How to uninstall Bear on Mac

Bear keeps every note in one database inside an App Group container, not in its own sandbox folder. Bear's FAQ gives the path as ~/Library/Group Containers/9K33E3U3T4.net.shinyfrog.bear/Application Data/database.sqlite. If you have Bear Pro, your notes also sync through iCloud; without it, that database is the only copy. Make a backup before you remove anything. This guide covers Bear from the Mac App Store.

Back up your notes first

  1. In Bear, choose File › Backup Notes… and save the .bear2bk file outside ~/Library. Bear's backup page explains the format: rename it to .zip and you get one TextBundle per note, so you can check the backup without restoring it.
  2. Encrypted notes (a Bear Pro feature) stay encrypted inside the backup, and you need their password to read them again.
  3. Restoring a backup later with File › Restore Backup replaces every note Bear has at that moment, trashed notes included.
  4. If you use Bear Pro sync, Bear's sync page says notes go through Apple's CloudKit. Open Bear's settings and check the Sync section for a recent last sync before you quit.

Removing the app does not cancel Bear Pro. It is an App Store subscription, so cancel it from the App Store as Apple's subscription page describes.

Quit Bear and remove the app

  1. Quit Bear from the Bear menu. In the recorded test it ran as one app process plus two macOS services it had started, which Mole's Status page folded into one Bear row.
  2. Move Bear from Finder's Applications folder to the Trash. macOS may ask for your password, since App Store apps are installed by the system.

Bear carries its extensions inside the app: a Safari extension, widgets, a Quick Look preview and Shortcuts actions. They go with the app. The test did not show a login item or background item.

Where Bear keeps its data

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Group Containers/9K33E3U3T4.net.shinyfrog.bear Your notes database, in Application Data Keep it until your backup is saved and checked
~/Library/Containers/net.shinyfrog.bear The app's own sandbox container Remove with the app
~/Library/Containers/net.shinyfrog.bear.* Containers of the extensions that ship inside Bear Remove with the app
~/Library/Application Scripts/net.shinyfrog.bear and its .* peers Empty script folders macOS makes for sandboxed apps Remove with the app
~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~net~shinyfrog~bear Bear's iCloud Drive folder; it was empty in the test Leave it; it belongs to iCloud Drive

Check the result

pgrep -x Bear
ls "$HOME/Library/Group Containers/9K33E3U3T4.net.shinyfrog.bear/Application Data"
ls -d ~/Library/Containers/net.shinyfrog.bear*
  • No output from pgrep means Bear is not running. A number means it is still open; quit it first.
  • ls listing database.sqlite means your notes are still on this Mac, which is what you want if you plan to reinstall. "No such file or directory" means the group container is gone; check your backup before you empty the Trash.
  • ls -d printing paths means container folders are still there. "No matches found" or "No such file or directory" means they are gone.

What Mole lists

For Bear from the Mac App Store:

  • The App Group container 9K33E3U3T4.net.shinyfrog.bear and its Application Scripts folder are listed but not selected, because the group holds your notes.
  • The app's container, its Application Scripts folder, its CloudKit cache and its temporary caches are selected by default.
  • The containers and Application Scripts folders of the extensions inside Bear are selected by default, since they ship inside the app and their ids continue Bear's own.
  • Before it trashes a group you ticked, Mole checks that no other installed app uses it. It reads the installed-app list from LaunchServices, with one retry. If it still cannot confirm that no other app uses the group, it keeps the group and says so on the row.
  • The iCloud Drive folder is not listed.

What this test covered

On September 26, 2026, Bear was installed from the Mac App Store, opened once, and uninstalled with a development build of Mole with every row ticked. The App Store copy was owned by the system, so Mole asked once for an administrator password to remove it. Status showed one Bear row with three processes using about 228 MB. Fifteen items went to the Trash, including the app, its container and all five extension containers. The group container and its Application Scripts folder stayed: the Mac was under heavy load, the installed-app list could not be read in time, and Mole kept the group as designed. A macOS App Intents index for Bear under ~/Library/Biome also stayed; macOS manages it. Earlier, on September 21, 2026, Bear was removed from the App Store copy with the default rows only: the app and its Application Scripts folder went, the container failed with a permission error, and the group container, about 26 MB, stayed. Bear Pro, sync and real notes were not tested.