Comparison

Arrow+ vs Rectoly for Mendeley

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Arrow+

Organize your web browsing sessions from Safari. Save and reopen your tab groups, and add pages directly from the Safari Web Extension. This app offers a streamlined way to manage your online research and workflows.

Highlights
  • Organize Safari tabs
  • Save and reopen sessions
  • Add pages via Safari Web Extension
  • Companion app for macOS Safari Extension
  • No AI or third-party APIs
Features
Read full description

This is a companion app for macOS Safari Extension. It allows you to browse and open your Safari sessions. Also you can add your Safari pages to them via Safari Web Extension. No AI. No third-party API. No subscription.

About

Rectoly for Mendeley

This app enhances the PDF reading and annotation experience for researchers, particularly those using Mendeley. It offers features like a reflowable reading mode, in-line annotation with Apple Pencil, text-to-speech, and tools for organizing research themes and figures.

Highlights
  • Reflowable Reading Mode
  • In-line PDF Annotation
  • Read Aloud (Text-to-Speech)
  • Research Themes organization
  • Cross-paper annotation search
  • Manuscript side-by-side view
  • Mendeley Library Sync
Features
Read full description

Rectoly is the research-focused PDF reader built for Mendeley users. Your library stays in Mendeley — Rectoly makes reading and annotating on iPhone, iPad and Mac a genuine pleasure. READING MODE Academic papers are usually typeset in two columns, which makes them hard to read on a phone or in a narrow split view. Reading Mode reflows the paper into a single, clean text column — without losing the original PDF. ANNOTATE IN READING MODE Unlike other readers, Rectoly lets you highlight, underline, add sticky notes, and write with Apple Pencil — all while staying in Reading Mode. Your handwriting even scales with the text size. Filter annotations by colour and by kind. ON-DEVICE TRANSLATION Read an English paper in your own language, in Reading Mode and on the PDF page. Translation runs on this device; the paper is never sent to a translation service. Translations are saved to your Mendeley library for your other devices (you can turn this off in Settings). The app's translation model (about 2.5 GB) needs 8 GB of memory or more. Translates English papers into the app's 19 other display languages: Hindi by the system's translator (iOS 26 or later), all the rest by the app's own model. READ ALOUD Hear the text in Reading Mode, in the system voice or the VoiceOver one. SOFT DARK A paper-friendly dark mode that dims the page itself, not just the interface. WORKBENCH (iPad and Mac) Pin Figure 1 beside the text and keep reading — no more scrolling back and forth between a figure and the paragraph that cites it. RESEARCH THEMES Send a passage to a theme, with its source. Keep the theme beside the paper, or open it as a sheet. Export as Markdown or Word (.docx). ACROSS PAPERS The library column has a new Across papers tab: search the annotations, the text and your handwriting in your whole library at once. FIGURES, TABLES AND A COMPARISON TABLE Figures to PNG, tables to CSV — and one table comparing many papers' abstracts, methods and results. YOUR MANUSCRIPT BESIDE THE PAPER Open the document you are writing (.docx, .doc, .odt, .rtf, Markdown, plain text — password-protected ones too) in a column next to the paper. It re-reads the file every time you save. CITATIONS AND NOTES, OUT OF THE APP Copy with page, copy BibTeX or citation keys, and a Notes folder for Obsidian and others — with keyboard shortcuts you can change. MENDELEY SYNC Sign in with your Mendeley account and read your library directly on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Highlights and text notes are saved into the PDF and written back to Mendeley. OPEN FROM WEBDAV Open PDFs kept on a WebDAV server such as Nextcloud or your university's storage — and add them to Mendeley from there. A LIBRARY THAT STAYS OUT OF YOUR WAY - PDFs download only when you open them, saving storage - Downloaded papers work fully offline — flights, commutes, conferences, field work APPLE PENCIL, PRESERVED Handwritten notes are backed up with iCloud, kept with a version history you can restore, and exportable as JSON for long-term preservation. Your research is never locked inside Rectoly. 14-DAY FREE TRIAL → ONE-TIME PURCHASE Try every Pro feature free for 14 days. Unlock with a single one-time payment — no subscription, no recurring charges, no lock-in. Rectoly is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mendeley Ltd. or Elsevier. A Mendeley account is required to use this app.

Screenshots

Arrow+3 screens
Rectoly for Mendeley4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Rectoly for Mendeley at Free against Arrow+'s $3.99. Rectoly for Mendeley also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 3 months). Arrow+'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and device support (4 vs 2). On rating, ratings volume and 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Rectoly for Mendeley is free to download; Arrow+ costs $3.99 up front. Rectoly for Mendeley sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Arrow+ asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Arrow+ against 5.0 for Rectoly for Mendeley. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Arrow+ ships an update every 3 months, Rectoly for Mendeley daily. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 3 level
Arrow+ versus Rectoly for Mendeley: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArrow+Rectoly for Mendeley
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB43 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIvan LebedevTakaki Takemura

Customer experience

Arrow+

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Rectoly for Mendeley

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Arrow+

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Rectoly for Mendeley

One-time2
  • 14-day TrialFree
  • Rectoly Pro (one-time)$49.99

Questions

Is Arrow+ free?
Arrow+ costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Rectoly for Mendeley free?
Rectoly for Mendeley is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Arrow+ or Rectoly for Mendeley?
Arrow+ and Rectoly for Mendeley are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Arrow+ or Rectoly for Mendeley have ads?
Neither Arrow+ nor Rectoly for Mendeley shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Arrow+ or Rectoly for Mendeley?
Arrow+ ships an update every 3 months, and Rectoly for Mendeley daily. Most recently, Arrow+ was updated on October 3, 2026 and Rectoly for Mendeley on October 10, 2026.

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