MSRX PDF Compressor vs PDF Tools
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
MSRX PDF Compressor
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MSRX PDF Compressor makes PDFs smaller without turning your text into pictures. Most PDF compressors flatten every page to an image. The file shrinks, but you lose selectable text, search, links, and anything a screen reader can use. This one looks at each page first. Pages with real text keep it. Pages that are scans or photographs get re-encoded, which is where nearly all the saving in a scanned document lives anyway. TEXT STAYS TEXT A 135-page workbook came out 33% smaller with all 138,000 characters still selectable and searchable. A 224-page scanned textbook went from 100 MB to 9 MB. The difference is the document, not the setting โ and the app tells you which one you have before you commit. FIT UNDER A LIMIT Tell it the limit your email or upload form imposes โ 5, 10, 20 or 25 MB โ and it works out the settings for you, testing real pages rather than guessing. If it cannot reach your limit, it says so and hands back the smallest file it managed. It will not pretend it succeeded. SEE WHERE THE MEGABYTES ARE Before you compress, the app breaks the file down: images, fonts, page content, overhead. Then it tells you plainly what to expect โ "10 of 28 pages are scans. Those compress well; the rest keep their text." COMPARE BEFORE AND AFTER Put the original and the result side by side, page by page, and confirm for yourself that nothing was lost. ALSO IN THIS VERSION โข Compress several PDFs at once, with per-file results โข History, with a running total of everything you have saved โข Greyscale conversion for scans and photographs โข Compress from any app's share sheet, without opening this one โข A Shortcuts action, for compressing as part of an automation โข Full Dark Mode, Dynamic Type, and VoiceOver support HONEST ABOUT WHAT IT CANNOT DO Compression works on images. A document that is mostly text and embedded fonts has very little to give, and the app says so up front instead of letting you find out afterwards. Scanned documents are where you will see the dramatic numbers. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything happens on your iPhone or iPad. Your files are never uploaded, and the app has no analytics, no accounts, and no network access at all. FILE LIMITS Up to 500 MB and 2,000 pages per document. Free. No ads, no subscriptions, no in-app purchases.
PDF Tools
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PDF Tools is your all-in-one offline PDF manager for iPhone and iPad โ scan documents, merge PDFs, compress PDFs, split PDFs, and convert images to PDF directly on your device. No internet required. No file uploads. No login. Turn your iPhone into a portable document scanner. Scan receipts, invoices, contracts, notes, passports, IDs and reports with automatic edge detection and high-quality results. KEY FEATURES Document Scanner Scan documents instantly with your camera Automatic edge detection High-quality PDF creation Scan receipts, contracts, notes, IDs, passports and reports Merge PDF Combine multiple PDF files into one document Reorder files before merging Fast offline PDF merging Compress PDF Reduce PDF file size significantly Three compression levels โ Low, Medium, High Save storage and share large files easily Split PDF Extract specific pages into a new PDF Create smaller focused documents Image to PDF Convert photos and images into professional PDF documents Support multiple images in one PDF PDF to Images Convert PDF pages to JPG or PNG Export pages individually File Manager Access all scanned and exported documents Rename, delete and share files PDF Tools gives you everything you need to scan, merge, compress, split and convert PDFs โ completely offline, completely free, no login required. Standard Apple EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: MSRX PDF Compressor at none against PDF Tools's shown. PDF Tools's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 5 months) and iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
MSRX PDF Compressor ships an update every 5 months, PDF Tools weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MSRX PDF Compressor | PDF Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Weekly โ better |
| Ads | No โ better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod โ better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.5 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 35 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mrinal Singh Raja | VENTRYDIGITAL TECHNOLOGY LTD |
In-app purchases
MSRX PDF Compressor
No in-app purchases
PDF Tools
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MSRX PDF Compressor free?
Is PDF Tools free?
Do MSRX PDF Compressor or PDF Tools have ads?
Which is updated more often, MSRX PDF Compressor or PDF Tools?
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