Skip to content
Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes app icon
#16in PDF Annotation

Highlights: PDF Reader & Notes

B Tier
Good
83
4.56.5K ratings
26dsince update
FreeIn-App Purchases
Productivity
category
Education
category
4+age rating
1language
Made for iPhone
Made for iPhone Duo
Made for iPad
Made for Mac

What is Highlights?

A PDF reader for reading, highlighting, annotating and exporting notes from research documents and books.

Highlights is a PDF reader and annotation app for iOS, listed under Productivity. It lets users open PDFs from local storage or cloud services, highlight and comment on text and images, and turn annotations into notes. Notes can be exported as Markdown, HTML, PDF and other formats.

Pricing. Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases on the App Store.

Good for

  • Annotating research papers and collecting highlights into notes
  • Reading PDFs and books stored in iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Google Drive
  • Converting text or tables in images into text or CSV

Screenshots

1 / 8
Made Highlights?Claim this page, for free: your own one-liner, a Visit link, a private report of the visits it gets and the Verified mark.
Claim

Why this app is in B tier

83/100The average of 4 parts, with no weights
Rating90
Ratings78
App Store search rank63
Update recency100

B tier follows from that score within this list. The full explanation, as data.

Highlights scores 83 out of 100: rating 90, rating count 78, App Store search rank 63, update recency 100. The four parts are averaged and B tier follows from that score within this list.

Description

"... an app that students, academics, and anyone who does substantial amounts of PDF-based research should try" - Macstories.net

"It’s the novel approach to PDF annotation that makes this app a cut above the rest"- TapSmart.com

App of the Day" - App Store, US

USE HIGHLIGHTS FOR FREE

Highlights is a fast and lightweight PDF reader (under 10MB) packed with features to help you do your best research.

Free users have access to standard PDF reader features including document browsing, reading and annotating. There are NO ADS, time limits or tracking.

READ PDF DOCUMENTS

Read more
  • Open PDF documents from anywhere
  • Browse files using the familiar document browser
  • Open PDFs in Single Page or Two Page scroll mode
  • Double tap to Smart Zoom in on a paragraph or figure
  • Scrub smoothly to the desired page
  • Search the entire document in an instant
  • Navigate using any connected keyboard or mouse

STORE YOUR FILES WHERE YOU WANT

  • Full support for "Open In Place" lets you make edits to the file where it is
  • Access your files from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box using the document browser
  • Or keep them privately on device only

HIGHLIGHT AND ANNOTATE FASTER

  • Select text with your finger, Apple Pencil or mouse pointer
  • Highlight, underline, strikethrough text and make image selections
  • Add comments to annotations or as individual sticky notes
  • Annotate with fewer taps using context aware popovers
  • Default annotation colors prevents you from having to repeatedly setting the color for the same type of annotation every time

TURN ANNOTATIONS INTO NOTES

  • As you markup text and images the contents are extracted and sorted into notes
  • Customize the formatting and contents of your notes
  • Sort the annotations chronologically or create your own color coding

EXTRACT TABLE DATA AND RECOGNIZE TEXT

  • Convert images containing text or tables to actual text and tables using machine learning - letting you get to the underlying data with a single tap

SMART COPY

Copy annotations to the desired format with one tap:

  • Text markup as text
  • Image selections as images
  • Tables as CSV
  • Citations as BibTex

LOOKUP CITATIONS

  • Highlights will fetch DOI-links and metadata
  • Markup any reference and tap the link icon to look it up
  • If you have read the work already or have it in your reference manager library, Highlights will link you to it

EXPORT ANYWHERE

  • Save or share your notes as portable files: Markdown, TextBundle, HTML, WebArchive or PDF
  • Share them to your favorite notes app: Apple Notes, Bear, Craft, Evernote, DEVONThink, Keep It, MindNode, Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research or Ulysses
  • Or send them to a colleague via mail. It's your notes, you decide where they go

MUCH MORE

  • Dark mode
  • Multi-window support on iPadOS
  • Keyboard shortcuts and navigation
  • Support for system Copy and Undo gestures
  • Alternative app icons
  • Custom accent colors
  • Apple Pencil double-tap gestures
  • Power annotation tools

For a full list of features see: highlightsapp.net/features

HIGHLIGHTS PRO

The Highlights Pro subscription unlocks advanced features on your iPhone, iPad and Mac:

  • Export options for other apps and easily editable formats
  • Extract information using table and text recognition
  • Customize accent colors and alternative app icons
  • Power annotation tools
  • Citation lookups
  • Smart Copy

Highlights Pro includes a 14-day free trial. You can cancel your subscription at any time. The subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off within 24-hour prior to the end of of the current period.

Payments will be charged to your iTunes account and your account will be charged within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription.

For more information about Highlights Pro: highlightsapp.net/pro

Privacy Policy: highlightsapp.net/privacy
Terms of Use: highlightsapp.net/terms

Compare

Top PDF Annotation

Recently Updated

Questions about Highlights

Is it free to use?

It is free to download. The listing says free users get standard reading and annotating features, with no ads, time limits or tracking. In-app purchases are listed, but their prices are not stated on the App Store.

Can I use files stored in cloud services?

Yes. The listing says files can be accessed from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box through the document browser, or kept privately on the device only. Open In Place is supported for editing files where they are.

What formats can notes be exported in?

Notes can be saved or shared as Markdown, TextBundle, HTML, WebArchive or PDF files. They can also be sent to apps such as Apple Notes, Bear, Notion and Obsidian, or emailed to a colleague.

Is Highlights right for me?

Highlights is built for annotating research papers and collecting highlights into notes, reading PDFs and books stored in iCloud drive, dropbox or google drive, converting text or tables in images into text or CSV. It sits in the PDF annotation list on AppTierList.

Is Highlights worth it?

Highlights is B tier, ranked #16 of 26 PDF annotation apps with a score of 83 out of 100, from a 4.5 App Store rating across 6,489 ratings. Good, and 15 apps rank above it.

How does Highlights compare to Notes Writer?

Highlights is B tier at 83; Notes Writer is B tier at 84. Notes Writer ranks higher. Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases, Notes Writer is free to download, with in-app purchases.

How often is Highlights updated?

Highlights was updated 26 days ago, which counts in its favour.

Alternatives

Categories

All the facts

Ranking

Lists
PDF Annotation (B tier, #16) · PDF Reading (B tier, #18)
Tier
B (Good)
Score
83 / 100
Rank in list
#16 of 26
Ranking certainty
settled

Ratings

App Store rating
4.5 out of 5, every App Store country
Ratings
6,489

App

Price
Free + IAP
App Store category
Productivity
Current version
(26 days ago)
Size
39 MB
Requires
iOS 15.0 or later
Age rating
4+
Languages
1
Runs on
iPhone, iPad, Mac
iPhone Duo
Made for iPhone Duo, with screenshots for both screens on the App Store

Links

Developer pages
Website · Support · Privacy policy
Maker
not verified

App Store data read · ranking