# PaperShip - Mendeley & Zotero

> Mobile PDF reader and annotator for Mendeley and Zotero libraries. (iPhone/iPad app by shazino.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/papership-mendeley-and-zotero/id631980748 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [shazino](https://appshunter.io/developer/529461205)
- Category: Productivity, Utilities
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.00/5 from 921 App Store ratings · 613 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 11.0 · 63 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2013-04-30
- Data updated: 2026-07-03
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/papership-mendeley-and-zotero/id631980748/reviews.md

## What is PaperShip?

PaperShip is an iPad, iPhone, and Mac application designed to give you access to your Mendeley / Zotero library on-the-go. 
You will enjoy annotating your PDFs with highlights, notes, free text, drawings and much more!

What the scientists say:
“Maybe the best app I have” by WilllllliW
“Fantastic app” by BramBZ
“Brilliant” by CherylRen
“これがないと研究できません！” by DehydrogenaseK
“Superbe pour la gestion bibliographique” by Gringopako

######### 

The most powerful annotation types for your papers (requires in-app purchase)! 

• Highlights and text decoration (underline, strikethrough...), 
• Notes, 
• Free text, 
• Hand drawing and hand writing, 
• Shapes (rectangle, oval...), 
• Stamps, 
• Images, 
• Audio recordings, 
• and much more... 

######### 

Note: PaperShip requires a Zotero or Mendeley account. 

READ | Get access to your entire library on your mobile devices. Our build-in PDF reader is the greatest way to find and look at your latest literature. But we also support a lot of other types: image, document, spreadsheet, text, webpage... You will take advantage of the iPad and iPhone Retina screens and never need to print your publications anymore. 

ANNOTATE | PaperShip provides a lot of annotation types which go far beyond what most of the reference managers offer (available through In-App Purchase). And as our tools are compliant with the PDF standard, your annotations will be available in most of the other readers. 

METADATA | PaperShip allows you to read and edit article's metadata. You can now add tags, update title or change authors in an easy way whatever the type of document you are reading. 

IMPACT | PaperShip is the first reference manager to link your articles to the new almetric data! Just know in real time what are the impacts of your publications inside the scientific community. 

MANAGE | PaperShip keeps your articles organized based on your Mendeley/Zotero folders. Add a paper to your favorites or move it to another folder by using an incredible pane and swipe navigation. Your articles will always stay at your fingertips with the search engine. 

IMPORT | Just import a new paper by tapping some keywords or looking at author name and PaperShip will bring it to your library. By selecting the Open Access option, you will be able to download automatically the linked PDF for free. 

SYNC | Always stay up to date between your mobile library and your desktop application. Once you add or annotate a PDF, it will wirelessly be saved on the Mendeley/Zotero platform to be available on all of your devices. 

SHARE | You have found a new incredible article? Just share it with colleagues in your groups, by email or on social networks like Twitter and Facebook and bring reference managers to the science 2.0 step. 

######### 

Learn more about PaperShip for iPad and iPhone on www.papershipapp.com 

Follow us on Twitter @PaperShipApp

## Key features

- Access Mendeley/Zotero library
- PDF annotation tools
- Metadata editing
- Almetric data integration
- Library management
- Seamless syncing
- Article sharing

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PDF Annotation Pack | $9.99 | one-time |


## What do users think of PaperShip?

Overall sentiment: negative

**Pros**

- 👍 Efficient app for reading and annotating PDFs
- 🚀 Seamless sync with Zotero/Mendeley libraries
- 💡 Useful annotation and highlighting tools
- 🔍 Altmetrics integration for quick reference impact

**Cons**

- 🐛 Sync issues with Zotero/Mendeley, leading to lost annotations
- 🔒 Lack of customer support and abandoned development
- 💰 Expensive in-app purchase for annotation features
- 🔍 Subpar search and organization capabilities compared to desktop apps

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Frequent crashes and freezes
- Inability to import PDFs from external sources
- Annotations not syncing or disappearing
- Inconsistent behavior across iOS devices

**Most requested features**

- Improved annotation tools with Apple Pencil support
- Ability to manage folders and collections within the app
- Bidirectional sync of annotations with Zotero/Mendeley
- Dark mode and other customization options

## Recent user reviews (10 of 613)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/papership-mendeley-and-zotero/id631980748/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Login Issues with Zotero

*2026-03-31, version 3.8.5*

Ipad version of this app no longer works with zotero, as it has not incorporated the captcha part of the login and any attempts to login will be rejected due to never having the ability to solve the captcha.

### 1/5 — Worst thing ever

*2026-01-11, version 3.8.5*

Too expensive and syncing process is very bad, I will use zotero

### 1/5 — Does not work with Zotero

*2025-10-15, version 3.8.5*

It seems as though the “OAuth” handshake with zotero does not work anymore. Do not download if you want to sync with zotero.

### 1/5 — Terrible login UI

*2025-07-25, version 3.8.5*

Not sure whom to blame for making it downright impossible to login into zotero. But if you can’t manage that then what’s the point of this app

### 1/5 — Unusable anymore

*2025-07-23, version 3.8.5*

I tried to open my Zotero library, using PaperShip, but then it said to open Safari to grant PaperShip access to my Zotero library, which I did. The Settings indicated that an access key had been created for PaperShip, yet the app was unable to access my Zotero library. The app hasn’t had updates for years. In the meantime, Zotero has released an iOS app that works fine. Farewell, PaperShip!

### 3/5 — Annotations

*2025-06-21, version 3.8.5*

Please let us do annotation in app also

### 5/5 — 다소 버그가 있지만 작성한 annotation이 mendeley 앱과 호환되는 점이 이 어플이 가진 최고의 장점입니다.

*2025-06-13, version 3.8.5*

업데이트가 된지 오래되어 다소 버그가 있지만 제목의 목적을 위해서는 아직 papership의 대체제가 없습니다. 한번씩 멘델레이 앱과 동기화 오류가 발생하여 papership을 새로고침할때마다 멘델레이 앱에 논문이 계속 복제되는 문제가 발생하긴 하는데 papership을 재로그인 하면 해결되긴합니다.

### 1/5 — Ya no funciona con Zotero

*2025-06-06, version 3.8.5*

Después de más de cinco años sin actualizarse, pasó lo inevitable… Ya no es posible entrar a la cuenta de Zotero.
Fue muy buena aplicación en su momento, sin embargo, ya no es recomendable.

### 3/5 — Was the app abandoned?

*2025-06-04, version 3.8.5*

After Mendeley being excluded from the App Store for iPhone and iPad, I’ve been searching for something to replace it. PaperShip is ok, but got some long standing issues that are not being addressed for years.

### 1/5 — can’t login with zotero

*2025-05-26, version 3.8.5*

failed at the very first step

## Frequently asked questions about PaperShip

### What does PaperShip do?

PaperShip allows you to access, read, and annotate your Mendeley or Zotero research library on your iPad, iPhone, and Mac. It provides a robust PDF reader with various annotation tools and enables you to manage your articles and their metadata on the go.

### What are the key features of PaperShip?

Key features include accessing your entire Mendeley/Zotero library, a powerful PDF reader with extensive annotation types (highlights, notes, drawings, shapes, etc.), metadata editing, integration with almetric data, library organization, and seamless syncing between mobile and desktop applications.

### How much does PaperShip cost?

The app itself is free to download and use for basic access to your library. However, advanced annotation tools and features require an in-app purchase. Specific pricing for these features can be found within the app.

### What devices is PaperShip compatible with?

PaperShip is available for iPad, iPhone, and Mac devices. It requires a Zotero or Mendeley account to function.

### How does PaperShip help with research management?

PaperShip centralizes your research papers from Mendeley or Zotero into a single mobile library. You can annotate PDFs directly, edit metadata, organize articles into folders, and even track the impact of your publications through almetric data integration, streamlining your research workflow.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 3.8.5 — 2019-11-13

- Updated PDF annotation tools
- Interface improvements

### 3.8.4 — 2019-10-21

- Bug fixes

### 3.8.3 — 2016-06-01

- Bug fixes

### 3.8.2 — 2016-05-12

- Restore PDF annotations contextual menu items
- Preserve last name/first name distinction when analyzing documents metadata
- Preserve “creator type” field for Zotero documents
- Fix crash when trying to open non-HTTP(S) URLs

### 3.8.1 — 2016-05-09

- Fix PDF screen not responding

## Apps similar to PaperShip

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Essayist: Academic Writing App](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/essayist-academic-writing-app/id1537845384) | 4.5 (378) | Free | Productivity |
| [Zotero](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zotero/id1513554812) | 4.6 (420) | Free | Productivity |
| [EndNote](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/endnote/id593994211) | 2.6 (162) | Free | Productivity |
| [Paperpile](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736) | 4.5 (129) | Free | Productivity |
| [Rayyan](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rayyan/id1581620841) | 3.8 (23) | Free | Productivity |
| [Papers by ReadCube](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/papers-by-readcube/id864042981) | 3.7 (551) | Free | Productivity |

## More apps by shazino

- [Laboratory Timer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/laboratory-timer/id537195348)
- [SciKey - Scientific Keyboard](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scikey-scientific-keyboard/id927863083)
- [Neurons](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/neurons/id1060631628)

All apps by shazino: https://appshunter.io/developer/529461205

## Related topics

[mendeley](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/mendeley) · [papership](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/papership) · [zotero](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/zotero) · [lrp publications](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/lrp-publications) · [access scholar articles](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/access-scholar-articles) · [papers by readcube](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/papers-by-readcube)

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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 2026-07-03.*