Comparison

pdf vs Polaris Office Mobile

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

Head to head
About

pdf

Manage and annotate PDF files on your iPad with fast page turning and intuitive finger-writing. Easily import, organize, and share your notes with friends. Offers a seamless reading and editing experience.

Highlights
  • Fast page turning and content scanning
  • Intuitive finger-writing with zoom-in
  • Easy PDF import via Dropbox, Email, or iTunes
  • Organized bookshelves with search
  • Variety of pens, highlighters, and text notes
  • Export annotated PDFs via email
Features
Read full description

Utilize pdf-notes to manage all the pdf files on your iPad. Fast display, quick page-turning even a thousand pages, useful finger-writing and email your notes to your friends. Differentiation-1. While turning pages of paperbooks fast, you can glance over the pages. While turning pages of pdf-notes fast, you can still run over the contents. Speedy page turning and scanning the contents with pdf-notes or paperbooks. Differentiation-2. There are many pdf readers allow you to annotate; but do you know which app allows you can write any notes in a second? If you are using pdf-notes, you may experience very fast and intuitive finger-writing like: zoom-in and note by double-tap or; writing with one finger, page-turning with two fingers, pen-changing with three fingers. - Easy importing PDF files through (DropBox, Email or Safari's) "Open In..." or iTunes - Categorized multiple bookshelves(booklists) with powerful search - Displaying pages as optimized size 1024x768 of iPad - Portrait and landscape view - Pinch zoom and crop page-margins - Fast loading and Speedy page-turning - Finger-writing with a variety of pens, highlighters and text notes - Easy "zoom-in and note" on a magnified screen by a double tap - One-step page-turning using 2 fingers on editing mode - One-step pen-changing or undo/redo using 3 fingers on editing mode - Exporting annotated PDF files to Email - External display and screen brightness controls - AirPrint and multi-tasking Misunderstandings about pdf-notes: - Not only pdf-notes but every app recently updated is removed from the open-in menu because iOS5 or formers currently show only 10 apps in open-in menu. - iPad/iphone Mail/iBooks can't display PDF annotations so that please open it in the other pdf apps. - please visit the support site for more information http://bit.ly/f6D31P Blog http://pdf-notes.com Email musebook@musebook.com Twitter http://twitter.com/musebook4u YouTube http://youtu.be/4AyRyFq9yxg NOTE: All content contained herein is subject to change without notice.

About

Polaris Office Mobile

This mobile office suite allows users to view and edit documents in various formats, including Microsoft Office files, with high compatibility. It offers powerful editing tools, cloud service integration, and PDF annotation capabilities for enhanced productivity on the go.

Highlights
  • Microsoft Office compatibility
  • View and edit various document formats
  • Annotate and export to PDF
  • Cloud storage integration
  • File manager and email attachment support
  • Advanced editing functions
  • Presentation tools
Features
Read full description

* Polaris Office - the choice of more than 100 million users worldwide! * Meet the new and improved Polaris Office Mobile with more powerful document editing features, Microsoft Office compatibility, and a faster document loading speed. ■ Introduction to Polaris Office Mobile Polaris Office Mobile is the best mobile office solution — it makes it easy for you to view or edit documents in various formats on your iPhone or iPad, due to its compatibility with MS Office. It supports features such as Annotate and Export to PDF. It also improves the efficiency of your work by offering features that are optimized especially for mobile devices, such as supporting various cloud storage services (iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, WebDAV etc), opening email attachments, and File Manager. ■ Media Coverage - "Polaris Office is the best solution for editing MS Office documents on the go." - "Polaris Office is one of the best productivity apps for iPad with solid performance and a reasonable price tag." - "Polaris Office boasts the most advanced editing technologies among its peers." ■ Advantages of Polaris Office Mobile High compatibility with Microsoft Office document Annotate and convert PDF Set TXT file background color More than 500 powerful editing functions Capable of more than 300 data analysis instances and fast document loading Support a variety of cloud services (iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, WebDAV, FTP etc) Stunning presentation Simple and elegant design 24 templates / 20 2D/3D charts / 173 shapes / More than 300 functions and automatic data calculation View Conditional Formatting and Pivot Tables / Provide a Custom Keyboard for editing sheets Apply and edit 37 slide transition effects / View object animation Pointer and memo for Slideshow / Slideshow notes Add and edit header, footer, endnote, and footnote / Ruler function Camera mode that can be used to take pictures and apply them to the document / Insert and play video clips / Directly open zip files Support Split Window mode Strengthen the security via App lock function Manage documents which often view or edit as favorites Save a ducument form that often use as template Support 3D touch ■ Have you ever had trouble with broken formatting or non-visible charts when viewing Microsoft Office files on your mobile device? : Polaris Office Mobile displays Microsoft Office files that are almost identical to their original format. It is now possible to view or edit documents from your PC on your mobile devices. ■ Supported Devices and Requirements Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch / iOS 10.0 and above ■ Supported Formats Edit & View (doc/docx, xls/xlsx, ppt/pptx, txt, hwp, csv) / View (pdf, pps, ppsx, odt) (NEW) Now we support CSV format. ■ Supported Languages Supported UI languages (Korean, English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew) / Input languages (Most languages supported by iOS) ■ Online Channel Facebook : www.facebook.com/Polarisoffice ■ Terms of Service and Privacy Policy This application does not collect personal information and data from users. - Terms of Service : https://www.polarisoffice.com/en/terms - Privacy Policy : https://www.polarisoffice.com/en/privacy ■ Information about permission to access File access permission is required to provide this service. * How to change sharing option Settings > Privacy > Allow additional permissions Select category > Revoke access to Polaris Office

Screenshots

Polaris Office Mobile4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: pdf at $9.99 against Polaris Office Mobile's $39.99. pdf also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (72% vs 51%). Polaris Office Mobile's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (532 vs 27). On ads and in-app purchases 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

pdf costs $9.99 and Polaris Office Mobile $39.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Polaris Office Mobile holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Polaris Office Mobile has 532 ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 72% of pdf's written reviews are positive against 51% of Polaris Office Mobile's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

pdf ships an update every 2 weeks, Polaris Office Mobile every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
pdf versus Polaris Office Mobile: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterpdfPolaris Office Mobile
Price$9.99 — better$39.99
Rating4.4 (27 ratings)4.6 (532 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.5% of reviews — better50.9% of reviews
Number of ratings27532 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size138 MB121 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAMuseTec Co., Ltd.Polaris Office Corp.

Customer experience

pdf

All ratings27 ratings
Positive85.2%
Neutral7.4%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews288 reviews
Positive71.5%
Neutral9.7%
Negative18.8%

Polaris Office Mobile

All ratings533 ratings
Positive91.2%
Neutral3.6%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews389 reviews
Positive50.9%
Neutral14.4%
Negative34.7%

Bugs and requests

pdf

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Polaris Office Mobile

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Documents becoming corrupted or unreadable after editing
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps
  • Numeric keypad issues and missing navigation controls
  • Unexpected crashes and data loss
  • Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add spell check and autocorrect functionality
  • Improve file management and cloud sync capabilities
  • Enhance keyboard and cursor control support
  • Introduce a read-only mode to prevent accidental edits
  • Provide better documentation and in-app support

In-app purchases

None

pdf

No in-app purchases

None

Polaris Office Mobile

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is pdf free?
pdf costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Polaris Office Mobile free?
Polaris Office Mobile costs $39.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, pdf or Polaris Office Mobile?
Polaris Office Mobile is rated higher. pdf averages 4.4 out of 5 from 27 ratings, while Polaris Office Mobile averages 4.6 from 532 ratings.
Do pdf or Polaris Office Mobile have ads?
Neither pdf nor Polaris Office Mobile shows ads.
Which is updated more often, pdf or Polaris Office Mobile?
pdf ships an update every 2 weeks, and Polaris Office Mobile every 2 months. Most recently, pdf was updated on October 23, 2026 and Polaris Office Mobile on November 1, 2026.

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