# Highlights vs Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader

The clearest difference is ads: Highlights at none against Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader's shown. Highlights also leads on ratings volume (1.6K vs 403). Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). On price, rating, review sentiment and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader sells 13 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Highlights against 4.4 for Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.6K and 403 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 53% of Highlights's written reviews are positive against 59% of Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader's.

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Highlights | Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews)** | [4.4 (403 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/flexcil-note-and-good-pdf-reader/id1531466462/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **1.6K** | 403 |
| Positive reviews | 53.3% of reviews | **59.2% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | **Weekly** |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 37 MB | 227 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | **14.0** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) | [Flexcil Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1090873688) |

## What reviewers say

### Highlights

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833)

This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.

**Highlights:** Read and browse PDF documents, Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text, Add comments and sticky notes, Extract annotations into organized notes, Convert table data and recognize text, Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex), Lookup citation metadata and DOI links

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Highlights Pro: Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Highlights Pro | $29.99 | per year |
| Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade | $29.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs
- 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking
- 📚 Useful for academic and professional work
- 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
- 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Limited search functionality
- 🔒 Lack of customization options
- 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers

**Reported bugs**

- Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing
- Text selection issues, especially with footnotes
- Compatibility problems with certain PDF files
- Syncing issues across devices
- Export functionality not working as expected

**Requested features**

- Add handwriting and freeform annotation support
- Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature
- Allow editing of notes directly in the app
- Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription
- Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation


### Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/flexcil-note-and-good-pdf-reader/id1531466462)

This app is a comprehensive note-taking and PDF reader designed for Apple devices. It allows users to edit PDFs, annotate documents, create bullet journals, and record audio, all while offering intuitive gesture controls and seamless integration with cloud services.

**Highlights:** Edit PDF pages, Annotate documents with gestures, Record and playback audio, Create bullet journals, Cloud sync across devices, Masking pen for precise annotations

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (13)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Upgrade product for old users | Free | one-time |
| Premium | $8.99 | one-time |
| Flexcil Standard | $9.99 | one-time |
| 2021-2022 Color Planner | $11.99 | one-time |
| Flexcil NEW Design Planner 22 | $11.99 | one-time |
| Premium & Toolbar Skin Pack | $12.99 | one-time |
| Hello Kitty Planner 2022 | $13.99 | one-time |
| My Melody & Kuromi Planner 22 | $13.99 | one-time |
| Standard & 21-22 Planner Pack | $14.99 | one-time |
| Standard & Design Planner Pack | $14.99 | one-time |
| Standard & 2023 Planner Pack | $14.99 | one-time |
| 2026 Ultimate Planner(Dated) : Pro | $15.49 | one-time |
| Nelna 6-in-1 Planner Bundle | $19.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Best Apps for STUDENTS!!! 😀😀
- 👍 Love this app
- 🚀 Powerful multi-page PDF viewer
- 👍 Great for studying
- 👍 Excellent app for note taking

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes and performance issues
- 🐛 Syncing and backup problems
- 🐛 Buggy handwriting recognition
- 🐛 Unreliable palm rejection
- 🐛 Missing key features from previous version

**Reported bugs**

- Sudden data loss and file deletion
- Inability to restore purchases
- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Inconsistent behavior of undo/redo functions
- Annotations not exporting correctly

**Requested features**

- Add iCloud sync and backup
- Improve handwriting search and recognition
- Bring back reading mode and one-page scrolling
- Add more pen and brush options
- Allow customizing notebook paper styles


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Highlights free?

Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader free?

Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Highlights or Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader?

Highlights is rated higher. Highlights averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.6K ratings, while Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader averages 4.4 from 403 ratings.

### Do Highlights or Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader have ads?

Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader shows ads; Highlights does not.

### Which is updated more often, Highlights or Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader?

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, and Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader weekly. Most recently, Highlights was updated on September 28, 2026 and Flexcil Note & Good PDF Reader on September 27, 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.*