Highlights vs PDF Toolbox
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Highlights
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.
- 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
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"... an app that students, academics, and anyone who does substantial amounts of PDF-based research should try" - Macstories.net "It’s the novel approach to PDF annotation that makes this app a cut above the rest"- TapSmart.com *** "App of the Day" - App Store, US *** USE HIGHLIGHTS FOR FREE Highlights is a fast and lightweight PDF reader (under 10MB) packed with features to help you do your best research. Free users have access to standard PDF reader features including document browsing, reading and annotating. There are NO ADS, time limits or tracking. READ PDF DOCUMENTS • Open PDF documents from anywhere • Browse files using the familiar document browser • Open PDFs in Single Page or Two Page scroll mode • Double tap to Smart Zoom in on a paragraph or figure • Scrub smoothly to the desired page • Search the entire document in an instant • Navigate using any connected keyboard or mouse STORE YOUR FILES WHERE YOU WANT • Full support for "Open In Place" lets you make edits to the file where it is • Access your files from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box using the document browser • Or keep them privately on device only HIGHLIGHT AND ANNOTATE FASTER • Select text with your finger, Apple Pencil or mouse pointer • Highlight, underline, strikethrough text and make image selections • Add comments to annotations or as individual sticky notes • Annotate with fewer taps using context aware popovers • Default annotation colors prevents you from having to repeatedly setting the color for the same type of annotation every time TURN ANNOTATIONS INTO NOTES • As you markup text and images the contents are extracted and sorted into notes • Customize the formatting and contents of your notes • Sort the annotations chronologically or create your own color coding EXTRACT TABLE DATA AND RECOGNIZE TEXT • Convert images containing text or tables to actual text and tables using machine learning - letting you get to the underlying data with a single tap SMART COPY Copy annotations to the desired format with one tap: • Text markup as text • Image selections as images • Tables as CSV • Citations as BibTex LOOKUP CITATIONS • Highlights will fetch DOI-links and metadata • Markup any reference and tap the link icon to look it up • If you have read the work already or have it in your reference manager library, Highlights will link you to it EXPORT ANYWHERE • Save or share your notes as portable files: Markdown, TextBundle, HTML, WebArchive or PDF • Share them to your favorite notes app: Apple Notes, Bear, Craft, Evernote, DEVONThink, Keep It, MindNode, Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research or Ulysses • Or send them to a colleague via mail. It's your notes, you decide where they go MUCH MORE • Dark mode • Multi-window support on iPadOS • Keyboard shortcuts and navigation • Support for system Copy and Undo gestures • Alternative app icons • Custom accent colors • Apple Pencil double-tap gestures • Power annotation tools For a full list of features see: highlightsapp.net/features HIGHLIGHTS PRO The Highlights Pro subscription unlocks advanced features on your iPhone, iPad and Mac: • Export options for other apps and easily editable formats • Extract information using table and text recognition • Customize accent colors and alternative app icons • Power annotation tools • Citation lookups • Smart Copy Highlights Pro includes a 14-day free trial. You can cancel your subscription at any time. The subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off within 24-hour prior to the end of of the current period. Payments will be charged to your iTunes account and your account will be charged within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. For more information about Highlights Pro: highlightsapp.net/pro Privacy Policy: highlightsapp.net/privacy Terms of Use: highlightsapp.net/terms
PDF Toolbox
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Fifteen tools, one app, bought once: - Split a PDF by page ranges (1-3,7,9-12) or every N pages - Merge several PDFs into one — in order, interleaved, or reversed - Compress a PDF and see the real before/after size - Add a watermark — text, angle, opacity, placement - Add Bates numbers — prefix, starting number, zero-padding - Set or remove a password and its permissions - Read the words off a scan, so they can be selected and searched - Run split, compress, watermark, page numbers, Bates, rotate, password or form-fill across many files The real problem with a PDF app is not whether it works offline. It is what it does to your file once you trust it: corrupted files, blank saves, lost annotations, disappearing pages. PDF Toolbox is built around one rule: your file is never modified, and every PDF it writes is checked before you see it. WHAT'S IN 2.0 - Pages — split by ranges or every N pages, extract, reorder, delete, rotate, duplicate a page - Convert — scan with your camera, photos into a PDF, a PDF into JPEG, PNG, or HEIC images - Reduce — compress while keeping text selectable, or rasterize the pages for the smallest file - Mark — watermark, page numbers, Bates numbering, headers and footers - Mark up — highlight, underline, strike through, note, or draw on the page - Sign — draw or type a signature, then place and scale it - Forms — fill in a PDF form, or lock the answers in - Text — copy, search, and extract all the text in a document - Files — open from Files, iCloud, Mail, or Safari; recents one tap away - Home, Tools, Scan and Settings tabs; every tool in its own colour - iPad — full support, either orientation HOW WE PROTECT YOUR FILE Your original is opened read-only and is never the file PDF Toolbox writes to. Every job builds a new file in a private, temporary location, checks it, and only then hands it to you — through the share sheet or Save to Files. If a check fails, you get a plain error and no file — never a broken one labeled as done. What gets checked on every PDF this app writes: it opens correctly in two independent PDF readers, it has exactly the pages it should, no page comes out blank that wasn't blank in your original, the text you had is still there and still selectable wherever the job promises it, and your original is confirmed untouched — the same SHA-256, byte for byte, before and after. Above 64 MB it is checked on size, date and its first and last megabyte instead, and the receipt says "size and date unchanged" when that is what ran. Two things get fewer than nine, and say so: the strongest compression rasterizes the pages, so its receipt reads "pages rasterized — text no longer selectable" instead of the text clause; and page images and extracted text are not PDFs, so they arrive named and sized under "Saved" rather than "Verified". You see it before you export: the file, named and sized, every check ticked off beneath it. HONEST LIMITS Signing draws your signature onto the page. It is not a legal e-signature service — no identity verification, no audit trail, no certificate. Reading the words off a scan is never perfect. PDF Toolbox lays what it read invisibly over the picture and never alters the page you scanned. Locking a form's answers in flattens dropdown fields showing their first choice rather than the one you picked. Type the answer into a text field if the exact wording matters. PDF Toolbox does not convert Word or Office files to PDF, and it never will. iOS has no on-device way to do that correctly, and we will not upload your file to a server to fake it. Compression can only shrink pictures — a document that is already just text and lines has nothing left to squeeze, and PDF Toolbox says which of those it found rather than inventing a percentage. THE TERMS Bought once. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads. Fully offline — no account, no analytics, no network requests. Already own PageSplit? It is now PDF Toolbox, and 2.0 is a free update — no new charge.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Highlights at Free against PDF Toolbox's $2.99. Highlights also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks) and device support (4 vs 2). PDF Toolbox's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Highlights is free to download; PDF Toolbox costs $2.99 up front. Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. PDF Toolbox asks for nothing beyond the download.
Highlights ships an update fortnightly, PDF Toolbox every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Highlights | PDF Toolbox |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 4.5 (1.6K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 53.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1.6K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jonas Myren Ribe | NOSHU, llc |
Bugs and requests
Highlights
Reported bugs
5 issues- 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
5 requests- 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 Toolbox
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Highlights
- Highlights Pro: Monthly$4.991 Month
- Highlights Pro14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade1 Year trial$29.991 Year
PDF Toolbox
No in-app purchases









