Does it still make sense to hold bonds?

Bond indexes I've looked at have given a negative yield over the last five years. I figured these indexes would at the very least keep up with inflation but apparently that's not the case. Would it not be better to keep the money I would have kept in bonds in a high interest savings account instead? My bank currently gives a 1.25% interest per year and its also a lot more liquid than an ETF.

I'm a relatively new investor and I've only invested in equities for the past year. I was looking to diversify a bit which I why I started looking at bonds.