# iAnnotate 4 — PDFs & more — A better way to markup

> Document reader and annotator with extensive markup and cloud integration. (iPhone/iPad app by Branchfire, Inc..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/iannotate-4-pdfs-and-more/id1093924230 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Branchfire, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/284975584)
- Category: Productivity, Business
- Price: $9.99
- Rating: 4.70/5 from 8,879 App Store ratings · 365 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 15.6 · 82 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2016-05-03
- Data updated: 2026-09-01
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/iannotate-4-pdfs-and-more/id1093924230/reviews.md

## What is iAnnotate 4?

iAnnotate by Folia is the best way to read, annotate, and share PDFs, Microsoft Office files, images and web pages! Over 1 million people turn to iAnnotate to take notes, sign agreements, highlight documents, insert stamps and more.

New in v4: iPhone support, iPad Pro and multitasking support, automatic Apple Pencil detection, shape annotations, improved web markup, enhanced support for OneDrive (and OneDrive for Business), iCloud Drive, and iCloud backup.

iAnnotate’s award-winning interface and customizable set of features make it the go-to app for taking notes on lecture slides, annotating important business documents, revising screenplays, grading papers, and much more. Read on to learn about the great capabilities of iAnnotate: 

IPHONE: Now you can use iAnnotate on your phone, with all of the great features you’ve come to expect on your iPad.

IPAD PRO: iAnnotate works great with the iPad Pro. Automatically annotate when you use the Apple Pencil and easily pan, zoom, scroll with your fingers — no tool switching required.  Get more work done with iOS multitasking and smart keyboard shortcuts.

ANNOTATE: Choose from the pen, highlighter, typewriter, stamp, straight-line, note, underline, strikeout, photo, voice recording, arrow, rectangle, circle, and date stamp tools.

CUSTOMIZE: Drag and drop tools to your custom toolbars. Swipe between toolbars, or open the Toolbox to access all your tools. 

ACCESS: Connect with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive (including OneDrive for Business) or open PDFs directly from email and other apps.

SEARCH: Search documents in your local library and throughout your cloud storage. 

SHARE: iAnnotate saves your markups directly to the PDF, so they can be viewed and edited in external PDF readers. 

FLATTEN: Compress your annotations onto the document to prevent modification. This is useful for preserving signatures or for preventing recipients from deleting or changing your annotations. 

WEB MARKUP: Open a web capture tab and find the site you want to mark up. iAnnotate will convert it to a PDF for annotation.

NAVIGATE: Explore your documents by thumbnails, bookmarks, annotations, or search results.

UNLIMITED TABS: Open multiple documents in tabs, and easily navigate between them, on both tablet and phone. 

TWO DOCUMENTS: Work on two documents side-by-side, for even greater productivity.

MANAGE: Arrange documents by folders and sort contents by date added, date last opened, or alphabetical order.

CREATE: Create brand new PDFs with blank, lined, or graph-paper pages.

MODIFY: Add, delete, rotate, and rearrange pages in your documents. 

SUMMARIZE: Forward a summary of your annotations as an email or a new PDF.

SECURE: Full support for the iOS Data Protection and Keychain functions. 

Interested in using iAnnotate in your business or school? Visit us at www.folia.com to find out about our enterprise options.

## Key features

- Annotate PDFs, Office files, images, and web pages
- Extensive annotation tools (pen, highlighter, typewriter, stamps)
- Cloud storage integration (Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive)
- Web page markup and PDF conversion
- Multi-document tabbed interface
- Side-by-side document viewing
- Flatten annotations for secure sharing

## Chart rankings

- #69 in Top Paid · Productivity (US App Store)

## What do users think of iAnnotate 4?

Overall sentiment: neutral

**Pros**

- 🚀 Great for annotations
- 🚀 Excellent for academic/professional use
- 🚀 Seamless Dropbox integration
- 👍 Customizable toolbars
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Reliable and stable

**Cons**

- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Inconsistent file management and syncing
- 🐛 Unreliable offline functionality
- 🐛 Clunky interface and navigation
- 🐛 Issues with Apple Pencil support
- 🐛 Memory management problems

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Disappearing annotations
- Inability to open/save files offline
- Blurry text rendering after OCR
- Inconsistent page numbering
- Unreliable Dropbox/cloud syncing

**Most requested features**

- Ability to copy/paste annotations
- Eraser tool improvements
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts
- Dark mode option
- Improved search functionality
- Batch processing of annotations

## Recent user reviews (10 of 365)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/iannotate-4-pdfs-and-more/id1093924230/reviews.md

### 4/5 — Very useful

*2026-05-19, version 4.10.6*

The app is really good. The only small point I have is that the tool bar at the side obscures part of the document when it is active. I use it to review pdf slide decks so this often hides the slide number which makes it more difficult to write up the review afterwards.

### 3/5 — Loading Files to slow or not possible

*2026-05-16*

I actually love this app and I use it a lot. However, it happens so often that when you need to source and open a file from iCloud the app just doesn’t show any of the file / folder structure and needs way too long if at all to open the document

**Developer response:** Thanks so much for the feedback!

We understand how frustrating the iCloud file picker experience can be when folders don’t load properly or documents take too long to open.

Your feedback is genuinely helpful because it helps us prioritize where we can improve the app. We’ll investigate the iCloud issue further, and if you’re open to it, feel free to reach out to help@folia.com so our support team can gather more details and keep you updated.

Thanks again for taking the time to share this with us.

### 1/5 — INCONSISTENT AND CRASHES

*2026-03-24, version 4.9.29*

I really wanted to like this app because the workflow is actually great when it works. Highlighting feels smooth and it’s easy to stay in a rhythm when prepping large documents.

But I’ve now run into the same issue multiple times and it’s a dealbreaker.

Everything looks consistent while I’m working in the app, but when I export to PDF, the highlight colors change in intensity. Some sections come out darker or lighter even though I used the exact same color. It ends up looking inconsistent and unprofessional, and there’s no way to catch it until after export.

On top of that, the app crashes when working on larger files, which makes the whole thing even more unreliable.

I use this for professional work where consistency matters, and I can’t risk something like this happening again. I didn’t have this issue with other apps, so it’s really disappointing.

If this gets fixed, I’d absolutely consider coming back to it. But right now, I can’t trust it

### 2/5 — Lento

*2026-03-10*

Demora demais pra carregar e conectar com drives virtuais

**Developer response:** Olá! Obrigado por nos informar sobre o seu problema. Por favor, entre em contato pelo e-mail help@folia.com; nossa equipe de suporte terá prazer em obter mais informações e prestar assistência adicional. Você não deveria estar enfrentando longos tempos de carregamento em sua conexão com a nuvem.

### 1/5 — Fix the Conversion Bug!

*2026-02-21, version 4.9.29*

Your app refuses to convert Docs from Canvas. It just sits and refuses to accept the file. It will convert them from Google Drive, but I should not have to download papers into another app just so that your software will finally do its job. I have reported the conversion bug problems for .docx files before, and your team gave a less than useful answer. Please actually fix the issue this time. I have used your app to grade for over a decade now, and I would rather use it than Speedgrader or other tools, but this problem cannot persist. If it does, I’ll have to go elsewhere. My students deserve better than consistently buggy software.

### 1/5 — 4.9.15 unstable

*2025-11-26, version 4.9.15*

It crashes all the time since the update.  ipadOS 26.1.  Every time I reopen the app, all tabs are gone.  I will try reinstalling a fresh copy.  I have been a happy user for 15 years.

A reinstall was ineffective.

### 5/5 — Perfect in every way

*2025-11-26, version 4.9.15*

I've used iAnnotate for my business proofreading for court reporters for over 10 years.

From the ability to custom create stamps for mark-up to ease of use to fast, responsive support, this app is perfect in every way.

Love it, love it, love it.

### 3/5 — Buggy Today

*2025-11-13, version 4.9.12*

The app is generally awesome, but the conversion from docx to pdf keeps failing today. I use the app to grade, and delays add up. Please fix this.

### 5/5 — Love this app for grading papers

*2025-10-19, version 4.8.23*

I’ve tried every PDF app out there and I keep coming back to iAnnotate for grading papers. It is by far the best and most flexible app. The iPad is a perfect tool for providing feedback on student writing and iAnnotate is the best app for the job.

### 5/5 — Updates RUINED the app!

*2025-10-14, version 4.8.23*

Updates have removed functionality and made this app unusable. Presumably so we have to buy an upgrade. Great job devs!

## Frequently asked questions about iAnnotate 4

### What can I do with iAnnotate?

iAnnotate allows you to read, annotate, and share PDFs, Microsoft Office files, images, and web pages. You can take notes, sign documents, highlight text, insert stamps, and much more using a variety of annotation tools.

### What annotation tools are available?

The app offers a comprehensive set of tools including pen, highlighter, typewriter, stamp, underline, strikeout, shape annotations, notes, and more. You can customize your toolbars for quick access.

### How much does iAnnotate cost?

iAnnotate is a paid application. The specific price can be found on its app store listing. There are no in-app purchases or advertisements mentioned.

### What devices is iAnnotate compatible with?

iAnnotate is available for iPhone and iPad, including support for iPad Pro and multitasking features. It also offers Apple Pencil detection for enhanced usability on compatible devices.

### How does iAnnotate handle cloud storage?

You can connect iAnnotate to popular cloud services like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive (including OneDrive for Business). This allows you to access and save your documents directly from these platforms.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 4.10.6 — 2026-04-14

This release includes a major update built with the latest tools for improved performance and reliability.

Built with Xcode 26 for enhanced stability and compatibility
Fixed an issue affecting the rendering of certain PDFs
Resolved a bug related to autosave to ensure your work is preserved

### 4.9.29 — 2026-02-04

- Fixed an issue that could cause the connection to OneDrive storage to be lost.
- SharePoint access is now available for Microsoft business accounts.

### 4.9.28 — 2026-01-07

This bug fix resolves a save-back error on specific document types.

### 4.9.15 — 2025-11-19

Enhanced keyboard arrow key support for smoother document navigation.
Improved handling and performance of the Typewriter tool.

### 4.9.12 — 2025-11-09

Bug fixes.

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## More apps by Branchfire, Inc.

- [Folia - go paperless](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/folia-go-paperless/id1009444127)
- [iAnnotate for BlackBerry](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/iannotate-for-blackberry/id1121416862)
- [iAnnotate for Intune / O365](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/iannotate-for-intune-o365/id1567388828)
- [iAnnotate Forms for BlackBerry](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/iannotate-forms-for-blackberry/id6466617190)
- [iAnnotate Forms for Intune](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/iannotate-forms-for-intune/id6476688018)

All apps by Branchfire, Inc.: https://appshunter.io/developer/284975584

## Related topics

[iannotate](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/iannotate) · [iannotate for blackberry](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/iannotate-for-blackberry)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-01.*