Bear

Bear, a note-taking program that is relatively new to the market and comes between Ulysses and Evernote, allows you to make notes and sync them using iCloud across different Apple devices. Applying hashtags to a three-pane interface similar to Slack allows you to organize notes in a subfolder-like fashion. Similar to Ulysses, Bear uses rich Markdown for editing, allowing you to incorporate links into documents without needing to display the whole URL.

But, Bear, one of the few well-designed Markdown apps, allows you to enter images directly into notes, making it a far more helpful software overall if images play a significant role in your workflow. Bear is also rather easy on the eyes. The most recent improvements include app lock, tag autocomplete, light and dark themes, PDF annotation, and encryption. The majority of Bear's capabilities are available for free on any iOS device, but a pro-version with more themes and export options can be purchased for a nominal monthly or yearly fee.

Rating: 4.7 (5,923 ratings on App store)

Price:

• $1.49 monthly, which offers a one week free trial
• $14.99 annually, which has a one month free trial

Pros:

• Advanced Markup Editor
• Cross-link notes
• Free, with cheap pro-version available

Cons: iOS only

Website: bear.app