Comparison

FolikPDF vs 42 PDF Editor

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

Head to head
About

FolikPDF

Features
Read full description

Folik is a private, capable PDF workspace for iPhone and iPad. It is completely free: no ads, no subscription, no account, and no in-app purchases. READ AND FIND โ€ข Open PDFs from Files or other apps โ€ข Search with contextual results and next/previous navigation โ€ข Use continuous, single-page, or two-page layouts โ€ข Browse thumbnails, outlines, and bookmarks SCAN ON DEVICE โ€ข Capture multi-page documents with automatic edge detection โ€ข Recognize text locally so new scans are searchable โ€ข Keep scans inside Folik unless you choose to share them FILL AND SIGN โ€ข Complete standard PDF text, checkbox, radio, and choice fields โ€ข Track required fields and jump to the next unfinished field โ€ข Create handwritten or typed signatures and initials ANNOTATE AND ORGANIZE โ€ข Highlight, underline, strike through, draw, add notes, shapes, text, and stamps โ€ข Move, resize, recolor, undo, and redo annotations โ€ข Reorder, rotate, duplicate, delete, extract, or combine pages in a new copy EXPORT YOUR WAY โ€ข Share the original โ€ข Create an editable copy โ€ข Export a flattened copy for consistent appearance PRIVATE BY DESIGN Folik processes documents, scans, text recognition, and edits on your device. It has no backend, analytics SDK, or advertising SDK. Compatibility note: Folik supports standard AcroForm fields exposed by iOS. XFA-only forms, certificate-backed digital signatures, JavaScript calculations, and vendor-specific PDF behavior may not be supported. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Folik is open source under the MIT License. https://github.com/x3n-network/FolikPDF

About

42 PDF Editor

Features
Read full description

42 PDF Editor is a PDF reader and editor for iPhone and iPad. Open a PDF from the Files app, iCloud Drive or any other provider, mark it up, fill it in, sign it, stamp it and rearrange its pages, then save it back to the same file or to a new copy. Everything happens on your device, with Apple's own PDFKit. There is no account and nothing is uploaded. Most of what people need to do to a PDF is small: sign a form, fill in a few fields, fix a typo, take out a page, add the scan of a receipt. 42 PDF Editor puts those jobs on the phone you already have with you, and shows every change on the page as you make it. START WITH A TASK The Home screen lists the jobs: Sign, Fill & Stamp, Scan to Text, Compress, Page Numbers, Split, Edit Text and To Images. Pick one, then the PDF, and the editor opens straight into it. MARK UP Highlight, underline and strike through text. Draw with a pen or highlighter, by finger or Apple Pencil, with smooth strokes, and add shapes, arrows and text boxes. Tap any markup to move or resize it with its corner handles, change its colour, weight or opacity, duplicate or delete it, and undo or redo every change. EDIT TEXT Tap a line and retype it. The font, size and colours are matched to the original, and the page shows the result as you type. Change it or undo it later. FILL, SIGN AND STAMP Type into a PDF's form fields, or drop a check, cross, dot, today's date or saved text (your name, email, address) onto a flat form with one tap. Draw a signature once and keep it on your device, then place and resize it on any page; it stays sharp because it is written as vector ink. Add stamps such as Approved, Paid, Received or Draft, or make your own, with an optional date. Add logos and photos too. SCAN TO TEXT Scanned pages become searchable, selectable and editable with on-device text recognition. The page looks exactly the same; its words can now be found, highlighted, copied and retyped. PAGES Drag to reorder, rotate, duplicate or delete. Select several pages to extract them as a new PDF or export them as images. Split a document into files, add page numbers, and crop pages by hand or automatically to their content. Insert blank pages, pages from another PDF or Word file, scans or photos. SCAN AND CREATE Scan paper with the camera, make a PDF from photos, start a blank PDF, or merge several PDFs into one. PDF AND WORD Turn a Word (.docx) file into a PDF, keeping its styles, lists, tables, links, pictures and page size. Turn a PDF into a Word document with editable text, with scanned pages read by on-device text recognition, or with a picture of each page when the look matters most. WATERMARKS, PASSWORDS AND FILE SIZE Add a text or image watermark with your choice of opacity, angle and position. Open password-protected PDFs, and add, change or remove a password. Make a smaller version of a PDF: pictures are compressed, text and drawings stay sharp. SAVE AND SHARE Save in place, Save a Copy, Save a Flattened Copy with the markup drawn into the pages, Share, Print, or export pages as PNG or JPEG. Open in 42 PDF Editor from the Files app and the share sheet. PRIVATE No account, no ads, no analytics and no servers. Your documents, signatures and saved text never leave your device unless you share them. Good to know: Edit Text and Whiteout cover the original content and place new content on top. The original text is still inside the file, so they are not a way to redact a document.

Screenshots

FolikPDF4 screens
42 PDF Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

FolikPDF and 42 PDF Editor are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters โ€” price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them โ€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
FolikPDF versus 42 PDF Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFolikPDF42 PDF Editor
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 daysEvery 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.617.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size9 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJOSEPH AARON SPEARSMohammed Shehada

In-app purchases

None

FolikPDF

No in-app purchases

None

42 PDF Editor

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is FolikPDF free?
FolikPDF is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is 42 PDF Editor free?
42 PDF Editor is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do FolikPDF or 42 PDF Editor have ads?
Neither FolikPDF nor 42 PDF Editor shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FolikPDF or 42 PDF Editor?
FolikPDF ships an update every 2 days, and 42 PDF Editor every 2 days. Most recently, FolikPDF was updated on October 29, 2026 and 42 PDF Editor on November 3, 2026.

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