# Highlights vs PDF Vault

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Highlights at 15.0 against PDF Vault's 18.1. On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

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

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Highlights | PDF Vault |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **1.6K** | — |
| Positive reviews | **53.3% of reviews** | 50.0% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Fortnightly |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 37 MB | 4 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.0** | 18.1 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) | [Dmytro Skorokhod](https://appshunter.io/developer/994177751) |

## 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 Vault

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-vault-document-app/id1599303874)

This ultra-lightweight application offers a comprehensive suite of PDF tools, including text-to-speech functionality, digital signing, document scanning, organization, and instant translation. It's designed for efficiency and ease of use, saving device space while enhancing productivity for work, study, or personal tasks.

**Highlights:** Text-to-speech for PDFs, Digital document signing, Scan paper documents to PDF, Organize and manage PDF files, Instant document translation, Ultra-lightweight and fast

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

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mox PDF Tool Unlimited Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Mox PDF Tool Unlimited Annually | $19.99 | per year |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Highlights free?

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

### Is PDF Vault free?

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

### Do Highlights or PDF Vault have ads?

Neither Highlights nor PDF Vault shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Highlights or PDF Vault?

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, and PDF Vault fortnightly. Most recently, Highlights was updated on September 28, 2026 and PDF Vault on September 26, 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.*