In general, Bear is just a lot better compared to Apple Notes. Especially around the UI. But there are a few things that I find nicer in Apple Notes. One of these is the “grouping” Apple Notes applies to the note list. In Apple Notes headers are added to the note list that can help more with visual awareness in the list.
In particular I like the addition of the “Pinned” group. The visual indicator in Bear for pinned notes is not that big, and when you have a few pinned notes, it becomes a bit more difficult the distinguish the various notes, especially while also scrolling (e.g. scrolling back to the top).
Personally, I really love this idea! I’ve also struggled to visually navigate my note list, especially when trying to distinguish pinned from unpinned notes. For me, though, it goes even further … I’d love to see Bear fully adopt all Apple Notes sections, including the date-based groupings. Those groupings don’t just make the list look cleaner - they make it meaningfully easier to scan and orient oneself chronographically in the list.
My simple solution to keeping track of multiple important notes, such as those that would normally be pinned, is to add a # tag to the note. Then, when I need one of those important notes, I simply click on the star tag and go right to it.
Using the same tag, you could then use the x-callback function in Bear to find only those specific notes, which groups them together in a roundabout way.
I have a similar workflow myself, and I don’t really see this as a replacement for the proposed visual grouping based on pinned status / date. An “important” (in your case, a star) tag serves a very different purpose in my eyes.
For what it’s worth … Bear also has a native “Pinned” section which would likely support a similar workflow. All pinned notes end up there, no matter how they’re tagged.
tag to the note. Then, when I need one of those important notes, I simply click on the star tag and go right to it.