PDF Expert vs Mena
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
PDF Expert
Read full descriptionHide full description
Turn your iPhone into a portable document scanner. Whether it's paper documents, contracts, receipts, books, photos, or even ID cards and passports, you can quickly scan, crop, enhance, recognize, and export them. Through intelligent edge recognition and OCR text recognition technology, it quickly converts paper content into clear PDFs, images, or editable text, making document digitization simpler. From daily document organization to office document scanning, everything can be done with just your phone. ### Intelligent Document Scanning * Quickly scan contracts, receipts, notes, business cards, books, certificates, photos, etc. * Automatically recognizes document edges and intelligently performs cropping and perspective correction. * Supports continuous shooting and batch scanning; multiple pages can be merged into a single PDF. * Supports exporting scanned content to common formats such as PDF, Word, and JPEG. * High-definition scanning processing makes paper documents clearer and easier to read. ### Quick ID Card & Passport Scanning No need to manually photograph, crop, or organize documents. * Supports fast scanning of ID cards, passports, etc. * Intelligently recognizes document areas and performs cropping. * Quickly generates clear and well-organized electronic document files. * Suitable for document submission, information archiving, office work, and daily document organization. Making ID card and passport digitization more efficient. ### Intelligent Image Optimization After scanning, you can further optimize the document effect: * Automatically crop document edges, rotate and adjust the scanned area. * Adjust brightness, color, and document display effects. * Multiple image enhancement filters to make text clearer. * Optimize shadows, stains, creases, and complex paper backgrounds. * Adjust page size and orientation. Even in less than ideal shooting environments, you can quickly obtain clearer and neater electronic documents. ### OCR Text Recognition Built-in OCR optical character recognition capability, which can extract text from images and scanned documents. * Recognize text content in scanned documents * Quickly convert images to editable text * Edit and organize recognition results * Support text copying and export * Support generating searchable PDF documents * Support exporting recognized content to TXT and other formats No need to re-enter paper documents; simply take a photo to digitize them. ### PDF Editing and Processing Not only can you scan, but you can also further process PDF files: * Merge multi-page documents into a PDF * Adjust the page order in a PDF * Crop and rotate pages * Add or organize scanned pages * Add handwritten signatures to documents * Quickly generate PDF files suitable for sharing, printing, and archiving From scanning to PDF organization, all done in one go. ### File Management As you accumulate more scanned documents, you can quickly organize your materials using the file management function. * Create custom folders * Categorize and save different types of documents * Quickly find scanned files Centralize the management of PDFs, images, and scanned documents Contracts, invoices, certificates, study materials, and work documents can all be neatly stored. ### Privacy and Document Protection Important documents deserve enhanced security. * Set passwords for important documents * Protect private files and folders * Securely store contracts, certificates, bank card information, and other personal documents * Reduce the risk of accidental access to important data Quickly transform paper documents into clear, easily managed digital documents, making your phone a true portable scanner and mobile digital office. This application uses an End User License Agreement (EULA): https://ycnx5impysbs.feishu.cn/wiki/NH8ywzQQWiCYR1kltYtcwjvXn2d Privacy Policy: https://ycnx5impysbs.feishu.cn/wiki/Q2S0w9XQqiEGmYkMDXfcncopngd
Mena
Read full descriptionHide full description
Private visual notes for iPad. Build mind maps on an infinite canvas, study with FSRS flashcards, and sync through your private iCloud storage โ no account required. Mena is an infinite canvas and visual second brain for iPad. Sketch ideas, build mind maps, embed media, and turn any board into spaced-repetition flashcards you actually review โ no account required. INFINITE CANVAS Pan, zoom, and draw with no page limits. Pastel sticky notes, shapes and connectors for mind maps and flowcharts, frames, tables, and 19 polygon shapes. Apple Pencil support with Draw to Shape โ sketch a rough shape and Mena snaps it perfect. EVERY KIND OF CONTENT Drop anything onto your board: sticky notes, rich text and Markdown, code blocks with syntax highlighting, images, PDFs with full page navigation, video, audio files, and live maps. Record voice memos directly on the canvas โ ink drawn during recording is seekable by playback time. Web embeds and URL preview cards keep sources right where you need them. PAPER TEMPLATES Note pages come in blank, lined, dotted, and grid. Change one page or every blank page at once, and choose auto, light, or dark paper independently of your system theme. The same page renders identically in the reader, sidebar, overview grid, library thumbnail, and exported PDF. STUDY WITH FSRS Turn any deck board into spaced-repetition flashcards. Mena uses FSRS โ the most accurate scheduling algorithm available โ to surface cards exactly when you need them. Again / Hard / Good / Easy grading with interval preview. Cloze deletion with one tap. Auto-generate flashcards from your notes on-device, no network needed. STUDY DASHBOARD Track your streak, retention rate, and 14-day due forecast. See today's review count at a glance. ANKI COMPATIBLE Import any .apkg file directly. Mena imports your cards, scheduling data, embedded images, and cloze deletions. Export any deck back as .apkg and study it in Anki on any device. SLIDES & PRESENTATION Draw a frame around anything and it becomes a slide. Open the filmstrip panel, jump to any slide, present full-screen, or export the whole deck as a crisp PDF. 6 BOARD TYPES Board โ infinite whiteboard. Note โ vertical scroll page. Journal โ one auto-created page per day. Atlas โ a spatial map of all your boards. Collection โ a live saved query across all boards. Deck โ FSRS study deck with review session. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS 4 widget types for home screen and lock screen: New Board (one-tap creation), Board Preview (live thumbnail of any board), Today's Study (due count, streak, retention), and Deck (per-deck stats). All fully configurable. SHARE FROM ANYWHERE A share extension catches text, links, images, PDFs, and videos from any other app โ tap Share โ Mena, pick a board, done. PRIVATE iCLOUD SYNC Every board, element, and attachment syncs across your Apple devices through your private iCloud CloudKit database. No Mena account. No third-party cloud server stores your Mena content. Flashcard generation runs on-device. Optional web embeds and Unsplash search connect only when you choose to use them. Mena fits how your brain actually works โ capture, connect, and remember. FREE & PRO Free covers 3 boards, 3 notes, 3 documents and 5 decks; journals and system boards are never limited. Mena Pro lifts every limit โ Pro Monthly and Pro Yearly renew automatically, Pro Lifetime is a one-time purchase. Prices appear in the app before you buy, and you can restore purchases at any time. Privacy Policy: https://apps.cihat.dev/mena/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Mena at every 3 days against PDF Expert's every 9 days. PDF Expert's advantage is iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.6). On price, ads, 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. PDF Expert sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Mena sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PDF Expert ships an update every 9 days, Mena every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PDF Expert | Mena |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 3 days โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 โ better | 18.6 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 47 MB | 48 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ๆณฝๅผบ ่ฒ | Cihat Salik |
In-app purchases
PDF Expert
- PDF Expert Premium Monthly$3.991 Month
- PDF Expert Premium Yearly$29.991 Year
Mena
- Mena Pro - Monthly$3.991 Month
- Mena Pro - Yearly$29.991 Year
- Mena Pro - Lifetime$79.99









