# Highlights vs Censor Text

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Highlights at 53% against Censor Text's 0%. Highlights also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.0) and ratings volume (1.6K vs 4). On price, update cadence, ads 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 Censor Text sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Highlights holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Highlights has 1.6K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 53% of Highlights's written reviews are positive against 0% of Censor Text's.

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, Censor Text every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Highlights | Censor Text |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews)** | [3.0 (4 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/censor-text-blur-and-redact/id6520387615/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **1.6K** | 4 |
| Positive reviews | **53.2% of reviews** | 0.0% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | **Every 8 days** |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 37 MB | 33 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.0** | 17.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** | iPhone |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) | [Vladislav Shtefanko](https://appshunter.io/developer/1676317253) |

## 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


### Censor Text

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/censor-text-blur-and-redact/id6520387615)

Easily obscure sensitive text or faces in your images and screenshots. Offers various redaction styles like blur, pixelate, and strikethrough with adjustable intensity. Protects your privacy and creates polished visuals.

**Highlights:** Automatic text detection, Customizable redaction options, Blur, pixelate, and redact, Underline, strikethrough, obfuscate, Adjustable intensity, High-quality export

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

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premium Weekly | $2.99 | per 7 days |
| Premium Yearly | $19.99 | per year |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Highlights free?

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

### Is Censor Text free?

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

### Which has better reviews, Highlights or Censor Text?

Highlights is rated higher. Highlights averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.6K ratings, while Censor Text averages 3.0 from 4 ratings.

### Do Highlights or Censor Text have ads?

Neither Highlights nor Censor Text shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Highlights or Censor Text?

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, and Censor Text every 8 days. Most recently, Highlights was updated on October 14, 2026 and Censor Text on September 25, 2026.

---

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