Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes

Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes

Edit Research Documents/Books

1.6K ratings
465 reviews
Free
In-App Purchases

Details

  • Released
  • Updated
  • April 10, 2020
  • September 12, 2026

Features

Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes video #1 for iPhone
Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes screenshot #2 for iPhone
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Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes screenshot #9 for iPhone
Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes screenshot #10 for iPhone
Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes screenshot #11 for iPhone
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About

This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.

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
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What users say

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+1

What's New in Highlights

2026.2

September 12, 2026

The iOS and iPadOS 27 release with support for Siri AI. You can ask it to do simple actions: - "Scan using Highlights" - "Open Highlights" Or perform intricate requests based on the document you have open: - "Does this article have any supplementary information?" - "Do the authors have a website?" - "Have they published anything together recently?" You can both talk and type to Siri AI. You do not need to choose your words as carefully as previously and it is much better at understanding context. Siri AI requires iOS and iPadOS 27 and a compatible device. This release also brings a refined Liquid Glass design with updated app icons. Furthermore annotations with comments now render with a text bubble icon next to them in the PDF to make it possible to know which have comments at a glance. New languages are also available for OCR and text recognition in image selections: Finnish, Hindi and Marathi.

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Subscription plans

Highlights Pro

Convert PDF Annotations into Notes and Export

$29.991 Year
14 Days trial
How to cancel Highlights subscription ⁉️

Events

Read more about Dark PDF Appearance

Dark PDF Appearance

No more glaring white pages in Dark mode!

Mar 25, 2026 Apr 25, 2026

Read more about Black Friday

Black Friday

Get the best deal of the year on Highlights Pro

Nov 25, 2024 Dec 3, 2024

User reviews

Plz allow free form sketching and scribbling

Great app but I need to alternate between preview and highlights

my because benefit

Greetings

Last update killed it on Monterey

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.

Why is there a subscription?

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.
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Super application, mais qui bogue souvent

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…

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User experience

🐞

Reported Bugs

5 issues

Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing

Bug

Text selection issues, especially with footnotes

Bug

Compatibility problems with certain PDF files

Bug

Syncing issues across devices

Bug

Export functionality not working as expected

Bug

Requested Features

5 requests

Add handwriting and freeform annotation support

Feature

Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature

Feature

Allow editing of notes directly in the app

Feature

Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription

Feature

Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation

Feature

FAQ

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.