Bear turns 10, and it still feels like day one

Bear began as a side project in 2013 by three friends who wanted a better writing app, launched on Apple devices in 2016, and quickly earned Mac App of the Year and an Apple Design Award. A major rewrite led to Bear 2 in 2023, while Bear Web entered public beta in 2025 and is nearing full release. Now serving millions, the team says its design rests on two commitments: make Bear delightful to use and safe to trust. The app aims to be simple without tutorials or intrusive controls, natural in its behavior, and rewarding to explore through small touches such as moving whole list lines, wrapping selected text in punctuation, and linking text by pasting a URL.

Privacy means the company says it has no servers holding notes, does not see users’ writing, and relies on end-to-end encryption developed with Cossack Labs. Features are shaped through close designer-developer collaboration and sometimes lengthy, candid debate; an explored fourth column for Bear 2 was dropped because the team could not make its design work in practice. Looking ahead, Bear is developing note versioning alongside other undisclosed projects. The anniversary also brings Kumagotchi, a home-screen pixel-bear widget that responds to writing and app use, six new icons, and anniversary merchandise. The team frames the milestone as a thank-you to users and a continuation of its focus on a comfortable, private place to write.