Folio vs AI PDF Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Folio
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Every PDF tool you need โ and not one byte of your document ever leaves your device. Online PDF tools are convenient until you read the fine print. Your contract, your payslip, your client's financial statement โ uploaded to a server you don't control, retained for purposes you didn't agree to, mined for data you didn't consent to share. Folio makes that trade-off unnecessary. Folio is a full-featured PDF toolkit that runs entirely on your iPhone and iPad. No network connection. No account. No cloud sync. No analytics. Your files go in, your files come out โ nothing in between. WHAT YOU CAN DO Organise โ Merge multiple PDFs into one document โ Split a PDF into separate files by page range โ Reorder, rotate, or delete individual pages Reduce & Prepare โ Compress PDFs to shrink file size without rebuilding content โ Add watermarks or page numbers โ Flatten form fields and annotations into a fixed document Convert (best-effort, on-device) โ PDF to images: export pages as JPG or PNG โ Images to PDF: combine photos into a single document โ PDF to Word, Excel, or PowerPoint โ conversion is handled entirely on-device using Apple's document frameworks; complex layouts may not reproduce with pixel-perfect fidelity, but no file is ever sent to a remote service to achieve it Protect โ Password-protect a PDF with your chosen password โ Remove password protection from a document you own Fill & Sign โ Fill text fields in PDFs โ Add your signature to any document Extract & Search โ OCR: turn a scanned or photographed document into searchable, selectable text using Apple's on-device Vision framework โ Extract all text from a PDF for copying or reference ZERO NETWORK DESIGN Folio ships with no networking capability. It cannot phone home. It cannot upload a file even if it wanted to. Every operation โ compression, conversion, OCR, signing โ runs on your device's own processor using Apple's built-in frameworks. This is not a marketing claim; it is a technical constraint we built in by design. This matters most when you are handling documents that should never leave your hands: NDAs, medical records, legal filings, HR documents, financial statements, tax returns. NO ACCOUNT REQUIRED Open the app. Use every feature. Close the app. No sign-up screen. No email address. No subscription prompt. No paywall on any v1.0 feature. BUILT FOR PEOPLE WHO HANDLE SENSITIVE DOCUMENTS Folio is built for lawyers, accountants, HR professionals, and anyone else who regularly works with documents that are nobody else's business โ and for anyone who is simply tired of feeding their files to free websites that profit from what they read. Your documents are yours. Folio keeps them that way.
AI PDF Reader
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AI PDF Reader brings fast, private, local-first AI to your PDFs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Read, search, and annotate documents โ then ask questions, summarize, and pull out key points with on-device AI. Once a model is installed it works fully offline: your documents never leave your device, and there are no accounts or trackers. Upgrade to Pro for premium AI models and the scanned-PDF OCR path. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://softwaretailor.com/privacy.htm
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Folio at none against AI PDF Reader's 4. AI PDF Reader's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). On price and ads 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. AI PDF Reader sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Folio asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Folio | AI PDF Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | โ | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No โ better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac โ better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 14.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 226 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Vuyo Nkadimeng | Software Tailor (HK) Limited |
In-app purchases
Folio
No in-app purchases
AI PDF Reader
- Pro Personal - Monthly$0.991 Month
- Pro Business - Monthly$4.991 Month
- Pro Personal - Yearly$9.991 Year
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- Pro Business - Yearly$49.991 Year









