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Bear Slow and Laggy With Large Notes

Ongoing macOS, iOS, iPadOS Updated October 21, 2026

Quick answer

Bear's editor slows down in very large notes (100k-400k characters): typing lags by seconds and in-note search can freeze. Bear has acknowledged the search issue; splitting long notes is the reliable fix.

Most likely fix: Split very long notes.

Symptoms

Typed letters appear seconds late, Find in Note freezes with high CPU, scrolling stutters, or iPad crashes in notes with many sketches.

Why it happens

  • Single notes over ~100,000 characters
  • Large notes open side by side in two windows
  • Many sketches in one note on iPad
  • Search across thousands of freshly imported notes while indexing

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

  1. 1. Split very long notes

    1. Break manuscripts or logs into several notes
    2. Link them with [[wiki links]] or a shared nested tag

  2. 2. Avoid side-by-side windows for big notes

    1. Close the second window showing a large note
    2. Edit large notes in a single window

  3. 3. Free system resources

    1. Quit heavy apps running alongside Bear
    2. On iPad, keep the device plugged in for long operations like emptying a large Trash

  4. 4. Update Bear

    1. Install the latest App Store update - search performance fixes have shipped in point releases

This guide also covers

  • why is bear so slow
  • bear app lag
  • bear slow large notes
  • bear search slow
  • bear typing lag

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