Comparison

PDF Notes S vs PDF Reader

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

Head to head
About

PDF Notes S

This app offers a dual-page PDF viewer with smooth scrolling and fast page turns. It also provides document management, quick previews of various file types, and annotation tools. An upgrade removes ads and unlocks full functionality.

Highlights
  • Dual-page PDF viewer
  • Horizontal/vertical scroll and page turns
  • Document browser for file organization
  • Quick Look for various file types
  • ZIP file preview without unzipping
  • 8 handwriting tools
  • Cache manager for fast page turns
Read full description

PDF Notes S gives you a 2 pages viewer with horizontal/vertical scroll, and cache for fast page turns, and thumbnails scrollbar. PDF Notes S gives you ZIP Preview, Quick Look of documents, images, music, videos, and etc. PDF Notes S gives you Document Browser so that you can organize all your files very easily. PDF Viewer - 1 page or 2 pages, horizontal or vertical fast page turns - Scroll or page turns by tap on sides - 8 handwriting tools that you can adjust color and line width - Horizontal or vertical thumbnails scrollbar - PDF outlines, bookmarks, and annotations list - PDF search - Cache manager supports 3 modes, permanent cache, automatic cache, and no cache Quick Look, ZIP Preview - PDF, RTF, TEXT - iWork documents, Office documents - Images, Music, PiP Videos - Without Unzip, preview ZIP contents (password may be requested if locked) Advertisements before upgrade - Banner ads can be shown at the bottom - Interstitial ads can be shown per 30 minutes Information about the auto-renewable nature of the subscription - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. A link to privacy policy and terms of use - http://blog.musebook.com/2017/03/privacy-policy.html The length of the subscription - Monthly or Yearly NOTE: All content contained herein is subject to change without notice.

About

PDF Reader

This app offers a superior PDF reading experience with its innovative Liquid Mode, which optimizes documents for mobile screens. It also provides robust tools for annotating, signing, managing, and sharing your PDF files, catering to both work and study needs.

Highlights
  • Liquid Mode for optimized mobile reading
  • Annotation tools (pencil, text, highlighting)
  • Handwritten signature insertion
  • File management (move, merge, copy, delete)
  • Cloud service integration (Wondershare, iCloud)
  • Create blank PDFs and folders
Features
Read full description

PDFelement - PDF Reader is a PDF reader using the latest technology. The newly connected Liquid Mode function allows you to enjoy the best reading experience. In addition, there are various annotation tools, file management, signature, Various functions such as cloud services can meet your PDF needs in work and study. PDF VIEWER • Liquid Mode gives you the best PDF reading experience • Star files to find them quickly • Easily locate recently accessed files in the "Recent" list. • Enter the page number to navigate to the desired page for viewing LIQUID MODE • Get the best PDF Reading experience with Liquid Mode • PDF document fully fits the mobile phone screen, no need to zoom in and out repeatedly. • Easily adjust brightness, font size,style, and spacing. ANNOTATE • Using Pencil to annotate like writing on the paper • Add text annotations, freely modify the text and background, border colors, choose the appropriate font and font size. • Supports many annotating tools like highlighting, underlining, squiggly lines, or strikethroughs. MANAGE • Move, merge, copy or delete files SIGNATURE • Enables handwritten signatures to be inserted anywhere within the document, while also offering the ability to zoom in and out for greater flexibility. • Built-in commonly used stamps CREATE • Quickly create completely blank PDF documents • Creat blank folders. SHARE • Sharing document content with others is just a click away with capture feature. • Select sentence(s) or pragraph(s) to share CLOUD SERVICE • PDF Reader supports uploading or downloading docs via computer, Wondershare document cloud and iCloud. Please note that this app only supports editing native PDF files. It does not support editing scanned or raster PDF. If you find you cannot edit text in PDF, please check if it is scanned PDF. Thank you! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Need HELP? Please contact us! We'll feedback to you ASAP. Email: pdfelement@wondershare.com Support Center: http://support.wondershare.com Forum: http://forum.pdf.wondershare.com Official Website: https://pdf.wondershare.com If you think this App helps you, your positive review in the App Store would be much appreciated.

Screenshots

PDF Notes S4 screens
PDF Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PDF Reader at none against PDF Notes S's 2. PDF Reader also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (3.9K vs 5). PDF Notes S's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, update cadence and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PDF Notes S sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. PDF Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for PDF Notes S against 4.3 for PDF Reader. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Reader has 3.9K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 53% of PDF Notes S's written reviews are positive against 77% of PDF Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Notes S ships an update every 6 weeks, PDF Reader every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
PDF Notes S versus PDF Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF Notes SPDF Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (5 ratings)4.3 (3.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews52.9% of reviews76.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings53.9K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB173 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAMuseTec Co., Ltd.Wondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.

Customer experience

PDF Notes S

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive52.9%
Neutral35.3%
Negative11.8%

PDF Reader

All ratings3,923 ratings
Positive83.1%
Neutral3.2%
Negative13.7%
Written reviews1,582 reviews
Positive76.7%
Neutral6.1%
Negative17.2%

Bugs and requests

PDF Notes S

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

PDF Reader

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Text boxes appearing randomly
  • Inability to select/edit text in some PDFs
  • Scrolling issues and page loading delays
  • Incompatibility with certain PDF formats

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to edit text formatting (font, size, color)
  • Support for multiple open documents
  • Improved Apple Pencil integration
  • Bookmark/favorite feature for frequently used PDFs
  • Expanded cloud storage integration (OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.)

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PDF Notes S

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Plan$0.991 Month
  • Yearly Plan$9.991 Year
None

PDF Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PDF Notes S free?
PDF Notes S is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Reader free?
PDF Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PDF Notes S or PDF Reader?
PDF Reader is rated higher. PDF Notes S averages 4.2 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while PDF Reader averages 4.3 from 3.9K ratings.
Do PDF Notes S or PDF Reader have ads?
PDF Notes S shows ads; PDF Reader does not.
Which is updated more often, PDF Notes S or PDF Reader?
PDF Notes S ships an update every 6 weeks, and PDF Reader every 2 months. Most recently, PDF Notes S was updated on September 20, 2026 and PDF Reader on October 11, 2026.

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