# Papers by ReadCube vs Highlights

The clearest difference is rating: Highlights at 4.5 against Papers by ReadCube's 3.7. Highlights also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (53% vs 41%). Papers by ReadCube's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Papers by ReadCube asks for nothing beyond the download.

Highlights holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 551 and 1.6K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 41% of Papers by ReadCube's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's.

Papers by ReadCube ships an update every 2 months, Highlights fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Papers by ReadCube | Highlights |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [3.7 (551 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/papers-by-readcube/id864042981/reviews) | **[4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 551 | **1.6K** |
| Positive reviews | 41.2% of reviews | **53.2% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Fortnightly** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Freemium |
| Size | 77 MB | 37 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | **15.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Digital Science & Research Solutions Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/864042984) | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) |

## What reviewers say

### Papers by ReadCube

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/papers-by-readcube/id864042981)

Manage, read, and discover research literature on your mobile devices. Annotate PDFs, organize your library with custom lists and tags, and receive personalized recommendations for new papers. Syncs seamlessly with desktop and web applications.

**Highlights:** Read and manage research papers, Annotate PDFs with notes and highlights, Organize library with custom lists and tags, Discover new research with personalized recommendations, Search and download articles, Sync across devices

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Seamless syncing across devices
- 📚 Excellent for organizing and managing research papers
- 🔍 Helpful search and discovery features
- 💻 Good integration with desktop and web versions
- 📝 Useful annotation and highlighting tools

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Buggy annotation and handwriting tools
- 🔍 Inconsistent search and metadata retrieval
- 💾 Unreliable cloud sync and data loss issues
- 🖍️ Limited annotation features compared to competitors
- 🕰️ Slow development and lack of updates

**Reported bugs**

- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Sync issues causing data loss and duplication
- Unreliable PDF downloads and access
- Inconsistent behavior of annotation tools
- Compatibility problems with newer devices and OS versions

**Requested features**

- Add eraser tool for handwritten annotations
- Improve PDF viewing and navigation experience
- Implement better organization and folder management
- Integrate citation and bibliography tools
- Provide more customization options


### Highlights

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833)

This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.

**Highlights:** Read and browse PDF documents, Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text, Add comments and sticky notes, Extract annotations into organized notes, Convert table data and recognize text, Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex), Lookup citation metadata and DOI links

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Highlights Pro: Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Highlights Pro | $29.99 | per year |
| Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade | $29.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs
- 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking
- 📚 Useful for academic and professional work
- 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
- 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Limited search functionality
- 🔒 Lack of customization options
- 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers

**Reported bugs**

- Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing
- Text selection issues, especially with footnotes
- Compatibility problems with certain PDF files
- Syncing issues across devices
- Export functionality not working as expected

**Requested features**

- Add handwriting and freeform annotation support
- Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature
- Allow editing of notes directly in the app
- Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription
- Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Papers by ReadCube free?

Papers by ReadCube is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Highlights free?

Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Papers by ReadCube or Highlights?

Highlights is rated higher. Papers by ReadCube averages 3.7 out of 5 from 551 ratings, while Highlights averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.

### Do Papers by ReadCube or Highlights have ads?

Neither Papers by ReadCube nor Highlights shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Papers by ReadCube or Highlights?

Papers by ReadCube ships an update every 2 months, and Highlights fortnightly. Most recently, Papers by ReadCube was updated on October 3, 2026 and Highlights on October 12, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*