Comparison

PDF Reader vs Ink PDF Editor

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

Ink PDF Editor

This application allows users to quickly read, annotate, and edit PDF documents. It offers tools for marking up important information, navigating through documents with bookmarks, and even playing embedded audio. The app provides a straightforward way to manage PDF files on mobile devices.

Highlights
  • Quick PDF reading and viewing
  • Full-text scroll and zoom
  • PDF annotation tools
  • Embedded PDF audio playback
  • Bookmark creation and management
Features
Read full description

Ink PDF Editor is a simple and easy-to-use PDF app. It helps you read and edit PDF files quickly and complete any PDF tasks effortlessly. • Quickly Read PDFs Quickly open and view PDF documents Enable full-text scroll, zoom in and out Choose single page or double page scroll mode • Annotate PDFs Mark up important information with professional annotation tools Various annotation styles and colors to choose from • PDF audio reading Recognize and play PDF embedded audio Support single loop/list mode • Bookmarks Add and edit bookmarks as you like to navigate your PDF documents easily

Screenshots

PDF Reader4 screens
Ink PDF Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: PDF Reader at 77% against Ink PDF Editor's 44%. PDF Reader also leads on ratings volume (3.9K vs 35) and rating (4.3 vs 4.1). Ink PDF Editor's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

PDF Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Reader has 3.9K ratings behind it against 35, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of PDF Reader's written reviews are positive against 44% of Ink PDF Editor's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, Ink PDF Editor every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PDF Reader versus Ink PDF Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF ReaderInk PDF Editor
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3.9K ratings) — better4.1 (35 ratings)
Positive reviews76.7% of reviews — better44.4% of reviews
Number of ratings3.9K — better35
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size173 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.Hefei T-Stack Information Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

PDF Reader

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

Ink PDF Editor

All ratings35 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive44.4%
Neutral22.2%
Negative33.3%

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.)

Ink PDF Editor

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

PDF Reader

No in-app purchases

None

Ink PDF Editor

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PDF Reader free?
PDF Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ink PDF Editor free?
Ink PDF Editor is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PDF Reader or Ink PDF Editor?
PDF Reader is rated higher. PDF Reader averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3.9K ratings, while Ink PDF Editor averages 4.1 from 35 ratings.
Do PDF Reader or Ink PDF Editor have ads?
Neither PDF Reader nor Ink PDF Editor shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Reader or Ink PDF Editor?
PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, and Ink PDF Editor every 3 weeks. Most recently, PDF Reader was updated on September 23, 2026 and Ink PDF Editor on September 17, 2026.

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