How to use widgets with Bear

Apple redesigned widgets in macOS Big Sur, iOS 14, and iPadOS 14. Widgets are a way to view small bits of information from apps, right on your Home Screen or desktop. Examples include quick weather details, a favorite photo, or the day’s task list.

Bear has a few widgets available, free to both Bear and Bear Pro users. Let’s explore how to add them, what they can do, and some details to know.

How to add and edit widgets

Widgets work a little differently depending on the device, so Apple has separate instructions for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Check those out to get familiar with adding widgets to your devices.

The main thing to know is that, once you add one of Bear’s widgets to your device, tap or click it to choose what it displays. See an example below.

Bear’s widgets

We have a few widgets in a variety of sizes available for Bear, with more on the way:

Single Note (small, medium, large): Keep a note with a list, todos, or paragraphs always in view, right on your homescreen. Pick the widget, then flip it over to pick a note from Bear.

Sidebar (small, medium, large): View recent notes from key sections of the Sidebar, including: Notes, Untagged, Todo, Today, and any of your tags. Tap a note to open it in Bear, tap the label at the bottom of the widget to visit that location in Bear.

Search (small, medium, large): View the most recent notes that match a search query in Bear. PLUS, tap the label at the bottom to open that search query in Bear!

Create Note
This launches Bear and creates a new note so you can get right to work.

Find Notes This widget launches Bear straight to searching all notes for keywords and #tags.

Widget limitations and things to know

Widget placement on iPhone and iPad: As of iOS 14 and iPad OS 15, widgets can be placed in the Today View and on any Home Screen on iPhone and iPad. However, in iPadOS 14, they could only be added to the Today View, which can also be pinned to the left side of the iPad’s first Home Screen.

Widgets on the Mac appear in Notification Center. You can toggle Notification Center by clicking the clock in the far right of the Menu Bar. On a MacBook or other trackpad, you can also swipe left with two finger from the right edge.

Bear widgets cannot display protected notes. Protected notes are a feature of Bear Pro. For privacy reasons, Bear widgets cannot display contents of protected notes.