# Highlights vs Anchor

The clearest difference is rating: Anchor at 5.0 against Highlights's 4.5. Anchor also leads on update cadence (daily vs fortnightly). Highlights's advantage is ratings volume (1.6K vs 1) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, ads, 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 Anchor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Anchor holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Highlights has 1.6K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, Anchor daily. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Highlights | Anchor |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews) | **[5.0 (1 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/anchor-discipline-framework/id6759137860/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **1.6K** | 1 |
| Positive reviews | 53.3% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | **Daily** |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 37 MB | 8 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.0** | 16.6 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) | [Aavishkar Paranjape](https://appshunter.io/developer/1833797281) |

## 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


### Anchor

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/anchor-discipline-framework/id6759137860)

This app helps you transform intentions into consistent action by building simple habits and focusing on daily progress. It utilizes a unique framework to guide users from goals to daily routines with gentle reminders and progress tracking.

**Highlights:** Create and track daily habits, Set simple goals and break them into actions, Receive gentle reminders, Daily check-ins for momentum, Visualize progress over time, Utilizes the A.R.C.H.E.R framework

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Anchor Lifetime | $4.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Highlights free?

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

### Is Anchor free?

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

### Which has better reviews, Highlights or Anchor?

Anchor is rated higher. Highlights averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.6K ratings, while Anchor averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.

### Do Highlights or Anchor have ads?

Neither Highlights nor Anchor shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Highlights or Anchor?

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, and Anchor daily. Most recently, Highlights was updated on November 3, 2026 and Anchor on October 31, 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.*