# Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes — Edit Research Documents/Books > PDF reader and annotator for research with note extraction and data conversion. (iPhone/iPad app by Jonas Myren Ribe.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) - Category: Productivity, Education - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Rating: 4.50/5 from 1,602 App Store ratings · 464 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 13.4 · 34 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2020-04-10 - Data updated: 2026-08-26 - Monetization: freemium - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews.md ## What is Highlights? "... an app that students, academics, and anyone who does substantial amounts of PDF-based research should try" - Macstories.net "It’s the novel approach to PDF annotation that makes this app a cut above the rest"- TapSmart.com *** "App of the Day" - App Store, US *** USE HIGHLIGHTS FOR FREE Highlights is a fast and lightweight PDF reader (under 10MB) packed with features to help you do your best research. Free users have access to standard PDF reader features including document browsing, reading and annotating. There are NO ADS, time limits or tracking. READ PDF DOCUMENTS • Open PDF documents from anywhere • Browse files using the familiar document browser • Open PDFs in Single Page or Two Page scroll mode • Double tap to Smart Zoom in on a paragraph or figure • Scrub smoothly to the desired page • Search the entire document in an instant • Navigate using any connected keyboard or mouse STORE YOUR FILES WHERE YOU WANT • Full support for "Open In Place" lets you make edits to the file where it is • Access your files from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box using the document browser • Or keep them privately on device only HIGHLIGHT AND ANNOTATE FASTER • Select text with your finger, Apple Pencil or mouse pointer • Highlight, underline, strikethrough text and make image selections • Add comments to annotations or as individual sticky notes • Annotate with fewer taps using context aware popovers • Default annotation colors prevents you from having to repeatedly setting the color for the same type of annotation every time TURN ANNOTATIONS INTO NOTES • As you markup text and images the contents are extracted and sorted into notes • Customize the formatting and contents of your notes • Sort the annotations chronologically or create your own color coding EXTRACT TABLE DATA AND RECOGNIZE TEXT • Convert images containing text or tables to actual text and tables using machine learning - letting you get to the underlying data with a single tap SMART COPY Copy annotations to the desired format with one tap: • Text markup as text • Image selections as images • Tables as CSV • Citations as BibTex LOOKUP CITATIONS • Highlights will fetch DOI-links and metadata • Markup any reference and tap the link icon to look it up • If you have read the work already or have it in your reference manager library, Highlights will link you to it EXPORT ANYWHERE • Save or share your notes as portable files: Markdown, TextBundle, HTML, WebArchive or PDF • Share them to your favorite notes app: Apple Notes, Bear, Craft, Evernote, DEVONThink, Keep It, MindNode, Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research or Ulysses • Or send them to a colleague via mail. It's your notes, you decide where they go MUCH MORE • Dark mode • Multi-window support on iPadOS • Keyboard shortcuts and navigation • Support for system Copy and Undo gestures • Alternative app icons • Custom accent colors • Apple Pencil double-tap gestures • Power annotation tools For a full list of features see: highlightsapp.net/features HIGHLIGHTS PRO The Highlights Pro subscription unlocks advanced features on your iPhone, iPad and Mac: • Export options for other apps and easily editable formats • Extract information using table and text recognition • Customize accent colors and alternative app icons • Power annotation tools • Citation lookups • Smart Copy Highlights Pro includes a 14-day free trial. You can cancel your subscription at any time. The subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off within 24-hour prior to the end of of the current period. Payments will be charged to your iTunes account and your account will be charged within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. For more information about Highlights Pro: highlightsapp.net/pro Privacy Policy: highlightsapp.net/privacy Terms: highlightsapp.net/terms ## Key features - Read and browse PDF documents - Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text - Add comments and sticky notes - Extract annotations into organized notes - Convert table data and recognize text - Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex) - Lookup citation metadata and DOI links ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | Highlights Pro | $29.99 | per year | | Highlights Pro: Monthly | $4.99 | per month | | Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade | $29.99 | per year | ## What do users think of Highlights? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs - 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking - 📚 Useful for academic and professional work - 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface - 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage **Cons** - 💰 Subscription model is too expensive - 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs - 🔍 Limited search functionality - 🔒 Lack of customization options - 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers **Commonly reported bugs** - Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing - Text selection issues, especially with footnotes - Compatibility problems with certain PDF files - Syncing issues across devices - Export functionality not working as expected **Most requested features** - Add handwriting and freeform annotation support - Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature - Allow editing of notes directly in the app - Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription - Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation ## Recent user reviews (10 of 464) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews.md ### 4/5 — my because benefit *2026-06-15, version 2026.1.3* Greetings ### 1/5 — Last update killed it on Monterey *2026-06-13, version 2026.1.2* Been using this for 2-4 years now due to black modeI Si verion check done, dev may have forgotten to fill that, result Poof, Nothing. Doesn't open on Monteray 12.7.6 no warning no nothing. ### 3/5 — Why is there a subscription? *2026-05-14, version 2026.1.2* Okay so the app does what it is supposed to do. I can’t stand the UI. It’s literally just the Apple file system. I would like to organize my notes separately from… everything else on my computer. I guess I need the mental separation. Also, I don’t understand why there is a subscription for this app. It feels greedy. I’m not asking it to do anything extravagant, just highlight my pdfs. Won’t be renewing. ### 3/5 — Super application, mais qui bogue souvent *2026-04-25, version 2026.1.1* Très pratique, très facile à utiliser. Malheureusement l’application bogue souvent; Soit l’écran gèle pour un temps, soit le document ferme soudainement, soit il n’est plus possible d’interagir avec l’écran, etc… ### 2/5 — Unacceptably complicated for form completion *2026-03-29, version 2026.1.1* I cannot use Highlights for submitting forms. ### 5/5 — Most useful app ever!! *2026-03-26, version 2026.1* Best app ever!!! Everyone should have this on their phone if they are going to stare at it! ### 5/5 — Ease of use and tools are excellent *2026-03-18, version 2026.1* This is an excellent app for working with PDFs with very intuitive and easy-to-use tools ### 3/5 — Done With Subscription-Based Apps *2026-03-17* I really like this app and I have used it for a lot of things (the pro-version), but I cannot justify paying a subscription price every year. I hope apps that have no yearly updates or drastic changes to their software reconsider the subscription-based model. It’s killing those of us who need to look through all of our subscriptions each month and determine what is actually worth our money. I used it for very, very simple annotation tasks and really like the ability to highlight automatically, use hotkeys to switch between colors and the ability to easily export my notes—however, it’s not worth paying 30 dollars every year for. I’d much rather pay a one-time fee of even 60-70 dollars for an app like this, but not interested in paying forever. I have found an alternative one-time-payment app with more features (though honestly, I like the simplicity of this app) that benefit my studies so will be using that instead. ### 1/5 — Memory leaks *2026-03-04, version 2026.1* About once every two weeks I get an enormous memory leak that eats up swap space until my disk runs out of storage. I cannot recommend this app until this is fixed. ### 5/5 — best in its field *2026-03-03, version 2026.1* great application for those who likes to extract important parts from pdf texts or images. if only it also exist for android platforms ## Frequently asked questions about Highlights ### What does the Highlights app do? Highlights is a PDF reader designed for research. It allows you to read, browse, and annotate PDF documents with various tools like highlighting, underlining, and strikethrough. It also extracts your annotations into organized notes and can convert table data and recognize text within PDFs. ### What are the key features of this PDF reader? Key features include reading and browsing PDFs, annotating text and images, adding comments, extracting annotations into notes, converting table data to CSV, recognizing text from images, and smart copying of annotations into formats like BibTex for citations. ### Is this app free to use? The app offers a free version with standard PDF reader features, including document browsing, reading, and annotating. There are no ads, time limits, or tracking for free users. Advanced features may require a purchase or subscription. ### What devices is Highlights compatible with? The app is designed for mobile devices and supports features like multi-window on iPadOS, suggesting compatibility with iOS and iPadOS. It also integrates with cloud storage services like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, and Google Drive. ### How can I use this app for my research? You can use this app to read research papers, highlight key information, add your thoughts as annotations or sticky notes, and then easily extract these annotations into formatted notes. The ability to convert tables and recognize text is also invaluable for data analysis from PDFs. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 2026.1.4 — 2026-07-04 Dark appearance for PDFs! Smart content handling gives your PDFs light text on a dark background without changing images and annotations. This can reduce eye strain and improve readability in dark environments while conserving battery life. To try it out: open a PDF document and go to Settings from the More menu in the top right corner, then set Auto Dark as your Appearance. The setting is also available in the menu bar on iPad under View. The Auto Dark setting will automatically match the PDF appearance to the system appearance. No more glaring white pages in Dark Mode! The new dark appearance for PDFs requires a device running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 set to Dark Mode. Minor improvements: - Fixed a potential crash when generating thumbnails - Fixed an issue with quoted text in markdown exports containing line breaks - Tweaked onboarding animation transitions and colors - New onboarding flow ### 2026.1.3 — 2026-06-06 Dark appearance for PDFs! Smart content handling gives your PDFs light text on a dark background without changing images and annotations. This can reduce eye strain and improve readability in dark environments while conserving battery life. To try it out: open a PDF document and go to Settings from the More menu in the top right corner, then set Auto Dark as your Appearance. The setting is also available in the menu bar on iPad under View. The Auto Dark setting will automatically match the PDF appearance to the system appearance. No more glaring white pages in Dark Mode! The new dark appearance for PDFs requires a device running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 set to Dark Mode. Minor improvements: - Fixed an issue with quoted text in markdown exports containing line breaks - Tweaked onboarding animation transitions and colors - New onboarding flow ### 2026.1.2 — 2026-05-22 Dark appearance for PDFs! Smart content handling gives your PDFs light text on a dark background without changing images and annotations. This can reduce eye strain and improve readability in dark environments while conserving battery life. To try it out: open a PDF document and go to Settings from the More menu in the top right corner, then set Auto Dark as your Appearance. The setting is also available in the menu bar on iPad under View. The Auto Dark setting will automatically match the PDF appearance to the system appearance. No more glaring white pages in Dark Mode! The new dark appearance for PDFs requires a device running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 set to Dark Mode. Minor improvements: - Tweaked onboarding animation transitions and colors - New onboarding flow ### 2026.1.1 — 2026-04-21 Dark appearance for PDFs! Smart content handling gives your PDFs light text on a dark background without changing images and annotations. This can reduce eye strain and improve readability in dark environments while conserving battery life. To try it out: open a PDF document and go to Settings from the More menu in the top right corner, then set Auto Dark as your Appearance. The setting is also available in the menu bar on iPad under View. The Auto Dark setting will automatically match the PDF appearance to the system appearance. No more glaring white pages in Dark Mode! The new dark appearance for PDFs requires a device running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 set to Dark Mode. Minor improvement: - New onboarding flow ### 2026.1 — 2026-01-28 Dark appearance for PDFs! Smart content handling gives your PDFs light text on a dark background without changing images and annotations. This can reduce eye strain and improve readability in dark environments while conserving battery life. To try it out: open a PDF document and go to Settings from the More menu in the top right corner, then set Auto Dark as your Appearance. The setting is also available in the menu bar on iPad under View. The Auto Dark setting will automatically match the PDF appearance to the system appearance. No more glaring white pages in Dark Mode! 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User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-26.*