On both iOS and macOS, Bear’s notes are stored in a SQLite database. On iOS, you cannot access the database due to iOS storage policies. But on macOS, the database is accessible with any third-party app or library that has SQLite support.

Bear’s macOS database is located here:

~/Library/Group Containers/9K33E3U3T4.net.shinyfrog.bear/Application Data/database.sqlite

Please note if you plan to work with Bear’s database

For most users in most situations, we highly recommend not doing this. But if you decide to anyway, you can improve your chances of not compromising Bear or the notes database by considering the following:

• If you choose to work on Bear’s database, create a copy first to avoid problems or potential data loss
• Any change on the database schema can cause Bear to not be able to migrate the database during a version migration, with potential data loss
• Some data changes can cause crashes or problems in Bear, especially on flags and foreign keys
• We strongly suggest to first quit Bear’s app before making any data modification. If the app is running, some data loss is highly likely

Generally speaking, it is safe to access the database for reading only.