# Highlights vs PDF Book Reader

The clearest difference is rating: Highlights at 4.5 against PDF Book Reader's 3.9. Highlights also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (1.6K vs 31). PDF Book Reader's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and PDF Book Reader sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Highlights holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Highlights has 1.6K ratings behind it against 31, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 53% of Highlights's written reviews are positive against 61% of PDF Book Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, PDF Book Reader every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Highlights | PDF Book Reader |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews)** | [3.9 (31 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-book-reader/id1576631236/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **1.6K** | 31 |
| Positive reviews | 53.3% of reviews | **61.1% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | **Every 5 days** |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 37 MB | 46 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | **13.0** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) | [B TO J PTY LTD](https://appshunter.io/developer/569308231) |

## 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


### PDF Book Reader

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-book-reader/id1576631236)

Easily read, manage, and annotate PDF books and documents. This app offers a smooth reading experience, powerful annotation tools, and seamless cloud integration. Organize, search, and share your PDFs with ease.

**Highlights:** Natural PDF reading and navigation, PDF bookmarking and annotation, Text search and OCR extraction, PDF merging and page rearrangement, Cloud storage integration (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud), File import and export via cloud and Files app, PDF sharing and printing

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 Month Subscription | $3.99 | per month |
| 1 Year Subscription | $28.99 | per year |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Highlights free?

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

### Is PDF Book Reader free?

PDF Book Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Highlights or PDF Book Reader?

Highlights is rated higher. Highlights averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.6K ratings, while PDF Book Reader averages 3.9 from 31 ratings.

### Do Highlights or PDF Book Reader have ads?

PDF Book Reader shows ads; Highlights does not.

### Which is updated more often, Highlights or PDF Book Reader?

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, and PDF Book Reader every 5 days. Most recently, Highlights was updated on September 28, 2026 and PDF Book Reader on September 13, 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.*