Winter is winding down, and we’ve been busy doing a little spring cleaning in the den. Bear 2.7 is officially here for macOS and iOS/iPadOS, and it brings a top-to-bottom reimagining of our TagCons.
The Story of Bear TagCon
Tags have always been the heart of Bear’s organization. Since our earliest mockups, we wanted the Sidebar to be more than just a list of words; we wanted it to be instantly recognizable. That spark led us to pair tags with icons, creating what we now call TagCons.
From the very beginning, Bear was designed to be smart. We included built-in associations in 11 languages so that typing #home, #casa, or #家 would automatically pull up the house TagCon. Of course, you’ve always had the freedom to pick your own TagCons, making your Sidebar feel truly personal.
260 in 1
Over the years, the collection has grown to 260 TagCons, spanning everything from wildlife and sports to pop culture and hobbies. With Bear 2.0, we introduced the Edit Tag panel to make searching through that library a breeze.
Now, Bear 2.7 takes that evolution a step further. We’ve redesigned all 260 icons to bring a new sense of harmony between Bear and the latest Apple ecosystem. By softening the shapes and unifying the stroke weights, we’ve ensured every icon shares the same elegant DNA as our custom typeface, Bear Sans.
Beyond Sidebar
This unified look now breathes through the entire app. Along with the Sidebar, TagCons have finally made their way into the Editor itself. They now sit naturally right alongside your #tags, making your notes more visual and fun.
Bear 2.7 also brings a redesigned Edit Tag panel on macOS and a new option that lets you decide where tags are placed when you drag a note onto a tag in the Sidebar.
What’s Next
TagCons have always held a special place in Bear, and we’re not done yet. We’ll be introducing new TagCons in the future and we’d love to hear your ideas. Keep an eye on our social channels to share your proposals!
Reach out to us on our Community Forum, Reddit, X (Twitter), Bluesky, or directly at bear@shinyfrog.net to tell us what you think. Stay tuned for more awesome features!
Happy writing!
🐻❤️📝