For iPhone and iPad users, the last couple weeks have brought us some great new presents! In addition to note encryption, locking Bear, and more in Bear 1.7, we have all kinds of new features to learn and play with in iOS 13, the newly named iPadOS, and upcoming macOS Catalina. Fortunately, Bear has strong support for some of the big stuff and more on the way!

Dark Mode

Bear will automatically switch themes when Dark Mode is enabled. It also remembers which themes you pick in Light and Dark Modes. This is a great time for over a dozen themes in Bear Pro to shine.

Or perhaps just glow faintly, if Dark Mode is enabled.

Apps in Multiple Spaces

A quick demo of one way to get multiple Bear windows with the new multitasking in iPadOS

Open multiple Bear windows and use them alongside separate apps in Split View. Work on one note next to Safari, and a different note next to Slack or Apple Books. Or work on a Bear note right next to a different Bear note!

Annotate JPG photos and PDFs

Tap JPG photos and PDFs in notes to annotate them. Or, add annotations when exporting a note to these formats from the bottom of the Info Panel (tap the ⓘ in the upper right). Note that JPG and PDF export require Bear Pro.

Automatic Dark Mode in macOS Catalina

Bear has had support for Dark Mode on the Mac for some time. But in macOS Catalina, slated to release some time this fall, Dark Mode can now be automatically scheduled. As you’d expect, Bear will automatically switch to your chosen dark theme.

That’s it for now, but we’re always working on improving Bear. More iOS 13 and iPadOS features are on the way, like support for PencilKit and being able to drag a note out of Bear on iPad to quickly create a second window, side by side!

We hope you enjoy Bear 1.7, iOS 13, iPadOS, and macOS Catalina. Let us know what you think at Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and bear@shinyfrog.net.