Comparison

Acrobat Reader vs AirScan

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

Head to head
About

Acrobat Reader

This app is a powerful PDF tool for viewing, editing, annotating, and signing documents. It offers AI-powered features for summarizing and interacting with PDFs, along with robust conversion and security options. Collaborate on files and access your documents from anywhere.

Highlights
  • View, edit, and annotate PDFs
  • Sign and fill PDF forms
  • Convert files to and from PDF
  • AI-powered document summarization
  • Collaborate in PDF Spaces
  • Compress and secure PDFs
  • Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Features
Read full description

Major new updates: Collaborate and share your files in PDF Spaces, and turn your document summaries into podcast-style audio in Acrobat Studio. The world’s most trusted PDF reader, PDF editor, and PDF maker with more than 635 million installs. View, share, annotate, add comments, and sign documents - all in one app. You can store your files online and read documents anywhere. Get your 7-day free trial and try all the features of Acrobat Reader. Paid features: Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant • Work across multiple files in one place with PDF Spaces. Collaborate, store, and use AI Assistant across files • Use voice or text prompts with AI Assistant chatbot • Ask questions and get cited answers about details in your document, including charts, graphs, and tables with Figures Q&A • Easily share the responses you get • Try voice support to ask queries and have answers read aloud. • Use new Hands-free to keep the conversation flowing with voice only • Instantly generate summaries from your PDFs with Generative AI Summaries • Get content for emails, text, study notes, blogs, and more [Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant is a paid feature*, free for a limited time] Edit PDFs • With our PDF editor, edit text and images directly in your PDF (mobile only) • Fix typos or add paragraphs with the PDF editor • Easily add, delete, or rotate any image • Use this PDF signer and PDF viewer to get your docs just right Recognize text • Optical Character Recognition (OCR) turns scanned PDFs into searchable, editable text to use in other formats Merge & organize PDFs with PDF Converter • Split or combine multiple files into one PDF with PDF converter • Use the PDF editor to insert, delete, rotate, crop & reorder pages in your PDF file Create, convert & export PDFs • Easily convert to PDF from any file type including Microsoft, Google Docs, and images • Export and convert PDFs to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or various image files • Convert web pages to PDFs Compress & highly secure PDFs • Compress PDF files for easy saving and sharing • Password Protect PDF documents Have your PDF read aloud • Listen to your PDFs on the go, great for reading support • Choose free voices or upgrade for high-quality options Subscribe now to access all these features and use Acrobat across mobile and web platforms. Free-to-use features: PDF signer: Fill & Sign Adobe Fill & Sign is free & available in Acrobat Reader. A form filler and PDF signer that lets you fill, sign, and send Liquid mode in the optimal PDF viewer • Get the best PDF reading experience with this PDF viewer • Search, navigate & adjust font size or spacing to fit your screen Annotate PDFs • Add sticky notes, comments, and highlight text Store & manage files • Link online storage accounts like Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive • Star files to quickly open important documents Connect the PDF viewer and reader to Google Drive • A PDF creator that lets you edit, compress, and export Google Drive files with a subscription Work with scanned documents • Access scanned PDFs from Adobe Scan in Acrobat to fill, sign, and share The Acrobat Reader mobile app is designed to work with customers who have Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) enabled. *An Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant add-on plan is available to Acrobat Individual customers. iOS 16 or above required. Terms & Conditions: Your use of this application is governed by the Adobe General Terms of Use http://www.adobe.com/go/terms_linkfree_en and the Adobe Privacy Policy http://www.adobe.com/go/privacy_policy_linkfree_en Do not sell or share my personal information www.adobe.com/go/ca-rights-linkfree

About

AirScan

Easily digitize paper documents into high-quality PDFs using your mobile device. Recognize text in multiple languages, edit scans, and convert them to various file formats. Securely store important documents like IDs and licenses within the app.

Highlights
  • Scan documents to PDF
  • Text recognition (OCR) in 8 languages
  • Convert to DOCS, XLS, PPT
  • Edit and enhance scans
  • Add digital signatures
  • Email and print scans
  • Securely store IDs and licenses
Features
Read full description

Digitize paper documents from your mobile device with airScan, a free scanner app. From IDs and whiteboards to forms and receipts, scan anything to PDF, get text recognized in 8 languages, extract it, clean up your scans, or convert them into your preferred file format — all within a single app. For advanced options, move your scans to pdfFiller, an all-in-one PDF editor, to easily sign, edit, and manage PDFs online. ***Your most-used documents at your fingertips*** Digitize your most-used documents. Simply scan your ID, passport, or driver's license into a high-quality PDF and securely store it in the app. ***Save scans in your preferred file format*** Transform scans of your most-used documents like contracts, agreements, and business letters into shareable PDFs, DOCS XLS, or PPT file formats — all without having to switch between apps. ***Give your scans a facelift on the go*** With just a few taps, you can adjust the contrast and brightness of your scans or apply black or white filters to make them easier to read. Remove unwanted text and shadows while cropping out distracting backgrounds for a more polished look. ***Sign scanned documents in a flash*** No pens and paper! Draw your signature on a mobile phone screen and place it anywhere on your document with one tap. ***Email scanned documents*** Once you've finished editing your scan, send it via email right from the airScan app. Your recipient can view the crisp PDF file without hassle. ***Print from your phone*** Need a hard copy of a scanned document? With airScan, you can print out your scan from the convenience of your phone in seconds. Add your signature before printing to start the signature collection flow on the fly. ***Make your PDFs fillable and build signature workflows*** Move your PDFs to pdfFiller, an all-in-one document solution that lets you edit, annotate, and sign PDFs, make them fillable, and use them to capture data in minutes. pdfFiller is the only solution you need to get your documents done.

Screenshots

Acrobat Reader4 screens
AirScan4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: AirScan at none against Acrobat Reader's 18. AirScan also leads on review sentiment (73% vs 49%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.3). Acrobat Reader's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (654K vs 455). On price, rating, ads and device support 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. Acrobat Reader sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. AirScan asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Acrobat Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Acrobat Reader has 654K ratings behind it against 455, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 49% of Acrobat Reader's written reviews are positive against 73% of AirScan's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Acrobat Reader ships an update every 9 days, AirScan every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Acrobat Reader versus AirScan: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAcrobat ReaderAirScan
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (654K ratings) — better4.4 (455 ratings)
Positive reviews49.1% of reviews73.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings654K — better455
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank#2 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.313.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size522 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdobe Inc.airSlate, Inc.

Customer experience

Acrobat Reader

All ratings654,141 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral2.4%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews3,158 reviews
Positive49.1%
Neutral4.4%
Negative46.6%

AirScan

All ratings455 ratings
Positive86.4%
Neutral4.0%
Negative9.7%
Written reviews49 reviews
Positive73.5%
Neutral10.2%
Negative16.3%

User reviews

Acrobat Reader

From 654K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and efficient
  • 🔒 Secure document storage
  • 👍 Convenient for reading and annotating PDFs
  • 👍 Useful for students and professionals

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and unreliable
  • 🔒 Overly intrusive login requirements
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 👎 Counterintuitive user interface changes
  • 🔍 Poor search and organization features

AirScan

From 455 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use and intuitive interface
  • 🚀 Quick document scanning and sharing
  • 📧 Seamless email integration
  • 💼 Great for business professionals on-the-go
  • 🆓 No excessive in-app purchase prompts

Room to improve

  • 📏 Limited document size compatibility
  • 🖼️ Results similar to basic camera photos
  • 🐛 Photos disappear after editing
  • 📤 Unreliable email sending
  • 🔧 Limited editing features

Bugs and requests

Acrobat Reader

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Frequent crashes and freezes
  • Inconsistent behavior when editing PDFs
  • Inability to open or save certain file types
  • Sync issues between mobile and desktop versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add erase tool for annotations
  • Improve palm rejection for Apple Pencil
  • Allow direct text editing in PDFs
  • Provide better cloud integration and sync
  • Offer more customization options

AirScan

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Email validation errors preventing app access
  • Cursor placement issues when entering information
  • App freezing on iPhone 6s Plus
  • Incompatibility between app and PDF Filler after updates
  • Email sending failures
Show 2 more
  • Page upload limit of 7 pages maximum
  • Photos disappearing after data entry

Requested features

6 requests
  • Support for multiple document sizes
  • Android version availability
  • Advanced PDF editing features
  • Built-in printing capability
  • Improved photo persistence during editing
Show 1 more
  • Better focus and image quality enhancement

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Acrobat Reader

Subscriptions16
  • Acrobat Premium - Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Adobe Acrobat Premium$4.991 Month
  • AI Assistant for Acrobat$6.991 Month
Show 13 more
  • Acrobat Premium$7.497 Days
  • Acrobat Premium - Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Acrobat Premium - Weekly$9.997 Days
  • PDF Pack - Doc Creator$9.991 Month
  • Premium - Edit & Create PDF$9.991 Month
  • PDF Edit and Convert Monthly7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Acrobat Premium - Monthly$12.991 Month
  • Acrobat Premium - Monthly$14.991 Month
  • Acrobat Reader Plus - Yearly$19.991 Year
  • Adobe ExportPDF$23.991 Year
  • Adobe Acrobat Pro$24.991 Month
  • Acrobat Premium - Yearly7 Days trial$48.991 Year
  • Acrobat Premium - Yearly7 Days trial2 variants$69.991 Year
None

AirScan

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Acrobat Reader free?
Acrobat Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is AirScan free?
AirScan is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Acrobat Reader or AirScan?
Acrobat Reader is rated higher. Acrobat Reader averages 4.6 out of 5 from 654K ratings, while AirScan averages 4.4 from 455 ratings.
Do Acrobat Reader or AirScan have ads?
Neither Acrobat Reader nor AirScan shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Acrobat Reader or AirScan?
Acrobat Reader ships an update every 9 days, and AirScan every 2 months. Most recently, Acrobat Reader was updated on September 27, 2026 and AirScan on September 4, 2026.

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