Comparison

PDF Reader vs Scano PDF

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

Scano PDF

Digitize, organize, and share documents easily with this powerful scanner app. It offers automatic page detection, perspective correction, and multi-page scanning to create clean PDF documents. Manage your files directly on your device for quick access.

Highlights
  • Smart document scanning
  • Automatic page detection
  • Perspective correction
  • Multi-page document scanning
  • Create PDF documents
  • Organize and share files
Read full description

Scano is a simple and powerful document scanner designed to help you digitize, organize, edit, and share documents directly from your iPhone or iPad. Scan documents in seconds with automatic page detection and perspective correction. Review and edit your pages, organize them in the right order, and create clean PDF documents ready to save or share. KEY FEATURES • Smart document scanning • Automatic page detection • Perspective correction • Multi-page document scanning • Crop and rotate pages • Reorder or remove pages • Create PDF documents • Merge multiple PDF files • Split PDF files into separate documents • Rename and organize your files • View recent documents • Share PDFs directly from your device • English and Spanish support SIMPLE AND FAST Scano is designed to keep document scanning and PDF management straightforward. Open the scanner, capture your pages, review them, and create your PDF in just a few steps. PDF TOOLS Need to organize existing documents? Scano lets you merge multiple PDFs into one file or split a PDF into separate documents, giving you more control over your files directly from your device. YOUR DOCUMENTS, YOUR DEVICE Manage your scanned documents conveniently from Scano and access your recent files whenever you need them. Whether you’re scanning receipts, contracts, notes, forms, reports, or everyday paperwork, Scano gives you the essential tools to turn paper into organized digital documents and manage your PDFs with ease.

Screenshots

PDF Reader4 screens
Scano PDF4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Scano PDF at 5.0 against PDF Reader's 4.3. Scano PDF also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). PDF Reader's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (3.9K vs 1). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Scano PDF holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Reader has 3.9K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, Scano PDF monthly. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PDF Reader versus Scano PDF: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF ReaderScano PDF
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3.9K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings3.9K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size173 MB72 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.Luis Enrique Gil Moya

Customer experience

PDF Reader

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

Scano PDF

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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.)

Scano PDF

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

PDF Reader

No in-app purchases

None

Scano PDF

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PDF Reader free?
PDF Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Scano PDF free?
Scano PDF is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PDF Reader or Scano PDF?
Scano PDF is rated higher. PDF Reader averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3.9K ratings, while Scano PDF averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do PDF Reader or Scano PDF have ads?
Scano PDF shows ads; PDF Reader does not.
Which is updated more often, PDF Reader or Scano PDF?
PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, and Scano PDF monthly. Most recently, PDF Reader was updated on October 14, 2026 and Scano PDF on October 14, 2026.

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