File Viewer vs Simple PDF
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
File Viewer
Easily open and view over 100 different file types, including documents, images, videos, and archives. Browse files stored on your device or in iCloud Drive. This app also identifies unknown files and displays detailed file information.
- Open 100+ file types
- Browse device and iCloud Drive
- Built-in readers for Office, PDF, and images
- Extract compressed archives
- Identify unknown files
- View file information and metadata
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File Viewer is an easy-to-use file viewer opens over 100 file types, including PDFs, Office documents, images, videos, audio, and compressed archives. Browse and view files on your device or iCloud Drive with ease. Key Features - Open 100+ file types with a single app - Browse files on your device and iCloud Drive - Bookmark favorite locations including iCloud and device storage - View documents with the built-in DOCX reader, DOC reader, PDF viewer, PPTX viewer, PPT viewer, and CSV viewer - Extract compressed archives with the Zip file extractor and Tar Gzip extractor - Identify unknown files with the built-in file identification technology - Show file information including properties and hidden metadata Supported File Types - Documents: PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, PAGES - Spreadsheets: XLS, XLSX, NUMBERS - Presentations: PPT, PPTX, PPSX, KEY - Images: JPEG, PNG, AVIF, JXL, HEIC, PSD, SVG - Videos: MP4, MOV, AVI, 3G2, M4V - Audio: M4A, MP3, WAV, AIF, AC3 - Archives: ZIP, GZ, TAR, TGZ - Camera Raw: ARW, CR2, CR3, DNG, NEF - Source Code & Web: HTML, C++, Java, Python, JSON, XML - And many more! File Viewer is brought to you by https://fileinfo.com - a trusted source for file format information.
Simple PDF
This application allows users to view, annotate, and edit PDF documents with ease. Features include document management, OCR capabilities, and a built-in scanner. It's designed for students and professionals to stay productive on the go.
- View, annotate, and edit PDFs
- Full-text search and navigation
- Free-draw and text box annotation
- Page reordering and PDF merging
- Scan documents with built-in camera
- OCR for text extraction
- Home screen widget for quick access
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Simple PDF Reader is a powerful, fast, and beautifully designed app for viewing, annotating, and editing your PDF documents — all in one place. Whether you're a student, professional, or just organizing paperwork, Simple PDF Reader keeps you productive on the go. Key Features: - Viewing & Navigation Smooth, fast PDF rendering with page thumbnail scrubber Table of contents (outline) and bookmarks for quick navigation Full-text search across the document Auto-scroll with adjustable speed for hands-free reading - Annotation & Drawing Free-draw with pen and highlighter tools Add text boxes anywhere on the page Insert and position signatures with drag & resize handles Eraser, undo, and redo support - Document Management Reorder and delete pages in the page editor Merge multiple PDFs into one - Scan paper documents with the built-in document camera Import PDFs from Files, iCloud, and other apps via share extension - OCR Extract text from scanned or image-based PDFs - Home Screen Widget Quick access to recently opened documents from your Home Screen - Dark Mode supported
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Simple PDF at every 3 weeks against File Viewer's every 6 months. Simple PDF also leads on rating (3.7 vs 3.4) and iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.0). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Simple PDF holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 3 respectively.
File Viewer ships an update every 6 months, Simple PDF every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | File Viewer | Simple PDF |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (5 ratings) | 3.7 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 37.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 20 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sharpened Productions | Chang Keun Jung |
Customer experience
File Viewer
Simple PDF
In-app purchases
File Viewer
No in-app purchases
Simple PDF
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is File Viewer free?
Is Simple PDF free?
Which has better reviews, File Viewer or Simple PDF?
Do File Viewer or Simple PDF have ads?
Which is updated more often, File Viewer or Simple PDF?
Other comparisons
