Comparison

Canvio vs PDFWise

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

Head to head
About

Canvio

Create an infinite canvas for notes, mind maps, and project planning. Annotate PDFs, draw with Apple Pencil, and organize research visually. Integrates various content types for a flexible workspace.

Highlights
  • Infinite canvas for notes and ideas
  • PDF annotation and markup
  • Mind mapping and diagram creation
  • Project planning and task management
  • Handwriting conversion to text
  • Import and organize various content types
Features
Read full description

Canvio is a notes, whiteboard, PDF annotation and planning app for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Create an infinite canvas where you can write, draw, type, connect ideas, organize research, annotate PDFs, plan projects and keep everything in one flexible workspace. CREATE YOUR OWN CANVAS Start by creating a canvas, naming it and choosing an icon. Use an infinite canvas for open thinking, or choose structured sizes like A4, A5, Letter, iPad or a custom canvas size. Each canvas can also include multiple pages, so one project, subject or idea can stay organized in one place. WRITE, TYPE AND CUSTOMIZE TEXT • Double tap anywhere on the canvas to start writing quickly • Add text with fonts, custom fonts, font size, styles and colors • Customize text background colors, borders and strokes • Place text anywhere and move it freely on the canvas • Use Canvio for class notes, study notes, ideas, planning and visual thinking DRAW WITH APPLE PENCIL • Draw with pen, pencil, marker, highlighter and ruler tools • Use Apple Pencil for smooth handwriting, sketching and annotation • Draw directly on the canvas or inside separate drawing cards • Convert handwriting or drawing text into editable text objects • Use smart shapes to turn rough hand-drawn shapes into clean shapes BUILD MIND MAPS, DIAGRAMS AND FLOWCHARTS • Connect ideas with smooth connectors • Add lines, rectangles, triangles, polygons, circles and arrows • Create mind maps, concept maps, flowcharts and diagrams • Add sticky notes, symbols, images and text blocks • Organize everything with layers, grouping, multi-select, move and delete tools PLAN PROJECTS AND TASKS Canvio is not only for notes. It also helps you plan and organize work visually. • Add to-dos with due dates, priority and subtasks • Use templates for comparison, project boards, mind maps, meeting notes, weekly planning and study planning • Build project boards, research boards, study plans and brainstorming spaces • Keep tasks, notes, diagrams and references together on the same canvas ANNOTATE PDFS AND DOCUMENTS • Open PDFs page by page like a book • Swipe or scroll through PDF pages • Draw, highlight and write directly on PDF pages • Extract PDF pages or content back onto your canvas • Use PDFs together with notes, images, drawings, audio and tasks SCAN, IMPORT AND CAPTURE IDEAS Bring different types of content into one place instead of switching between many apps. • Add images from your gallery or camera • Scan images and turn them into PDF-style documents • Extract text from images using OCR • Add tables for structured information • Record audio notes or import audio files • Play audio directly from the canvas • Add YouTube links and watch videos inside your workspace CUSTOMIZE YOUR WORKSPACE • Choose canvas background palettes • Use dots, grid, lines, columns or blank backgrounds • Switch between light mode and dark mode • Organize large ideas with pages inside each canvas • Zoom in for details or zoom out to see the full picture EXPORT, SHARE AND SYNC When your work is ready, export it easily. • Export the full canvas as PNG or PDF • Save clean, high-quality notes, diagrams, plans and boards • Sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac BUILT FOR STUDENTS, CREATORS AND PROFESSIONALS Students can create study notes, mind maps, PDF annotations, research boards and exam plans. Professionals can plan projects, create meeting notes, organize tasks, build diagrams and present ideas clearly. Creators and designers can collect inspiration, sketch concepts, create mood boards, organize references and brainstorm visually. Canvio gives your ideas more room than a normal notes app. Write by hand, type, draw, annotate, plan, connect and organize everything on one powerful canvas. Free to download. No account is required to start. Create your first canvas and give your ideas room to grow. Terms of Use: https://ak375456.github.io/canvio-site/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://ak375456.github.io/canvio-site/privacy.html

About

PDFWise

This app offers a comprehensive suite of PDF tools that operate entirely on your device, ensuring complete privacy. It allows you to read, scan, edit, sign, and organize your documents without uploading them to any cloud service. Generate professional PDFs from templates and perform batch operations for efficiency.

Highlights
  • 100% on-device processing
  • Built-in scanner with OCR
  • PDF editing and annotation tools
  • Handwritten signature support
  • Professional PDF template generation
  • Batch processing for files
  • On-device full-text search
Features
Read full description

PDFWise – PDF Reader & Tools The privacy-first PDF app for people who never wanted to upload their documents in the first place. PDFWise is a fast, complete PDF reader, scanner, editor and signer built for iPhone and iPad. Every feature runs 100% on your device. No accounts, no cloud, no analytics on your documents — your PDFs never leave your iPhone. 100% PRIVATE BY DESIGN OCR, search indexing, compression, encryption — all happen locally on your device. PDFWise has zero servers and zero network calls for any document operation. No tracking, no profiling, no ads. SCAN ANY DOCUMENT Use the built-in scanner to capture pages with auto edge detection and perspective correction. Pages are OCR'd on device so you can search inside scanned documents instantly. Works for contracts, receipts, notes, books and handwritten pages. POWERFUL READER & ANNOTATIONS Smooth PDF viewer with thumbnails, outline (TOC) sidebar, night mode tint and continuous scroll. Add sticky notes, drawings, highlights, shapes and rubber stamps. Search inside the file with a Safari-style find bar. SIGN ANY PDF Save handwritten signatures in a library and apply them to any PDF with full control over position, size, ink color and which pages. Signatures bake permanently into the page so the result holds up in any reader. 14 PROFESSIONAL TEMPLATES Generate Invoice, Receipt, Quotation, Meeting Minutes, Agenda, Letterhead, Sign-In Sheet, Resume, Cover Letter, To-Do List, Travel Itinerary, Certificate, Class Schedule and Flyer in seconds — fill a form, get a polished PDF. ALL THE TOOLS YOU NEED Merge, split, compress, watermark, encrypt with password, add page numbers, convert TXT/Markdown/HTML to PDF, import from URL, combine photos into PDF — every common PDF task in one place. BATCH PROCESSING Compress, watermark or encrypt many PDFs at once with one tap. Perfect for accountants, lawyers, students and freelancers handling stacks of files. POWERFUL ON-DEVICE SEARCH Find any word across your entire library — including scanned documents — in milliseconds. FTS5 full-text search with boolean operators and exact-phrase queries. iOS Spotlight integration so you can search from the home screen. FACE ID / TOUCH ID PASSWORDS Opt in to remember PDF passwords with Face ID or Touch ID. Stored in the iOS keychain under biometric access control — only your face or fingerprint unlocks. SHORTCUTS & SIRI 10 Siri shortcuts: "Hey Siri, scan a document", "Compress a PDF", "Merge PDFs" and more. Automate your PDF workflow without opening the app. 14 LANGUAGES Fully translated to English, Vietnamese, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese. WHY CHOOSE PDFWISE? - 100% on-device — your PDFs never leave your iPhone - No accounts, no cloud, no tracking, no ads - Fast, native, battery-friendly - Free of subscription paywalls - Built for iPhone and iPad with iOS native design - 14 languages, RTL support for Arabic Download PDFWise today and take back control of your documents. We read every review. If something feels off or you want a feature, tell us — we ship updates fast.

Screenshots

Canvio4 screens
PDFWise4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PDFWise at none against Canvio's 5. PDFWise also leads on ratings volume (7 vs 1). Canvio's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, ads and iOS requirement 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. Canvio sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. PDFWise asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Canvio against 5.0 for PDFWise. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDFWise has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
Canvio versus PDFWise: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCanvioPDFWise
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (7 ratings)
Number of ratings17 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAftab fazal QayumTHI HUE MAI

Customer experience

Canvio

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

PDFWise

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Canvio

Subscriptions2
  • Canvio Pro$2.991 Month
  • Canvio Pro$29.991 Year
One-time3
  • Canvio Local Pro$29.99
  • Lifetime Cloud Upgrade$29.99
  • Canvio Pro Lifetime$59.99
None

PDFWise

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Canvio free?
Canvio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDFWise free?
PDFWise is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Canvio or PDFWise?
Canvio and PDFWise are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 7 ratings respectively.
Do Canvio or PDFWise have ads?
Neither Canvio nor PDFWise shows ads.

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