# PDF Reader vs Scano PDF

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.

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

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.

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

## The numbers

| Metric | PDF Reader | Scano PDF |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.3 (3.9K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-reader-pdfelement/id1150215996/reviews) | **[5.0 (1 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scano-pdf/id6801622947/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **3.9K** | 1 |
| Positive reviews | 76.7% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Monthly** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Ad-supported |
| Size | 173 MB | 72 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.0** | 15.1 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Wondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1721309409) | [Luis Enrique Gil Moya](https://appshunter.io/developer/6775702424) |

## What reviewers say

### PDF Reader

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-reader-pdfelement/id1150215996)

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:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Efficient PDF editing
- 💡 Useful annotation tools
- 🚀 Convenient for students/professionals
- 👍 Great value for free app

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes and glitches
- 🔒 Privacy concerns with account requirement
- 👎 Unintuitive user interface
- 🐛 Unreliable saving/syncing
- 👎 Limited functionality compared to paid version

**Reported bugs**

- 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**

- 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

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scano-pdf/id6801622947)

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

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked 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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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*