# PDF Cabinet — user reviews > 127 indexed App Store user reviews of PDF Cabinet by Bright Nine SIA, rated 3.80/5 from 56 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-cabinet/id764366087/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-cabinet/id764366087.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 28 · 4★ 9 · 3★ 6 · 2★ 2 · 1★ 10 ## What do users think of PDF Cabinet? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Smooth performance - 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface - 💡 Excellent annotation tools - 🚀 Fast and responsive - 👍 Simple and clean design - 💡 Collaboration features - 👍 Reliable and stable **Cons** - 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues - 💡 Limited highlighter and pen customization - 💡 Lack of iCloud/cloud sync support - 🐛 Text disappearing issue - 🐛 Slow document loading and navigation **Commonly reported bugs** - Randomly deleting files - Sync issues causing loss of annotations - Crashing when opening large documents - Navigation problems when zoomed in - Annotations not exporting properly **Most requested features** - Add more highlighter and pen color options - Implement palm rejection for Apple Pencil - Add ability to resize and move annotation tools - Improve cloud/sync functionality (iCloud, Dropbox, etc.) - Implement vertical scrolling for continuous reading - Add text box annotation feature - Improve export/sharing options for annotated documents ## Newest reviews (11 of 127) ### 4/5 — Pen thickness *2025-05-14, version 3.0.5* This is the best pdf annotation app I’ve found. No nonsense. Seems reliable. Like workflow. Can’t get collaborations to connect. Need a finer pen stroke though. When exporting, in says ‘open in’ which is not good ui descriptor. Just name it export to get all the choices like save to iPad. ### 4/5 — Whoopee, an update! *2024-01-21* As a long term user of the Cabinet app I was both surprised and delighted to see that an update was available. Over the ten plus years I’ve relied on this app it has served me well despite having a collection of several hundred PDF’s, some of them 200mb plus in size. A handful of crashes have occurred and many times the app would only relaunch after a cold reset of the iPad. Hopefully this update will improve the stability still further. The one feature I do really miss is the ability to add new folders that will sync with iCloud. However, the folders I had already set to sync on an older version of this app still sync flawlessly. It is important to me to have all my PDF’s backed up. Perhaps the developer(s) might consider reinstating his feature? (Please!) I blushingly admit that I have had brief dalliances with many other pdf apps but this is the only one that I would marry - it is a superb app and used daily. **Developer response:** Harsh, but fair. We couldn't support the live sync, so we had to take it out. ### 2/5 — Skeuomorphic design at its worst *2023-05-12, version 2.8.12* This app is really leaning into design over function. Apple has moved away from Skeuomorphism (they fired Scott Forstall for it) making this app feel extremely dated. Add to that the very limited functionally over things like GoodNotes or PDFExpert and I wonder why anyone would use this app. ### 4/5 — Thank you for keeping this app free *2023-04-15, version 2.8.12* I am a student and don’t have extra money to spend on in app purchases so thank you to the team behind PDF Cabinet for keeping it free and updated. ### 3/5 — Increasingly Worse Stability *2023-01-26, version 2.8.0* This app is alright for what it does, but it’s in serious need of an update. Constant freezing doing the most basic of tasks, and crashing when trying to export are starting to make this a really cumbersome app to use. ### 2/5 — Text disappears *2022-03-24, version 2.8.0* I have been using this app for several years and over the last few months I notice the text disappears if I leave the app open and go to another app. When I return the pages are blank and need to go to the library to open the document again. Needs some resolution in an update. Will be sad to find another replacement app. ### 5/5 — Best pdf reader I had *2020-08-15, version 2.8.0* It’s exactly what I was looking for...it’s such user-friendly app and so easy to work with.note taking and highlighting haven’t been any easier. You can highlight even texts that are fuzzy or highlighting scans and what I Love the most about is the part letting you see all your notes and highlightes one afer another,it’s like you have a collection of your notes in one place and you can find and review them easily.I wish I found this pdf reader sooner.thanks for the great work. ### 3/5 — Annotations don’t export well from iPad *2020-05-15, version 2.8.0* The main problem that I’ve repeatedly encountered with this app is that the annotations DO NOT “flatten” (ie. merge with the document) when the file is pushed out to another app. I’ve tried emailing, sending it to other Apple apps such as Explain EDU, sending it to my Google Drive, and the result is always the same: the text boxes and annotations either don’t appear, or appear small and out of place. If you’re just looking for an app to mark up a document and view later on your device, this app will DO that very nicely. Lots of options are available, all of which are easy to apply from a central hub at the touch of the screen. I have not tried the Collaboration feature of the app, but if you’re just looking to have multiple users work on a document simultaneously WITHOUT the goal of eventually exporting to export properly send documents that have been edited by a user, I would consider that feature to be worth a try. ### 3/5 — Palm rejection suggestion *2020-03-08, version 2.8.0* I really love this app for note taking and highlighting my college documents. I love how easily and fun can someone change from highlighter to pen or even the eraser. But i would be more happy using this app if there could be a option of palm rejection for better use of the apple pencil. Please, consider this suggestion for better use of the app. I think many of us college students would appreciate it. Thanks. ### 3/5 — User friendly but sometimes unaccecable. *2020-01-30, version 2.8.0* I love your app, but sometimes I can not open it and it seems that l don’t have any access to the information l worked on and it’s pretty scary. ### 4/5 — Easy to do what it does, wish it were slightly more customizable. *2019-12-19, version 2.8.0* I use this to mark and highlight scripts, and it does pretty well. It's easy and quick to use. I do wish the highlighter tool would either be sizable or actually be the size of an average line of a document. As it is, the highlighter covers about a line and a half which makes it difficult to get things right during dialogue when each character gets their own color. That's the worst I've got! Exportin, changing tools, all of that works as expected and rarely glitches at all. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — A Careless Developer! *2026-06-02, version 3.0.5* This developer did a great job with creating such an incredible PDF reader, which in my opinion, is unparalleled with any I have seen. It looks natural and beautiful. Annual subscription would be worth it if only the developer was updating it to avoid frequent crashing. Because it crashes often leading to the lost of all stored files and requiring reinstatement, this product is not worth being in apple apps. It is frustrating. Either the developer is dead or just doesn’t care to help users. Too sad… I have to delete something that I paid money for—all because the developer is careless to update it. ### 1/5 — Useless *2024-06-19, version 2.8.12* The annotation feature is impossible to utilize. Don’t waste your $. ### 1/5 — Fails to load *2021-07-22, version 2.8.0* Two days ago I would have rated it 5. Yesterday PDF Cabinet started failing to load. Turning iPad off and back on will sometimes bring it back up. I have the app on two devices and the same problem on both devices. ### 1/5 — No cloud backup *2020-10-02, version 2.8.0* This app is going down to hell in a hand bag..no iCloud nor Dropbox backup and no support. Please upgrade app. ### 1/5 — I loved this app! But then... *2020-08-27, version 2.8.0* nice features and simple. but syncing doesn’t work as advertised. WORST is that any annotations can ONLY be read inside Cabinet! So forget sharing with someone, or even using your own files on your Mac. Avoid for those reasons... ### 1/5 — Save your money No way to backup folders *2020-06-23, version 2.8.0* The sync guide and the cloud services tutorial video both show functionality that is not in the app. There is no cloud button at the top left of a folder. There is no sync button as shown in the Sync guide. The folders/categories cannot be transferred via iTunes to a PC. Find another app if you want to be able to backup your files. ### 1/5 — Randomly deleted all files *2020-04-17, version 2.8.0* This app randomly deleted all my files - I lost years of annotated PDFs. DO NOT USE if you care about your data. ### 1/5 — App support? *2019-12-13, version 2.8.0* You’re on your own with this one if you should have any questions or want to backup files inside this app. I’ve written them several times requesting info on how to backup the files stored in the app. I had a meltdown pneumonia on my first iPad and did a factory restore thinking my files safe in iTunes backup. Wrong. Should have learned then. I recently purchased a new iPad and again requested info on how to migrate the app and files (and I have several years of folders and files). Completed their “app support” request and again, no response. Again I’m on my own. It’s a great app otherwise and fit my modest needs. I’m even willing to pay for this type of program app. But now I’m looking for a new app to read, store and annotate PDFs because I can’t trust this one to keep my files safe and available. Fool me twice... ### 1/5 — Me borro documentos *2019-10-15, version 2.8.0* Malisima la aplicacion, la utilizaba para resumir de la facultad y de un dia para el otro no me deja abrir los documentos que ya tenia resumidos, por lo que voy a tener que imprimirlos y hacerlo todo de nuevo ### 1/5 — Get this app just to lose all of my notes and digital homework *2017-04-24, version 2.5.3* Way too buggy. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — My favorite annotations app!!! *2026-02-28, version 3.0.5* Please keep this app going! It’s simply the best! ### 5/5 — Whoopee, another update! *2025-02-02, version 3.0.5* As a long term user of the Cabinet app I was both surprised and delighted to see that an update was available. Over the ten plus years I’ve relied on this app it has served me well despite having a collection of several hundred PDF’s, some of them 200mb plus in size. A handful of crashes have occurred and many times the app would only relaunch after a cold reset of the iPad. Hopefully this update will improve the stability still further. The one feature I do really miss is the ability to add new folders that will sync with iCloud. However, the folders I had already set to sync on an older version of this app still sync flawlessly. It is important to me to have all my PDF’s backed up. Perhaps the developer(s) might consider reinstating his feature? (Please!) I blushingly admit that I have had brief dalliances with many other pdf apps but this is the only one that I would marry - it is a superb app and used daily. Edit: 2/2/25 Delighted to see an update of my favourite app. The last update was very stable indeed. Simple intuitive design at its best. Thank you. ### 5/5 — Amazing app *2024-11-19, version 3.0.4* Love this app. I’ve used it for years and it does everything you could want. ### 5/5 — Legendary app in now on iPhone! *2024-11-09* Well, this was always my go to PDF reader on iPad. And even though it is not updated with new features for years, it is still miles ahead of many similar apps in terms of UX. And now suddenly it’s on iPhone! I do hope they bring back the iCloud sync functionality though. ### 5/5 — I Love This App *2024-05-31, version 2.8.12* This app is great. I can easily organize, read, and annotate my PDFs. That’s all I needed and all I wanted. The interface is simple and uncluttered, and performance is great on my iPad Air M2. Perhaps the best part of this app is that it doesn’t require some stupid subscription like all the other PDF apps out there. I just wish I could pay the dev somehow :) If the author is looking for something to add to make the app even better, adding native support for SMB connections to home file servers would be awesome. Thanks! ### 5/5 — My Go-To !! *2024-02-04, version 2.8.12* I absolutely LOVE this application. I use a lot of digital bead patterns and it has been my go-to application for these and other patterns as well! It’s simple design makes it uncomplicated for crafters and recipe saving as well. My only suggestion is MORE! I would like it to work on my apple laptop and desktop as well. Good job! ### 5/5 — I never write reviews, but I depend on this App! *2024-01-28, version 2.8.12* I’ve been using this app to save PDFs including recipes, CVs, and other documents of all kinds. I love that they can be annotated and shared with/without my notes, and saved into folders so they can be found again. It’s one of the most intuitive apps on my iPad. In fact, I’ve got so much important stuff in there that it occurred to me I would be lost if I couldn’t access it! Please tell me if you ever plan to discontinue it, which I hope won’t happen. Some suggestions for developers- it would be fab if docs could be shared to social media straight from the app, or be put on a clipboard so they could be pasted wherever. Also, make it usable on an iPhone? Although I know it would be difficult to read/annotate etc, I would find it useful to be able to save straight to the app from my phone rather than having to email myself docs to later save on my iPad. In the meantime, I thoroughly recommend it and urge you to try it!! ### 5/5 — The BEST pdf annotations app *2023-05-05, version 2.8.12* I read lots of ‘best pdf reader’ reviews. Most just reiterated app marketing uncritically. I tried lots of pdf apps, often on the basis of what is ‘best’. Most of them surprised me by asking for an often costly subscription. All of them did 50 things I did not want, like signing docs, merging docs, etc. by all means get one of those costly apps if that is what you need. But if all you need is to be able to highlight text and add comments, copy an occasional text, such as when you are doing research, then this app does it seamlessly and with ease. Here’s a tip: use airdrop to import your pdfs, mark them up, then airdrop back to your laptop if you need to. ### 5/5 — Muy útil *2021-02-16, version 2.8.0* Es una app imprescindible para usar el IPad con el Apple Pencil. Y encima es gratis. Recomendada al 100%. ### 5/5 — Love, Love LOVE this app! *2020-11-14, version 2.8.0* I waited almost a year to write this review-and let me tell you. This app is exactly what it says it is. Easy to use. Simple. Clean. Basic, as in a good basic-has everything you need *if you are a fan, and hoarder of PDF documents, like me. * You can pretty much just start using this app, without having to watch a bunch of tutorials to figure out how to use it. And if there is something your not sure about, it includes a couple of booklets, in the app filing system itself that you can look in. The information is separated by subject matter, ( Each little booklet is just a few pages) and explained mostly with pictures, arrows, and one or two short sentences. That’s it. I had close to 700 documents on it once, and it crashed on me for the first time ever, while I was downloading a PDF from the web. No big deal- I cleaned it out, deleting down to roughly 300 documents-not one single problem since. If this app can hold 700, of *my* documents , before it gets “full”-that really says a lot about this app! In fact, this app, is absolutely hands down, the best filing/organizing app for PDF’s I have ever used. With that being said, you cannot create a PDF, edit, or merge PDF’s. This app is for organizing, and annotating PDF documents. And it does it well. Dear Developers-I have just one question for you. I didn’t see this in the booklets(did I miss it?!) , and I did this once, super late at night by accident, but now I can’t remember how I did it: Highlighting one word, and make it automatically highlight that one word, in the text throughout the entire document. Can ya help me out?😊 --- *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 2026-07-05.*