Comparison

PDF Reader vs Polaris PDF Viewer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PDF Reader

This app offers a superior PDF reading experience with its innovative Liquid Mode, which optimizes documents for mobile screens. It also provides robust tools for annotating, signing, managing, and sharing your PDF files, catering to both work and study needs.

Highlights
  • Liquid Mode for optimized mobile reading
  • Annotation tools (pencil, text, highlighting)
  • Handwritten signature insertion
  • File management (move, merge, copy, delete)
  • Cloud service integration (Wondershare, iCloud)
  • Create blank PDFs and folders
Features
Read full description

PDFelement - PDF Reader is a PDF reader using the latest technology. The newly connected Liquid Mode function allows you to enjoy the best reading experience. In addition, there are various annotation tools, file management, signature, Various functions such as cloud services can meet your PDF needs in work and study. PDF VIEWER • Liquid Mode gives you the best PDF reading experience • Star files to find them quickly • Easily locate recently accessed files in the "Recent" list. • Enter the page number to navigate to the desired page for viewing LIQUID MODE • Get the best PDF Reading experience with Liquid Mode • PDF document fully fits the mobile phone screen, no need to zoom in and out repeatedly. • Easily adjust brightness, font size,style, and spacing. ANNOTATE • Using Pencil to annotate like writing on the paper • Add text annotations, freely modify the text and background, border colors, choose the appropriate font and font size. • Supports many annotating tools like highlighting, underlining, squiggly lines, or strikethroughs. MANAGE • Move, merge, copy or delete files SIGNATURE • Enables handwritten signatures to be inserted anywhere within the document, while also offering the ability to zoom in and out for greater flexibility. • Built-in commonly used stamps CREATE • Quickly create completely blank PDF documents • Creat blank folders. SHARE • Sharing document content with others is just a click away with capture feature. • Select sentence(s) or pragraph(s) to share CLOUD SERVICE • PDF Reader supports uploading or downloading docs via computer, Wondershare document cloud and iCloud. Please note that this app only supports editing native PDF files. It does not support editing scanned or raster PDF. If you find you cannot edit text in PDF, please check if it is scanned PDF. Thank you! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Need HELP? Please contact us! We'll feedback to you ASAP. Email: pdfelement@wondershare.com Support Center: http://support.wondershare.com Forum: http://forum.pdf.wondershare.com Official Website: https://pdf.wondershare.com If you think this App helps you, your positive review in the App Store would be much appreciated.

About

Polaris PDF Viewer

View and manage PDF documents on your mobile device with a stable and optimized viewer. Offers features like text-to-speech, annotation tools, and cloud integration for efficient document handling.

Highlights
  • Mobile-optimized PDF viewer
  • Text-to-speech function
  • Annotation and drawing tools
  • Cloud service integration
  • Night mode and screen dimming
  • Print PDF documents
Features
Read full description

Polaris Office, selected by 90 million users across the world, provides mobile optimized PDF document viewer at the requests of numerous users. ■ Supporting Languages ■ • Supporting 18 global languages including English, French, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, German, Italian, Spanish, etc ■ Main functions ■ Mobile optimized PDF document viewer : Supporting must-have functions to easily view the PDF documents in Mobile. • Landscape mode / Portrait mode / Multi window mode • View per page • Supporting text to speech function (Reading all / Reading from here) • Able to dim the screen and choose background (Providing Night mode and Paper texture) • Annotation List / Drawing Pencil • Able to print PDF documents with multiple options • Supporting text copy function in document Smart managing : Supporting the functions for managing various PDF documents more efficiently. • Able to check all the documents in My device storage & other cloud service (Supporting iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox) • Able to manage main PDF documents separately through bookmark settings. • Support various sorting methods. (Name order / Date order / Size order etc) • Able to search document you need through search function. ■ Note ■ • Homepage : Polarisoffice.com • Facebook : facebook.com/polarisoffice • Youtube : youtube.com/user/infrawareinc • Inquiry : support@polarisoffice.com • Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy : www.polarisoffice.com/privacy

Screenshots

PDF Reader4 screens
Polaris PDF Viewer4 screens

Verdict

The call

PDF Reader and Polaris PDF Viewer both sit at 4.3 stars, but that hides the real split: 77% of PDF Reader's written reviews are positive against 0% of Polaris PDF Viewer's. PDF Reader also leads on ratings volume (3.9K vs 49). Polaris PDF Viewer's advantage is iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for PDF Reader against 4.4 for Polaris PDF Viewer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Reader has 3.9K ratings behind it against 49, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of PDF Reader's written reviews are positive against 0% of Polaris PDF Viewer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, Polaris PDF Viewer every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
PDF Reader versus Polaris PDF Viewer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF ReaderPolaris PDF Viewer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3.9K ratings)4.4 (49 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.7% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3.9K — better49
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size173 MB94 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.Polaris Office Corp.

Customer experience

PDF Reader

All ratings3,923 ratings
Positive83.1%
Neutral3.2%
Negative13.7%
Written reviews1,582 reviews
Positive76.7%
Neutral6.1%
Negative17.2%

Polaris PDF Viewer

All ratings47 ratings
Positive87.2%
Neutral2.1%
Negative10.6%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral33.3%
Negative66.7%

Bugs and requests

PDF Reader

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Text boxes appearing randomly
  • Inability to select/edit text in some PDFs
  • Scrolling issues and page loading delays
  • Incompatibility with certain PDF formats

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to edit text formatting (font, size, color)
  • Support for multiple open documents
  • Improved Apple Pencil integration
  • Bookmark/favorite feature for frequently used PDFs
  • Expanded cloud storage integration (OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.)

Polaris PDF Viewer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

PDF Reader

No in-app purchases

None

Polaris PDF Viewer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PDF Reader free?
PDF Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Polaris PDF Viewer free?
Polaris PDF Viewer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PDF Reader or Polaris PDF Viewer?
Polaris PDF Viewer is rated higher. PDF Reader averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3.9K ratings, while Polaris PDF Viewer averages 4.4 from 49 ratings.
Do PDF Reader or Polaris PDF Viewer have ads?
Neither PDF Reader nor Polaris PDF Viewer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Reader or Polaris PDF Viewer?
PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, and Polaris PDF Viewer every 5 weeks. Most recently, PDF Reader was updated on October 27, 2026 and Polaris PDF Viewer on October 24, 2026.

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