PDF Notes Pro vs AO Office Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PDF Notes Pro
Transform your iOS device into a digital notebook for annotating and managing PDF documents. Easily add handwritten notes, highlights, and drawings directly onto PDFs, and organize your files with a built-in management system. Share, print, and search your documents and notes with ease.
- Handwritten notes with audio recording
- PDF annotation (highlight, underline, strikeout)
- Freehand drawing and signing
- Full-text search within PDFs and notes
- Built-in file management
- PDF sharing and printing
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PdfNotes Pro is a notes-taking iOS universal app which provides the capability to make notes on PDF documents. It gives you the ability to take notes by handwriting and make your iOS device a magic notebook. It also enable you to read, annotate, print, manage, and share your notes and PDF files. Using PDF Notes Pro, it is simple to take notes and browse notes, sign a PDF document, annotate PDF documents, add bookmarks, highlight text, search text over all the pages, draw anything with a touch pen or just your finger. PdfNotes Pro has a simple but powerful built-in file management system, so it is very easy to import notes and PDF files into PDF Notes Pro or export them from PDF Notes Pro. Features: 1. Take handwriting notes 1) You can take handwriting notes directly on your iOS device with finger or stylus. 2) You can record audio while you are taking notes by handwriting. 3) The audio recorded is stored together with your handwriting notes so you can review your notes later against the audio. 4) You can zoom in to make more room for your handwriting. 5) You can erase any handwriting notes with the Eraser tool. 6) You can change color or line width of your handwriting. 7) Paper-like smooth and comfortable experience and process of notes-taking. 8) You can add handwriting notes into a PDF document. 9) You can access handwriting notes directly from a PDF document. 10) You can print handwriting notes onto paper via AirPlay-compatible printers. 11) You can turn handwriting notes into a PDF document. 12) Free style drawing 2. Annotate PDF documents 1) Write down notes on your PDF documents and browse them later. 2) Highlight text with different colors, and link text notes with it. 3) Underline text with different colors, and link text notes with it. 4) Squiggly text with different colors, and link text notes with it. 5) Strikeout text with different colors, and link text notes with it. 6) Add sticky notes. 7) Draw anything with a touch pen or just your finger, and link text notes with it. 8) Sign PDF documents. 9) Add bookmarks to remember the important pages. 10) Powerful full text search for your notes on the PDF document. 3. Read PDF Documents 1) Browse a PDF Document using its outlines and bookmarks. 2) Browse a PDF Document using its links. 3) Powerful but simple to use full text search helps you find any text in your PDF document quickly and easily. 4) Browse a PDF Document using the notes you have taken. 5) Open password-protected PDF documents with a valid password. 6) Browse a PDF Document using thumbnail view. 4. PDF document sharing 1) Open PDF files directly from your email. 2) Send out PDF documents by email. 3) Print PDF document with your notes via AirPrint. 4) Print PDF document without your notes via AirPrint. 5) Open PDF files directly from any other apps which provide the ability to open a PDF file in another app. 6) Provide the ability to open a PDF file in another app. 7) Download from Dropbox or upload into Dropbox. 8) Download from GoogleDrive or upload into GoogleDrive. 9) Download from Sky Drive or upload into Sky Drive. 10) Download from Box or upload into Box. 11) Send and receive PDF files via AirDrop from iOS Device nearby made in 2013 or later. 5. File Management 1) Create folder or delete folder. 2) Copy, move, and delete a PDF or notes file. 3) Rename a folder. 4) Rename a notes or PDF file. 5) Display number of files in a folder. 6) Display file size and last modified date for a file. 7) Display statistics of a notes or PDF document, such as last open time, current page, etc. 8) Provide unlimited depth for folders(you can create subfolder of unlimited sub level).
AO Office Pro
This app provides a comprehensive office suite for mobile devices, enabling users to view, edit, import, and export a wide range of document types. It includes tools for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, drawing, and mathematical equations, mirroring the functionality of desktop office software.
- View, edit, import, and export documents
- Full OpenOffice/LibreOffice functionality
- Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, and Math components
- PDF export and import
- Cloud storage integration (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)
- Support for numerous file formats
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AO Office is the world's first porting of OpenOffice for iOS and it's a powerful and complete office suite for OpenOffice / LibreOffice documents. You can view, edit, import, and export PDF, Word, Excel & PowerPoint documents using full features of the OpenOffice in the PC version. AO Office has 5 components: Writer: a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book. Calc: a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyze, and present your data in numerical reports or graphics. Impress: the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations. Draw: lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations. Math: lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor. * AO Office is a forked project from the Apache OpenOffice project. AO Office is not affiliated with the Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice projects. ■ Features ■ - View / edit / import / export documents - High reproducibility for Open Document Format - Export and import documents as PDF - Formatting paragraphs - Create stylized text with special effects - Support for extensive file formats - Support for embedded object - Support for Dropbox / iCloud Drive / Google Drive / OneDrive / Box / NAS / WebDAV - Support for Audio and Video - Support for recovering the unsaved work - Support for modern encryption - Support for Markdown documents ■ Supported File Formats ■ AO Office can open and save to: - Microsoft Word (DOC / DOT / RTF) - Microsoft Word 2007 (DOCX / DOTX / DOCM) - Microsoft Excel (XLS / XLT) - Microsoft Excel 2007 (XLSX / XLTX / XLSM) - Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT / POT) - Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 (PPTX / POTX / PPTM) - OpenDocument (ODT / ODS / ODP / ODG / ODF) - Portable Document Format (PDF) - OpenOffice.org1.0 / StarOffice6.0 (SXW / SXC / SXD / SXI / SXG / SXM) - Text (TXT / CSV / XML) - HyperText Markup Language (HTML) - Markdown (MD / MARKDOWN) - Adobe Photoshop (PSD) - Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) - Windows Metafile (EMF / WMF) - Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) - Data Interchange Format (DIF) - SYLK (SLK) - Portable Anymap Format (PBM / PGM / PPM) - OS/2 Metafile (MET) - Sun Raster Image (RAS) - Mac Pict (PCT) - X PixMap (XPM) - StarView Metafile (SVM) AO Office can open: - WordPerfect Document (WPD) - AutoCAD (DXF) - T602 Document (602) - Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) - Truevision Targa (TGA) - X Bitmap (XBM) - Zsoft Paintbrush (PCX) - Kodak Photo CD (PCD) AO Office can save to: - PlaceWare (PWP) - Macromedia Flash (SWF) - JPG / GIF / PNG / BMP ■ Gesture Assignments ■ - Hard Press or 2 Finger Tap = Context Menu - Pinch In & Out = Zoom In & Out - Drag = Scrolling - Drag with Hard Press or 2 Finger Tap = Drag & Drop ■ Limitations ■ - Not supported for macro ■ Contact Us ■ Email: support-ios@aooffice.app Twitter: @office700
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: PDF Notes Pro at $4.99 against AO Office Pro's $19.99. AO Office Pro's advantage is rating (4.2 vs 1.7) and review sentiment (52% vs 13%). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
PDF Notes Pro costs $4.99 and AO Office Pro $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
AO Office Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 1.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AO Office Pro has 165 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 13% of PDF Notes Pro's written reviews are positive against 52% of AO Office Pro's.
PDF Notes Pro ships an update every 3 weeks, AO Office Pro every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on October 16, 2026.
| Parameter | PDF Notes Pro | AO Office Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 — better | $19.99 |
| Rating | 1.7 (6 ratings) | 4.2 (165 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 12.5% of reviews | 52.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 165 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 40 MB | 239 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | UMateY | Akikazu Yoshikawa |
Customer experience
PDF Notes Pro
AO Office Pro
In-app purchases
PDF Notes Pro
No in-app purchases
AO Office Pro
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is PDF Notes Pro free?
Is AO Office Pro free?
Which has better reviews, PDF Notes Pro or AO Office Pro?
Do PDF Notes Pro or AO Office Pro have ads?
Which is updated more often, PDF Notes Pro or AO Office Pro?
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