Comparison

QuickSearch PDF Reader vs Smart Logbook

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

Head to head
About

QuickSearch PDF Reader

This app provides lightning-fast text searching within PDF documents, both individually and across your entire library. It also functions as a smooth PDF viewer with intuitive navigation and zooming capabilities.

Highlights
  • Instant text search within PDFs
  • Cross-document search
  • Natural page navigation
  • Pinch-to-zoom and double-tap zoom
  • Scrub bar for document navigation
  • Import from other apps and iTunes File Sharing
Features
Read full description

"QuickSearch PDF Reader is the tool you didn't realize you needed ... searches are extra fast but it's the interface design that shines ... a terrific app" -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog (tuaw.com) QuickSearch PDF Reader makes it fast and easy to find text in PDF documents. When you add a document, it is scanned in the background, so when you search, results are instant. And as well as searching within a document, you can search across all your documents at once. It’s also a great PDF viewer with a very natural style of navigation. It snaps to page boundaries, yet it’s easy to flick past them. Zooming is straightforward by pinching, or you can double-tap a region of text to zoom to fit. You can easily jump to any part of the document using the scrub bar. And everything is lightning-fast, even on large documents. You can easily get your documents into QuickSearch from other apps on your iPad or iPhone that support the "Open In..." function, such as Mail, Safari, or Dropbox. You can also use iTunes File Sharing to transfer documents to and from your Mac or PC. Full step-by-step instructions are included.

About

Smart Logbook

Effortlessly log flight hours, track currency, and manage pilot certifications. Visualize your flight history on an interactive map and receive timely renewal reminders for medicals and training. Supports various international regulations and export formats.

Highlights
  • Fast and easy flight logging
  • Customizable totals calculation
  • Currency and limit tracking
  • Medical and training renewal reminders
  • Interactive flight map
  • Electronic signature capture
  • Multiple export formats
Features
Read full description

Smart Logbook makes logging your flights fast and easy. When you apply for a new rating or interview for a job, you can easily see your flying totals, over any span of time, in any type of aircraft. Track your currency and limits, and get reminders to renew your medical and recurrent training. As your flying experience grows, use the interactive map to see for yourself all the places flying has taken you. Getting started is easy. Download Smart Logbook and log 50 hours of flight time for free. Then make a one-time purchase in the app to continue adding flights. Besides getting the intuitive and powerful functionality Smart Logbook offers today, you'll also receive regular updates with new capabilities. Smart Logbook sync keeps your logbook securely backed up, and lets you seamlessly access it from multiple devices. Sync is included in the free trial. After that, just sign up for the very affordable sync subscription. The first year is free, and you can cancel any time. For more info about purchasing or the sync subscription, see https://thesmartlogbook.discourse.group/c/help/purchase Features: • Extensive customization, with defaults for general aviation and professional pilots. • Calculate your totals, filtered by time period, aircraft type/characteristics, and more. • Currency and limit tracking. Includes rules for FAA, EASA, and Transport Canada requirements, and allows creating custom rules. • Electronic signature capture, compliant with FAA standards. • Track certificates, ratings, endorsements, and medicals, and get notifications to renew items that expire. • Interactive map of your flights, which can be viewed and shared online. • Database of 40,000 airports, and allows adding custom airports. • Print your logbook in Jeppesen Basic/Pro, Transport Canada, EASA, or DGCA (India) format. • Calculate totals for the FAA Form 8710-1 / IACRA. • Add photos of aircraft, models, crew members, certificates, and flights. • Import flights from LogTen Pro or Excel/CSV file. • Export flights to CSV file. • Support for Dark Mode and Sign in with Apple. Privacy Policy: https://thesmartlogbook.com/privacy.html Terms & Conditions: https://thesmartlogbook.com/eula.html

Screenshots

QuickSearch PDF Reader4 screens
Smart Logbook4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Smart Logbook at Free against QuickSearch PDF Reader's $2.99. Smart Logbook also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.9) and review sentiment (93% vs 67%). QuickSearch PDF Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 3 months). On 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

Smart Logbook is free to download; QuickSearch PDF Reader costs $2.99 up front. Smart Logbook sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. QuickSearch PDF Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Smart Logbook holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Smart Logbook has 153 ratings behind it against 24, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of QuickSearch PDF Reader's written reviews are positive against 93% of Smart Logbook's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

QuickSearch PDF Reader ships an update every 5 weeks, Smart Logbook every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
QuickSearch PDF Reader versus Smart Logbook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQuickSearch PDF ReaderSmart Logbook
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating3.9 (24 ratings)4.8 (153 ratings) — better
Positive reviews67.2% of reviews93.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings24153 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB73 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOlive Toast Software LtdKviation, Inc.

Customer experience

QuickSearch PDF Reader

All ratings24 ratings
Positive70.8%
Neutral4.2%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews116 reviews
Positive67.2%
Neutral6.9%
Negative25.9%

Smart Logbook

All ratings153 ratings
Positive97.4%
Neutral0.7%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews72 reviews
Positive93.1%
Neutral5.6%
Negative1.4%

User reviews

QuickSearch PDF Reader

From 24 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Extremely fast PDF search across large document collections
  • ⚡ Instantaneous results as you type
  • 📚 Handles massive files (1GB+) without crashing
  • 🎯 Accurate search functionality for finding keywords
  • 💰 Affordable pricing

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • ❌ Dropbox integration broken and non-functional
  • 📉 No updates for years (last update 4+ years ago)
  • 🚫 Missing annotation features (highlighting, underlining, notes)
  • 📝 Limited PDF editing capabilities

Smart Logbook

From 153 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use interface
  • 💰 Affordable one-time payment
  • 🚀 Seamless syncing across devices
  • 🛠️ Highly customizable
  • 🌟 Excellent customer support

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Rare updates
  • 🐛 Small but frustrating bugs
  • 🐛 Sorting issues (requires UTC date setting)
  • ❓ Bug reporting requires third-party registration
  • ❓ Registration form missing (only sign-in available)

Bugs and requests

QuickSearch PDF Reader

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • Dropbox authentication fails with reCAPTCHA not displaying
  • App crashes when opening certain PDF documents
  • Search function crashes during use
  • Cannot access PDF files on iPad Air 2
  • File upload functionality not working
Show 7 more
  • Search fails to find all instances of words in documents
  • Inconsistent search results with multi-column PDFs
  • App crashes when handling large file collections (2GB+)
  • Cannot open user manual without crashing
  • Search misses words mixed with numbers
  • Case-sensitive search issues
  • Poor performance with non-English character sets

Requested features

16 requests
  • Text highlighting and underlining capabilities
  • Note-taking and annotation features
  • Folder creation and document organization
  • Microsoft OneDrive integration
  • Google Translate integration
Show 11 more
  • Copy and translate functionality
  • Advanced search options (exact match, case sensitivity)
  • Document renaming capability
  • Tab support for multiple PDFs
  • PDF index/table of contents navigation
  • Support for additional file formats (.txt, .doc)
  • Batch file export functionality
  • Search results listing with page numbers
  • OCR support for scanned documents
  • Right-to-left language support
  • Folder-based search filtering

Smart Logbook

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Multiple sectors during one day sorted by name, not by time of departure
  • Some airports missing (e.g., VDTI)
  • Flights added as simulator flights
  • Search function is terrible, impossible to find crew member
  • Cross-platform purchase restoration issues (Android to iOS)

Requested features

18 requests
  • Ability to input waypoints instead of just airports
  • Automatically add normal flight times for a route
  • Separate flights by year on the main page for better overview
  • Display flight direction on the map
  • Allow custom names in the create an airport option
Show 13 more
  • Filter flights by date (older/newer)
  • Edit totals to date hours on FAA print pages
  • Show all dates filter by default
  • Add search by airport name
  • Option to mark/switch view of all visited countries
  • Add Airline field
  • Add filters by airlines
  • Show aircraft model and airline on the same line of the list
  • See flight times with different date filters together on one page (e.g., last 7, 30, 120, 365 days)
  • Add a signature feature for examiners and instructors
  • Configure night time manually in settings for automatic calculation
  • Add a prefix with airline name for flight ID
  • Log duty time with multiple legs

In-app purchases

None

QuickSearch PDF Reader

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Smart Logbook

Subscriptions2
  • Sync (monthly)1 Year trial$1.991 Month
  • Sync (yearly)1 Year trial$14.991 Year
One-time3
  • Unlimited Flights (discounted)$19.99
  • Unlimited Flights (on sale)$23.95
  • Unlimited Flights$34.99

Questions

Is QuickSearch PDF Reader free?
QuickSearch PDF Reader costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Smart Logbook free?
Smart Logbook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, QuickSearch PDF Reader or Smart Logbook?
Smart Logbook is rated higher. QuickSearch PDF Reader averages 3.9 out of 5 from 24 ratings, while Smart Logbook averages 4.8 from 153 ratings.
Do QuickSearch PDF Reader or Smart Logbook have ads?
Neither QuickSearch PDF Reader nor Smart Logbook shows ads.
Which is updated more often, QuickSearch PDF Reader or Smart Logbook?
QuickSearch PDF Reader ships an update every 5 weeks, and Smart Logbook every 3 months. Most recently, QuickSearch PDF Reader was updated on October 4, 2026 and Smart Logbook on October 8, 2026.

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