Comparison

DataAnalysis vs Highlights

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

Head to head
About

DataAnalysis

This iPad app allows users to plot and fit various types of data using curve fitting, value prediction, and kinetic analysis. Data can be imported or entered manually, with options for preprocessing before plotting and customization of graphs. It supports multiple fitting methods and can generate standard curves for unknowns.

Highlights
  • Plotting and fitting of x,y data
  • Data import (txt, csv, clipboard)
  • Data preprocessing (average, normalize)
  • Customizable graph generation
  • Non-linear regression fitting
  • Standard curve generation
  • Export graphics and text (PDF, PNG, CSV, TXT)
Features
Read full description

DataAnalysis is a general purpose iPad App for the plotting and fitting of all types of data that can be formulated as x, y pairs. The program can be easily used by both students and professionals. It is particularly useful for quick analyses of various types of data by curve fitting, value prediction via a standard curve, and analysis of kinetic data including enzyme kinetics. Data can be entered directly via the keyboard or imported from a text file (.txt), or a comma separated value file (.csv). In addition, data can be pasted from the clipboard. After data entry the user has the option to average, baseline correct, and/or normalize the data before plotting and fitting. Plotting of the data is as simple as pressing the Plot button. The axes are autoscaled and the graph is immediately ready to add to a document or presentation. The user has a variety of options to customize the graph by altering the axes, axes labels, graph title, and changing the symbol, its size and color. Using touch and drag the user can create a selection box allowing the creation of a data subset. Once the data subset has been selected the user has two options: (1) To zoom in on the selected data. Any fitting done in this mode is global (e.g. uses all the data). (2) To zoom and perform a fitting only on the selected subset of the data. The data can be fit to a variety of mathematical equations by non-linear regression including simple functions such as linear, 2nd and 3th order polynomials, power, exponential, and log functions. Data can also be fit to more complex equations for such processes as radioactive decay, enzyme kinetics, 1st and 2nd order chemical reactions, as well as gaussian, logistics and surge functions. The fit can be overlaid on the data with different line widths, types and thicknesses. Lowess Regression (LOcal Weighted regrESSion) can also be used to fit data without the need to specify a mathematical function. Not only does Lowess Regression not require a mathematical function, but also does not require parameters (non-parametric). This fitting method is used extensively to fit everything from election polling to astrophysics data, where the data have a large degree of scatter. For many analytical situations, the data fit can be used as a standard curve to determine the value of unknowns. This analytical procedure is completely automated within DataAnalysis. The program output, graphics and text, can be copied, emailed, or uploaded to cloud storage such as iCloud, Dropbox, Box and OneDrive in a variety of formats including PDF, PNG, CSV and TXT. The graphics in PDF format can be edited with programs like Adobe Illustrator™ and AutoDesk Graphic™ as objects. DataAnalysis also supports multitasking and printing of input data as well as all forms of output. DataAnalysis has built in tool tips, a comprehensive web based User Guide and videos tutorials all available via the Help Menu.

About

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.

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
Read full description

"... 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

Screenshots

Highlights4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: DataAnalysis at none against Highlights's 3. DataAnalysis also leads on review sentiment (64% vs 53%). Highlights's advantage is rating (4.5 vs 4.1) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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

Both are free to download. Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. DataAnalysis asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Highlights holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Highlights has 1.6K ratings behind it against 106, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of DataAnalysis's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

DataAnalysis ships an update every 2 months, Highlights fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
DataAnalysis versus Highlights: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDataAnalysisHighlights
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (106 ratings)4.5 (1.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.2% of reviews — better53.2% of reviews
Number of ratings1061.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperData Evaluation SystemsJonas Myren Ribe

Customer experience

DataAnalysis

All ratings106 ratings
Positive75.5%
Neutral8.5%
Negative16.0%
Written reviews67 reviews
Positive64.2%
Neutral10.4%
Negative25.4%

Highlights

All ratings1,610 ratings
Positive88.2%
Neutral3.7%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews466 reviews
Positive53.2%
Neutral15.2%
Negative31.5%

User reviews

DataAnalysis

From 106 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Useful for plotting data
  • 👍 Good for quick graphs
  • 👍 Accurate results
  • 👍 Clearly plots points
  • 👍 Shows y-intercept and gradient

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes
  • 🐛 Not working at all
  • 🐛 Hangs up
  • 🐛 UI/UX poorly made
  • 🐛 Tacky UI

Highlights

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 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

Room to improve

  • 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Limited search functionality
  • 🔒 Lack of customization options
  • 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers

Bugs and requests

DataAnalysis

Reported bugs

39 issues
  • App will not let import .csv files
  • No option to import a csv file or to paste data from the clipboard
  • Support page not working
  • Font and background color is white, unable to make out input
  • Forcing users to use Dropbox or mail app for import
Show 34 more
  • iPad only supports vertical display
  • Update failed, app hangs up
  • App not working at all, closes when plotting data
  • Crashes on iPad 2
  • App crashes when trying to launch
  • Difficulty using app in portrait mode on iPad
  • App respects landscape mode when iPad is oriented landscape
  • Extrapolation is a pain, negative y values are non-numerical
  • App has no automatic re-scaling function
  • Data beyond original data is off the graph
  • Cannot use as a standard curve without extrapolation
  • Developer website forces to manual, no contact info
  • App crashes with larger amounts of data (1000 x and y)
  • Graph attributes not saved
  • File names not saved
  • App crashes on import of csv file
  • App crashed and required iPad restart
  • App crashes when trying to launch on iPad 2
  • App crashes with large data sets
  • App does not save graph attributes or file names
  • App does not work properly, help is not working
  • Sometimes does not start properly
  • App crashes on import of CSV files
  • App crashes when trying to launch
  • App crashes with large data amounts
  • Graph attributes and file names are not saved
  • App does not work properly, help is not working
  • App does not start properly sometimes
  • App crashes on CSV import
  • App crashes on launch
  • App crashes with large data sets
  • Graph attributes and file names are not saved
  • App does not work properly, help is not working
  • App does not start properly sometimes

Requested features

34 requests
  • Import .csv files
  • Paste data from clipboard
  • Font color format option
  • Generate 1/x^2 from x set
  • Multiple y-axes
Show 29 more
  • Landscape mode
  • Analyze and model several curves on the same graph
  • Log scales available
  • Gridlines (major and minor)
  • User-defined function capabilities
  • Create own functions
  • Log log plot
  • Custom function for fitting
  • iPhone compatibility
  • Double-Y plot
  • Data tables
  • Title in the graph
  • Open In for PDF
  • Save graph with fit and equation as PDF
  • Normalize x-axis
  • Remember previous entries for functions
  • Default test values to previously used
  • Standard curve analysis for all functions
  • Set x and y axis range
  • Extrapolate to values beyond entered data
  • Error bars
  • Multi-column data
  • Weighted fitting
  • Import text file from Dropbox
  • More than one line per graph
  • Logarithmic graph
  • Polynomials of degree 4 or higher
  • Lorentzian function
  • Arbitrary function fitting

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

In-app purchases

None

DataAnalysis

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Highlights

Subscriptions3
  • Highlights Pro: Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Highlights Pro14 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade1 Year trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is DataAnalysis free?
DataAnalysis is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Highlights free?
Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, DataAnalysis or Highlights?
Highlights is rated higher. DataAnalysis averages 4.1 out of 5 from 106 ratings, while Highlights averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.
Do DataAnalysis or Highlights have ads?
Neither DataAnalysis nor Highlights shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DataAnalysis or Highlights?
DataAnalysis ships an update every 2 months, and Highlights fortnightly. Most recently, DataAnalysis was updated on September 22, 2026 and Highlights on October 6, 2026.

Other comparisons