# Sciwheel

> Research management and collaboration tool for academics and students. (iPhone/iPad app by Sciwheel Limited.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sciwheel/id1524278346 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Sciwheel Limited](https://appshunter.io/developer/1524278348)
- Category: Productivity, Utilities
- Price: Free
- Rating: 2.36/5 from 14 App Store ratings · 13 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 13.0 · 26 MB
- Languages: English
- Released: 2020-09-03
- Data updated: 2026-06-10
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sciwheel/id1524278346/reviews.md

## What is Sciwheel?

Sciwheel - Where research comes together  

Sciwheel is an award-winning and evolving app that provides customizable, intuitive, and accessible tools to progress research and discovery. From reference management with smart citation suggestions to writing, annotating, and team collaboration, Sciwheel is where research truly comes together.  
  
Sciwheel helps you easily save references on the go, add notes to webpages and PDFs, and work seamlessly across any computer, phone or tablet.   
   
Access your articles  
•	Read articles from your mobile device  
•	Organize your references into projects  

Save references from your browser 
•	Save articles and webpages to your reference library from your browser  
•	PDFs are automatically added to your reference (when available)  

Annotate webpages and pdfs
•	Highlight and add notes to any saved PDFs or webpages 
•	See your highlighted text and read your notes on PDFs or webpages 

Search your references 
•	Quickly search your entire library of references 
•	Search by keywords in the Title, Authors, Journal, and Abstract 

Sync across devices
•	Work seamlessly across any computer, phone or tablet 
•	Have all your references and notes synchronized across your devices 
  
Working on a computer  
The Sciwheel mobile app works in combination with our web app. Access our website at https://sciwheel.com, where you can easily import all your references and PDFs from your computer, Dropbox, or Google Drive.  
  
From your desktop, you can access all the functionality of the mobile app, plus these great features:  
- Discover top articles relevant to your research  
- Collaborate with colleagues  
- Cite your references and create a bibliography in Microsoft Word, and Google Docs  
  
  
You can also download our browser extension to import references and PDFs from the web. Available for Chrome, Firefox and Edge Chromium.  
  
Go to sciwheel.com to download our Microsoft Word and Google Docs plugins, which help you easily cite as you write and generate a bibliography (in over 7,000 styles).

## Key features

- Reference management with smart citation suggestions
- Annotate webpages and PDFs
- Save references from browser
- Sync across devices
- Team collaboration features
- Create bibliographies

## Recent user reviews (10 of 13)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sciwheel/id1524278346/reviews.md

### 2/5 — Useless

*2025-05-01, version 1.2*

It doesn’t show PDF files for the references, you can only open the webpages. It a shame if you are working remotely and cannot connect to your institution internet via VPN. 

Useless really…

### 1/5 — This app is obsolete in the age of mobile devices

*2024-08-17*

Cannot upload reference to Sciwheel from an iPhone or iPad.

Cannot edit the references of a document on an “iDevice”.

Can only share a reference list from the browser and to other users.

App and browser version have not seen any updates in a while.

Server frequently has issues.

I am calling it quit and will be moving to the competitorZ which does all those things. It’s a shame because Sciwheel is pleasant and simple compared to all the rest out there, but it’s not relevant anymore and feels like it’s heading towards the land of abandonwares.

### 3/5 — I LOVE Sciwheel

*2023-07-04*

Although I use sciwheel daily and I love it, the app does not work for me. It will not authenticate to my google account. Crazy!!! Why?!?!? Very annoying.  

That said, use sciwheel, it will revolutionize the way you wrote papers! And read them and archive them. It has, no joke, changed my life as a PI.

### 3/5 — Missing key features

*2022-12-21, version 1.2*

Landscape view is now functional, but why can I not add a paper like I used to? We used to be able to export a paper from Safari or Chrome directly into the Sciwheel app and now that’s no longer possible on any version of the mobile app especially not on iPad. Also, when are we going to implement drawn annotations? Not being able to use the pencil very well in the iPad app is pretty annoying

### 1/5 — Impossible too log in

*2022-09-22*

I log in through "social media account" on the web. The app does not have this option, making it impossible to log in / access my account using the app.  Neat feature.

### 2/5 — Great service, interface needs improvement

*2022-03-24*

I love Sciwheel and use it as my primary source manager. The web interface is amazing but the app lacks landscape mode and cannot see the tags that were put in the web version. This would be a 5/5 for me if I could use this app as a exact replacement of the web version

### 3/5 — save yourself some frustration and use the website.

*2021-10-25*

I like the Sciwheel service. I use it almost everyday. It is not perfect, but has what I need to get my work done.  However, I do not recommend installing this app. It seems unfinished as of Oct 2021. For me the issue that made it unusable is lack of landscape orientation. I use an iPad pro with a keyboard, so portrait mode is not going to work for me. Another issue is with sign on. I log into Sciwheel using another service. SSO is not implemented yet. My conclusion is that using the website offers a better experience even though there are issues with that on the iPad too. 

Just my opinion, but when people are selling a service and lack the resources to create a polished app, they do themselves more harm than good by releasing a frustrating app. Effort would probably be better spent on making the website more compatible with mobile web browsers.

### 2/5 — Needs lots of work

*2021-10-09*

As many others have pointed out already, this app doesn’t support landscape view on the iPad, which makes it practically useless. 
Also, when I’m trying to add a note/highlight to a PDF article that I have uploaded, the PDF jumps back to the beginning, which makes it very hard to interact with the section I’m trying to comment on. It doesn’t seem like this app is receiving much attention from the developers, which is a shame, because the desktop/laptop version is quite useful. The lack of useful features on the iPad version means that I cannot count on my iPad as a replacement for my laptop. This is a shame, because it is one of the only apps holding me back from using my iPad full time. 
I will be investigating Zotero options on the iPad to see if they’re any better.

### 4/5 — Many places need to be improved

*2021-10-03*

I really love the desktop version of Sciwheel, and I strongly recommend developers to spend some time improving the mobile app version from the following perspectives: -Enable horizontal view -Tags can be added -Offer multiple highlighting colors (now you only offer blue…) -Reference list can be filtered and sorted Thanks!

### 1/5 — Bring back F1000

*2021-03-08*

Not only was it a better name but the iPad app actually worked unlike this one which refused to do anything at all when it opens - endless blank screen. iPad pro 12 inch 2018.

## Frequently asked questions about Sciwheel

### What is Sciwheel?

Sciwheel is a research management and collaboration app designed to help users organize references, annotate documents, and work with colleagues. It offers features like smart citation suggestions and bibliography generation.

### Can I use Sciwheel offline?

While the app allows you to access and annotate saved articles and PDFs on your mobile device, full functionality and syncing across devices require an internet connection. The web app and desktop plugins are essential for many features.

### How does Sciwheel handle collaboration?

Sciwheel offers team collaboration features accessible via its web app. This allows users to work together on research projects, share references, and potentially co-author documents.

### What devices does Sciwheel support?

Sciwheel is available on iPhone, iPad, and iPod. It also has a web app and browser extensions for desktop use, ensuring seamless syncing across all your devices.

### How often is Sciwheel updated?

The latest version of Sciwheel is 1.2, and it was last updated on August 5, 2022. Update frequency can vary, but this indicates recent development activity.

### Is Sciwheel suitable for all age groups?

Sciwheel has an age rating of 4+, making it broadly accessible. However, its primary functionality is geared towards academic and research use.

### Does Sciwheel have ads?

No, Sciwheel does not contain advertisements. As a free application, it focuses on providing a clean user experience without interruptions from ads.

### What citation styles does Sciwheel support?

Sciwheel's desktop plugins support over 7,000 citation styles, allowing you to easily format bibliographies for your research papers in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.2 — 2022-08-05

Small UI and UX fixes.

### 1.1 — 2022-07-01

Delete account options available on profile page. 
Landscape available.
Minor UI updates and bug fixes

### 1.0 — 2020-09-03

No release notes.

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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 2026-06-10.*