# Reader — user reviews > 27 indexed App Store user reviews of Reader by The Augmented Text Company LTD, rated 5.00/5 from 3 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reader/id1179373118/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reader/id1179373118.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 3 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 0 ## Newest reviews (7 of 27) ### 3/5 — Needs a way to add bookmarks *2023-10-27, version 1.2* As the title says; it would be useful for larger documents to be able to bookmark. ### 4/5 — Highlighting *2022-03-16, version 3.0.4* This PDF reader is nearly perfect. The only issue I had is that I couldn't figure out how to highlight in different colors. As a PhD student, that part is necessary for me to organize my research. I really liked using this, but without that I can't use it for very much. I'll change to 5 stars & start using it again if/once there is an option to do multi-colored highlighting. ### 4/5 — Almost There *2021-08-07, version 2.0.2* When I magnify the pdf so that a page is larger than the screen, and scroll down, the next page is not displayed at the beginning of the page but at the bottom. Is a little annoying because I have to scroll up back up again so can't read a document by just hitting SPACE. Please consider altering SPACE or DOWN to start at the begiining of the next page. Excellent job though! Great reader and will become my go-to reader once scrolling is "normal". ### 3/5 — Does not consistently format PDFs *2021-05-28, version 2.0.1* I love the potential of this app with its partner 'Author' app, but even with the manual, videos, and comments from the developers, cannot get many PDF articles (which have the DOI on the first page) to be 'auto' formatted to allow for the copy/paste feature to work. This makes it very difficult to meaningful use this app because it isn't working for all articles. It also lags far behind other PDF readers in its ability to annotate documents. ### 4/5 — "Almost" Perfect *2021-02-28, version 2.0.1* I have tried a number of free PDF readers for MAC, and unfortunately, none of them have all the features. Currently, I have three PDF readers installed since I need all of them based on the use case. While all of them have issues, the issues with this one are the most tolerable, so this is usually my go to reader. First the pros. This reader provides crystal clear text and smooth scrolling, (quite surprisingly,) the only free reader to have these two features. Of my other two readers, Adobe's scrolling is very jumpy and Foxit makes the texts blurry on the external monitor. The cons are frustrating, because while the cons of other readers are due to bugs, the cons of this one are by design. First, every time I open a new document, it opens a new window, not a new tab. I have to drag that window to a previously opened window to have them tabbed. Second, I have to select "single page continuous" to have smooth scrolling. I found no options to make it the default view. Third, the text search (cmd F) shows the results in a list. I would prefer to see the result highlighted in the regular view, which is common in all the text readers I have seen before. This helps me see the context, which is not possible in an isolated list. I really wish the developers take note and make some changes to the UI so that I can uninstall the other readers. ### 4/5 — stark whiteness *2020-11-04, version 1.7* maybe add an option to make the stark white pages a more cream colour or something ### 4/5 — Fast and clean *2019-07-12, version 1.0* There are a lot of PDF readers available for the Mac. What I liked was the speed it opened dcuments, the simple but clean layout. I particularly like the full screen mode. The lack of a line seperating the two pages make the document appear, in my view, more elegant. This in return makes reading large documents less straining on the eye. Just need a full PDF editor next...... ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — It does not work *2025-11-29, version 6.5* Promise after promise that the developer would correct the problem with this app and nothing has happened. It still doesn’t work. ### 1/5 — It does not work *2025-10-19* The title says it all. ### 1/5 — Does Not Work. Opening Letter Will Not Close App Freezes *2024-10-01, version 6.4* Upon opening the app for the first time you are asked to select a home folder. Then a document opens explaining a few short commands and then remains. You cannot close out of it, nor can you access any of the applications functions. It is essentially useless. You also cannot quit the application unless you "Force Quit". ### 1/5 — Basic functionality missing *2024-08-12, version 6.4* No Table of contents? What does "focus mode" do other than jump to some random location and remove all useful formatting from PDFs? This app pushes minimalism into uselessness. It fails to provide functionality that would enhance the reading experience. If anything, it is counter-productive. Apple' own Preview is far superior. ### 1/5 — Poor accessibility *2023-03-25, version 4.0.1* Every PDF reader I have used before has a "fit to width" feature that shows one page as the width of your screen. I cannot find any way to do this in this app. Instead, it shows two pages side-by-side, making both far too small to read comfortably. ### 1/5 — Buggy *2021-04-27, version 2.0.1* I tried this several months back and had issues with the function to remove highlights or change their color using the context menu. This was apparently on the list of things to resolve, but it is still an issue, so I'm abandoning ship in favor of an app that works. Love the minimalism, but if I can't highlight, I have no use for this app. ### 2/5 — Perplexing *2026-08-13, version 6.5* It opened a PDF, but much of what seemed attractive about it (e.g. copying a citation to Author) simply doesn’t work. I even struggled to select text. Really wanted this to work, and I hope it gets better. ### 2/5 — Weird! *2024-01-09, version 5.5* Can't re-size the window down from the default. I'm on a 40" 4K monitor and I don't need a single page occupying half of my screen. Why can't you re-size the window just like any other app? ### 3/5 — SLOOOOW *2025-07-22, version 6.5* I don't have an M1 Mac Speed is terribly laggy - what a shame it's not useable because of the delays. It may also be slowdown connected with a ling document (10MB) ... ### 3/5 — Error-Frozen App *2024-10-18, version 6.4* When open a pdf file which is a scanned text (which allows for highlighting the text). Selecting any text and right click freezes the app. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Ignore the past negativity! GREAT app!!! *2024-09-20, version 6.4* Minimalist apps frequently get panned because they aren't colorful and pretty. If you need pretty, either adapt to the fact that minimalist is elegant or go elsewhere. If you're looking for excellence in Support & Function, you have arrived! ### 5/5 — A Welcome Alternative *2023-11-07, version 1.2* Glad to have this. It’s very helpful to have a PDF viewer that fills the screen with no nav panes on the left. I do wish for an optional scroll feature, but am content enough with the side swipe. ### 5/5 — Perfect Alternative *2023-09-15* As a longtime Windows user, through to coming into MacOS last year, I still managed to struggle with adjustments between Word and Pages. Especially as I had come from a heavy Governmental writing environment, into full-time remote study. Excuse the copy-paste for both apps, but the broad points apply to both Reader and Author. But the minimalist approach to these apps is beautiful. Removing all 'distractions' from the UI for someone like myself. For Author: I don't need access to line/page breaks or formatting at any time I want, I just need to put things on 'paper'. Highly recommend as a tool to encourage thought and provide a space to dump and connect. For Reader: the addition of an AI assistant to help skim through repeated material, or summarise what you've read prior, is an amazing tool for study and is in it's simplest form to not detract from the user experience. **Developer response:** Thank you for your kind words, they are much appreciated! ### 5/5 — Blown away *2022-10-24, version 3.0.4* Really clean interface. See myself using it vs liquidtext or the preview app ### 5/5 — Perfect Reader *2021-06-18, version 2.0.2* I have been looking for a pdf reader that focused on letting me just read. It's nimble and uncluttered. It's just perfect. Love it. One smal drawback: it looks like trackpad (Apple Magic trackpad) finger motion to zoom within a window doesn't work. Zoom with Apple magic mouse does work perfectly. ### 5/5 — Much faster and lighter than Adobe Acrobat Reader *2020-12-31, version 2.0.1* This application deserves its 5 star rating. It cuts reading down to the bare essentials and delivers an extremely responsive experience. Bravo! ### 5/5 — 10/10 *2020-09-07, version 1.6* Reader is a clean, simple and elegant reading experience. Works incredibly well alongside the Liquid app too. Would highly recommend! ### 5/5 — Unique! *2020-09-03, version 1.6* This is acutally pretty good. It would be perfect if an option to highlight manually were added to it. ### 5/5 — A Must for Academics and Students *2020-08-29, version 1.6* Research papers, textbooks, often free or out of print yet inaccessible for long-term study. I couldn't enter a state of flow with other more commercially known PDF readers. But Reader is elegant and effective. It's fullscreen book display is superb. Coupled with a few Accesibility seetings on your Mac, such as Color Invert and Zoom shorcuts, it becomes a powerful tool for serious academics, students and researchers who must spend hours studying through large works. Can't for further updates and bookmarking features in the future! Ca ### 5/5 — The Future is Now *2019-07-18, version 1.0.1* This app and its companions (Liquid Flow and Liquid Author) are hopefully the future of processing ideas through words on the computer. All three appear designed so as to seamlessly integrate the necessary components of research and results. The apps are fun to use even in their earliest versions, and consequently portend even more to come. --- *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 2026-08-14.*