# Resecta: Redact PDFs — Remove text, not just cover it > On-device PDF redaction tool for permanent text removal. (iPhone/iPad app by Jesse Brookins.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/resecta-redact-pdfs/id6786922787 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Jesse Brookins](https://appshunter.io/developer/6786922789) - Category: Productivity - Price: Free - Rating: 5.00/5 from 1 App Store ratings - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 26.0 · 49 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-08-12 - Data updated: 2026-10-06 - Monetization: free - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/resecta-redact-pdfs/id6786922787/reviews.md ## What is Resecta? Resecta redacts PDFs entirely on your iPhone. A black box drawn over text can leave the text underneath readable; Resecta is designed to remove the text in the regions you mark, then checks the output before you share. Find what to redact • Search by text, regular expression or a list of terms, and save the searches you reuse. • Scan looks for 17 kinds of personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, Social Security numbers, and card and account numbers (many are US formats). • Draw a rectangle by hand over anything else. Search and Scan results arrive unselected; nothing is redacted without your selection. Redact Marks show what will be removed. Tap Redact and Resecta rebuilds the PDF from page images, with the marked regions overwritten in the pixels. Secure Rasterization produces image-only output. Searchable Redaction keeps the text outside your redactions searchable, for PDFs that have a text layer. Check before you share Verification runs 7 checks on Secure Rasterization output and 12 on Searchable Redaction output, including text extraction, OCR, a search of the file's bytes, a metadata check, a re-run of the searches you applied, and a detection sweep. What they find is listed, and sharing a file with reported issues asks you to confirm. Verification is a check, not a substitute for your review. Private by design No accounts, no analytics, no data collection. The app makes no network requests of its own, and you can use it in airplane mode. Good to know • PDF files only, up to 50 MB and 500 pages. Encrypted PDFs are not supported. • Resecta doesn't store your documents or edits; share or save the redacted copy to keep it. • Name detection uses an on-device language model from iOS. Where it is unavailable, name results are reduced and the app says so. Free and open source under Apache-2.0. Source: github.com/Merlin1A/resecta ## Key features - On-device PDF redaction - Automatic text detection - Manual redaction drawing - Review and apply redactions - Export redacted PDFs - Offline functionality - No data collection ## Frequently asked questions about Resecta ### How does Resecta permanently remove text from PDFs? Resecta permanently removes text by overwriting the marked regions, rather than simply hiding them. This ensures that the redacted information cannot be recovered, providing a secure method for data removal. ### Can Resecta be used without an internet connection? Yes, Resecta is designed to function entirely on-device and makes no network requests. You can use it in airplane mode, ensuring your sensitive documents are processed privately and securely without any external connectivity. ### Does Resecta collect any user data or analytics? No, Resecta has no accounts, no analytics, and no data collection. The app is built with privacy as a core feature, ensuring that none of your document information or usage data is transmitted or stored. ### What devices does Resecta support? Currently, Resecta is supported on iPhones. Future updates may expand compatibility to other devices. ### Is Resecta free to use? Yes, Resecta is completely free to use. It is also open source under the Apache-2.0 license, allowing for transparency and community contribution. ### How often is Resecta updated? The latest version, 1.1.0, was released on August 29, 2026, indicating active development. Users can expect regular updates to improve functionality and security. ### What is the age rating for Resecta? Resecta has an age rating of 4+, making it suitable for a wide range of users. This indicates it contains no content inappropriate for young children. ### Does Resecta have ads? No, Resecta is ad-free. As a free and open-source application, it does not display advertisements, providing an uninterrupted user experience. ## Version history (last 3 releases) ### 1.2.0 — 2026-10-05 Verification now re-runs your searches and a detection sweep on the redacted file. This release opens PDF files only; image import (JPEG, PNG, HEIC) from 1.0 and 1.1 is removed. Verification • After a redaction, each search you applied is run again on the output, and the app's detectors are run over it (names and addresses are not swept). Anything that remains is reported. • Secure Rasterization output now gets 7 checks and Searchable Redaction output 12. • Words fully inside a region you drew by hand, on a page with a text layer, are checked too. A redacted term still readable outside the redacted regions is reported as Attention Needed, naming the text. • When the output has no text layer, these checks read the rendered pages with OCR and say so; pages they could not read are listed, not counted as clear. • Verification Details has a new layout: a summary, then findings and notes, and a statement of what the run did not cover. Search and Scan • The minimized bar steps through matches with Previous and Next, centers each match on the page, and applies the current match with one tap. • Delete All for saved searches; your own regex patterns are listed above the built-in ones. • In Scan, names are recognized after a label's colon, a sign-off or a salutation; a labelled account number is no longer read as a phone number. Import and export • A document carrying JavaScript or a launch action in its catalog, its open action, a page's actions or an annotation's action is refused at import. Links inside an imported document are not followed in the editor. • The producer tag, the creation and modification timestamps, and the file identifier in exported files are rewritten to fixed or content-derived values, and the metadata check confirms all three. ### 1.1.0 — 2026-08-29 Verification results now say what a run covered. Beneath the verdict, you'll see any pages that were too large to scan for text, whether detection ran at all, and whether a detector was degraded. The note describing what the check covers now sits at the bottom of the screen, under the run's timing, on every result. Sharing a document that still has reported issues now asks you to slide to confirm. The confirmation lists the reported items, and it appears again if you leave the share sheet without sharing. The message after Apply now says plainly that nothing is redacted until you tap Redact. The editor's menu now has a Home item that closes the document and returns you to the home screen. Moving between search matches keeps the document in view: Previous and Next minimize the sheet, outline the current match on the page, and stay available while the sheet is minimized. Search and scan results show each match highlighted within its surrounding text, with the full context one tap away. Stepping through results zooms small matches into view, and the minimized bar can apply the match you're looking at with a single tap. ### 1.0.0 — 2026-08-12 No release notes. ## Apps similar to Resecta | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [xPrivo - Private AI Assistant](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/xprivo-private-ai-assistant/id6753941516) | — | Free | Productivity | | [PDF Masker - Secure Redaction](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-masker-secure-redaction/id6748043661) | 2.0 (1) | Free | Productivity | | [Meal Prep Sunday - Driver](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/meal-prep-sunday-driver/id6739271104) | 4.8 (11) | Free | Productivity | | [Zonar Ignition](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zonar-ignition/id6754389371) | 5.0 (2) | Free | Productivity | | [Merge PDF - Combine PDF Files](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/merge-pdf-combine-pdf-files/id6744609741) | 4.5 (13) | Free | Productivity | | [AxCrypt](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/axcrypt/id1157695909) | 3.3 (185) | Free | Productivity | --- *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 2026-10-06.*