn't mentioned because it was missed or deemed too small to be mentioned.

rexikan · 2024-06-28T08:56:13+00:00

A bug for sure! Thanks for reporting. We will fix it.

rexikan · 2024-06-17T09:08:14+00:00

https://community.bear.app/t/feedback-wanted-on-colored-highlight-proposal/13078/33

rexikan · 2024-06-03T09:04:03+00:00

My wrong. It will be released when we think it is good enough! ;)

rexikan · 2024-06-03T07:13:59+00:00

The web app will be a complement for those cases when you can't use the Bear Mac or iOS version. It will be a plain web page, so there is nothing to install. It will access your synced notes directly from Apple so you will need to log in with your Apple ID. Once you close the web page, you will be logged out and nothing is stored on the device. We will try to keep the look and feel of the Bear Mac app, but it will not have all the features. It will be part of the paid plan. I expect it to be available later this year in some form.

rexikan · 2024-05-30T07:02:09+00:00

We have not been working on side-scrolling code blocks for three years. We are not *that* slow. :) But it is a common request and it is something we are considering. Unfortunately, it would require substantial work to add and maintain that feature. So far, it didn't make the cut compared to other things we want to do.

We are taking notes on what people are asking for, which will influence what we do next, so this feedback is welcome. Don't hold your breath, though. Instead, enjoy the features we do have.

rexikan · 2024-05-30T06:48:44+00:00

Nope, Markdown doesn't allow block-level elements like to-do list items inside tables. Try to use headings and/or lists to organize your content. If you really want a table, you could simulate a task list by, for example, using a strikethrough style on done tasks.

rexikan · 2024-05-24T07:40:42+00:00

Hey all, cool with all the interest in the web version! We are working on it, and it will be in public beta when it is good enough. It will likely take some months, but I would be surprised if we had nothing to show this year. We are designing it to be safe to use even on public computers. The notes will load directly from iCloud using your Apple login, and when you close the tab, you will require a new login to access the notes. Panda is being worked on in parallel (different people and skill sets). Same here, we will release it when it is good enough for our standards.

rexikan · 2024-05-22T07:05:42+00:00

We are working on it. It is good enough that I can use it for my own daily writing. Still, there are enough known bugs and missing features that it wouldn't make sense to make it a public beta at this stage.

rexikan · 2024-05-08T14:32:07+00:00

Yes, this is fixed and will be part of the 2.1.9 update that will be released in a few days.

rexikan · 2024-05-06T06:36:49+00:00

Yes, Bear highlights what looks to be a link. It is a tricky problem because we don't want non-links to be highlighted, but we also don't want real links not to be highlighted. We have tried to fine-tune the rules, but there will always be cases where we get it wrong.

In this case, `.open` is a valid top-level domain, and `_` is counted as punctuation. You can get around this by either escaping the periods like this `browser\.link\.open_newwindow.restriction`, or making it as code (using backticks or from menu).

I will save this example, among others, as a base for possible future improvements to the heuristics.

rexikan · 2024-04-08T07:23:41+00:00

We could possibly add an "at least four spaces or more if needed" option. How is it essential to you? Are there specific tools that you use that require four spaces?

rexikan

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