mobile tech

Top 17 iPad Apps For PDF Users

The iPad 2 has been released and there isn’t any shortage of iPad app lists online. While you can find great lists online that have a bit of everything, you can sometimes find them lacking in one aspect or another, especially if you’re looking for a specific type of functionality.

For the PDF user, it may be even harder. What about specific PDF needs? To remedy that, here’s our iPad PDF catalog featuring both free and paid apps. They’re catered to the needs any PDF user might have or may come across.

Note that apps on this list do have overlapping features, but you’ll find that one app may be more versatile than another–or on the contrary, may have only the basics you need without all the frills. The choice is yours.

If you’re shopping around for an iPhone or iPod Touch, the lowest minimum requirement for some of these apps is iOS 3.0 and later. If you’re worried about updated iPad 2 iOS 4.3 compatibility for some apps, be sure to check in with the main developer site for the latest version or feature updates.

So whether you have a new iPad 2 or just got a refurbished first gen iPad, you’re bound to find something handy.

Storage

1. Dropbox

DropboxOne thing you’ll need when it comes to sharing large PDF files from your iPad is a solid document sharing service.With Dropbox you get 2 GB free with the ability to sync Mac, Windows, and Linux computers.

If you want power user features such as online file backup, fast web access, automatic sync, and file encryption, Dropbox is the way to go.

Price: Free
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later

2. Box.net

Box.net

Here’s a great storage app that gives you 5 GB storage for free. With the free plan, you get a file size limit of 25 MB, mobile app access, and file sharing links for easy access.

Price: Free

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

3. SugarSync

SugarSync

Syncing and backing up your files with SugarSync adds a bit more convenience with 5 GB free storage and data sync for than one device. You can sync images, music, photos, and documents anytime, anywhere on multiple computers with the assurance that your file transfers are secure.

Price: Free
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

 

PDF Editing

 

4. PDF Reader – Annotate, Sign and Edit PDF Documents (Document Expert) 

iPad PDF Annotator

PDF Reader allows you to organize and edit your PDF files, making it one of the world’s most popular apps for PDF management. With a few button clicks, you can annotate your content, highlight, underline, add shapes, signature and backup your files via an email or Cloud storage services. With this app you will optimize your work and become more productive in no time.

Price: Free
Requirements: Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPad

 

5. PDF Expert 6: Read, annotate & edit PDF documents

 

iPad PDF Markup AppPDF Expert 6 is an app for anyone who likes to read and edit their PDFs on iPad or iPhone. With this app you can quickly edit PDF text, replace images, hide sensitive information, insert stamps, markup documents, merge PDFs and much more. It’s design and friendly user interface makes it one of the easiest apps you can use.

Price: $9.99
Requirements: Requires iOS 9.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

 

6. Good Reader

Good ReaderWith Good Reader, you get some versatility along with the ability to mark up your PDFs. You can open Office, iWork files, hi-res images, and even audio and video files. For PDFs with a ton of hyperlinks, Good Reader has a handy feature that lets you toggle back and forth easily from page to page with a single tap.

Price: $4.99
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later

 

7. PDF Highlighter

PDF HighlighterOn top of all the standard features offered by mark up apps—note-taking, highlighting, and sketching, PDF highlighter has a few other special features you might enjoy. It contains an integrated browser for web links and Wikipedia lookup, annotations overview, and night mode viewing display.

Price: $6.99
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later

 

PDF Viewers & Managers

8. ReaddleDocs

iPad Document Productivity App

Readdle Pack is one of the most powerful and downloaded productivity app on Apple Store. Over 45 million people are happily using it everyday on their iPhones and iPads. With Readdle Productivity Pack you are getting three apps in one — Scanner Pro, PDF Expert, Printer Pro. All these apps are carefully designed, allowing you to quickly create, edit, and print your documents. 

Price: $13.99
Requirements: Requires iOS 9.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

9. PDFCache

iPad PDF To Web ConverterWeb To PDF is a free app that gives you the opportunity to save your favorite online content to PDF and share it with others. This is really handy when you wish to highlight some data, insert text and shapes or add your personal notes. The converted files will look 100% as the original pages.

 

Price: Free
Requirements: Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Developer: Darsoft Inc.

 

10. PDF Reader Lite

PDF Reader LiteFor those who aren’t heavy duty PDF users, sometimes the basics are all you need.This is where PDF Reader Lite comes in. While it allows you to store only 10 files, it has all the features of a standard PDF viewer–bookmarking, table of contents, and basic file management features.

Price: Free

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

 

11. iBooks

iPad Ebook Reading App

If you love to read and enjoy a good book, this is the right app for you. iBooks allows you to enjoy a good story, right from the comfort of your iPhone or iPad. There are numerous different genres you can choose from including classics, new authors, bestsellers, fantasy, sci-fi, autobiographies and even audiobooks.

Price: Free

Requirements: Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

12. Avenza PDF Maps

Avenza PDF MapsEver receive a map in the PDF format? Here’s a geospatial app that not only lets you view PDF maps on your iPad but also lets you interact with them. Navigate through maps with regular iPad gestures, add/edit waypoints, find co-ordinates, and locate yourself with the iPad’s built-in GPS system.

Price: Free
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later

 

13. PDF Manager Professional

PDF Manager ProfessionalPDF Manager gives you the versatility you need to handle PDFs on your iPad. With this app you have a few ways to easily manage and share your PDF files: share files via popular networks (Twitter, Facebook, etc.),through email, or offline.

Price: $3.99
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later

 

Other

 

14. Magachine

MagachineAs you know, PDF files aren’t really optimized for mobile devices, giving you a less than stellar viewing experience. To improve that, there’s Magachine. According to the translated webpage, this app can turn your PDF into a magazine style layout for easier reading.

Price: Free
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later

 

15. PDF Presentation

iPad PDF Presentation Viewer

With PDF Presenter you can store, manage and read all your PDF documents, with a single click. Import your PDFs from your emails or from the corresponding browser and keep everything well organized and prepared. This tool is simple to use and you can get controls over your presentation in no time.  

Price: $6.99
Requirements: Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

16. Print n Share for Advanced Printing

Print n ShareUndoutedly, having the option to print up a file directly from your iPad is a necessity.Print n Share for Advanced Printing is a feature packed app that can print to all printers via Mac or PC, remotely over 3G, and to most WiFi printers.

Price: $8.99

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

 

17. PDF Snapshot

PDF Snapshot*If you’re looking for more versatility with your PDF, check out PDF Snapshot. This app will extend your PDF applications to create, email and copy snapshots of images in your PDF. With the latest version, you can even annotate the PDF before you take the snapshot.

Price: Free
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later

One PDF To Go, Please: A PDF In The Palm Of Your Hand

The portable document format does live up to the word “portable.” Whether you’re a busy entrepreneur, a workaholic or a web surfer, location doesn’t seem to really matter anymore. Everything is going mobile.

And you’re probably seeing a lot of technology moving from the desktop computer to the handheld device, which adds yet another category of decisions about your working habits that change with along with the trends.

So if you’re interested in joining the iddy-biddy-sized mobile world with your PDF work, here’s a brief background on some details surrounding PDFs on mobile devices .

Creating A PDF Optimized For Handheld Mobile Devices

First of all, regardless of what PDF creation software you have, you can create PDF files specifically optimized for mobile browsers by paying attention to a few details about your PDF.

1) File size. Use the Save As command to save the PDF. This will re-write the entire file and not just append the changes made to it, making it a more compact size that won’t ruin the integrity of the PDF.

2) Images. For images, use the best compression settings to ensure that you don’t include unnecessary pixel data. Using a lossy compression (JPEG and ZIP) or downsampling will help to decrease this.

3) Fonts. Don’t embed many, unnecessary fonts as embedding fonts also increases file size. Mobile devices importing the PDF may already have the fonts needed to render the text.

4) Tags. One of the key differences between desktop PDFs and mobile PDFs is file structure. Just as structure is important for reflowing the text to fit screen readers, it serves the same purpose for mobile browsers. Ensure that only the necessary tags for smooth textual reflow are included with the PDFfile.

Software For PDF Mobility

Palm OS, Symbian OS, Black Berries, and MS Pocket PCs are the most popularly used mobile OSs. The OS’s compatibility will play a factor in your mobile PDF research as some PDF software for handheld devices won’t support all platforms.

But for starters, there’s Adobe Reader LE. The software is supported by Symbian OS, Windows Mobile (Pocket PC 2.0), and Palm OS. Reader LE comes pre-installed on some mobile devices and supports scrolling, zooming and decryption for viewing your PDFs. As well, the software can support text search, bookmarks, and links within the document. In addition, Adobe has a user discussion forum for users with any tech support topics or tips regarding the software.

Features for different mobile devices vary. For instance, for Symbian OS devices, such as Nokia Smartphones, you can view a PDF as either a tagged PDF or in its original formatting. With Pocket PCs, you can directly print wirelessly from your handheld device to a remote printer. Adobe Reader LE on Palm OS devices allows you to view and transfer your Digital Editions e-books to your device. And another thing to note, there are a different variety of language options for you to choose from with each individual download.

Other mobile software supporting PDF viewing includes Dochawk Platinum 2.0, Repligo Professional 2.0, mBrainsoftware, DataViz’s Documents To Go v.9.0. Add them to the research list as it might come in handy as well.

Why Would You Need Mobile PDFs?

Now many users already complain about the usability of the PDF because of the long periods of time that can be spent in front of a screen. And handheld mobile devices have viewing and interactivity problems of their own (how small can a keyboard get?).

So why would you need PDFs on the go? One major reason is that, light and compact, handset devices are ultimately a matter of convenience. And when working away from your desktop, you need to have access to all the important documents you need—even PDF documents.

Checking emails on the way to work has perhaps become a daily routine for some. And undoubtedly, opening email attachments that are in the PDF format may be part of that. Or, for a PDF workflow that is almost essential to niche industries, such as publishing, for instance, emergencies that need attention don’t anticipate (or care) where you’ll be when they happen. And unfortunately, for others, going on vacation or getting ill doesn’t mean they stop working altogether– not with a PDA in hand and thumbs poised in the air.

Going portable with portable documents. . . . It does add a nice spin to the name, Portable Document Format!