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Best PDF Reading Apps for iPhone (2026)
Acrobat Reader: PDF Editor is the top-ranked of 26 PDF reading apps on iPhone, at S tier with 4.6/5 from 661,280 ratings.
- 1
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 661,280 ratings · score 98 - 2
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 216,190 ratings · score 97 - 3
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 6,945 ratings · score 94 - 4
Free download · ★ 4.6 · 9,100 ratings · score 93 - 5
$6.99 + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 13,808 ratings · score 93
What belongs in this list
Open and read PDF files on an iPhone.
Not here: a PDF editor alone; a PDF converter alone; an ebook reader for other formats alone; a general file manager alone; a document scanner alone
How we pick
For this list we ask the App Store the same searches a person would, in several countries, and keep every app it returns. A model reads each app's listing and rejects the ones that only mention the use case. Every app that stays is scored out of 100 from four parts, each 0 to 100 and averaged with no weights: its App Store rating, how many people rated it, where the App Store itself ranks it for this list's searches, and how recently its current version shipped. An app showing Apple's Editors' Choice badge gets a fifth part of 100, which can only lift its score. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier. Read the full method →
Compare every app
- 1Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 661,280 ratings · score 98 · best in class
- 2Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 216,190 ratings · score 97 · best in class
- 3Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 6,945 ratings · score 94 · best in class
- 4Free download · ★ 4.6 · 9,100 ratings · score 93 · best in class
- 5$6.99 + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 13,808 ratings · score 93 · best in class
- 6
Free · ★ 4.7 · 8,860 ratings · score 92 · best in class - 7
Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 29,311 ratings · score 91 · excellent - 8
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 8,129 ratings · score 91 · excellent - 9
Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 3,744 ratings · score 90 · excellent - 10
Free + IAP · ★ 4.3 · 22,230 ratings · score 86 · excellent - 11
Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 393 ratings · score 86 · excellent - 12
Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 4,763 ratings · score 85 · excellent - 13
Free + IAP · ★ 4.3 · 418 ratings · score 85 · excellent - 14
Free + IAP · ★ 5.0 · 1 ratings · score 82 · good · provisional - 15
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 738 ratings · score 82 · good - 16
Free + IAP · ★ 4.4 · 1,703 ratings · score 80 · good - 17
Free + IAP · ★ 4.4 · 1,418 ratings · score 74 · good - 18
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 10,318 ratings · score 71 · good - 19
$4.99 · ★ 4.6 · 4,099 ratings · score 69 · situational · provisional - 20
Free download · ★ 4.3 · 3 ratings · score 65 · situational · provisional - 21
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 9,186 ratings · score 64 · situational · provisional - 22
Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 1,450 ratings · score 63 · situational · provisional - 23
Free · ★ 3.6 · 20 ratings · score 63 · situational - 24
Free download · ★ 4.3 · 3,925 ratings · score 62 · situational - 25
Free + IAP · ★ 5.0 · 1 ratings · score 60 · weak · provisional - 26
Free download · ★ 4.4 · 5 ratings · score 58 · weak · provisional
Beyond the top 26
1 more, not ranked yet
New in the last 30 days
- PDF Pro - Reader Editor Forms (S)
- PDF Viewer by Nutrient (S)
- PDF Gear - PDF Editor & Reader (S)
- PDF Editor ® (A)
- PDF Editor ,PDF Book Reader ® (A)
- PDF Maker: Editor & Converter (A)
- PDF Reader : Document Reader (A)
- PDF Reader: Edit & Sign (B)
- PDF Reader & Editor | Xodo (B)
- PDF Hero - PDF Editor & Reader (B)
- Bluefire Reader (C)
- PDF to Books (C)
- Rah Book Reader (C)
- PDF Reader - PDFelement (C)
- Quick PDF Reader - PDF Viewer (D)
Questions people ask
- What is the best PDF reading app for iPhone?
- Acrobat Reader: PDF Editor, S tier, ranked #1 of 26, rated 4.6 by 661,280 people.
- Which PDF reading apps are free?
- 23 of 26 are free to download: Acrobat Reader: PDF Editor (S), PDF Expert: Editor & Reader (S), PDF Pro - Reader Editor Forms (S), PDF Viewer by Nutrient (S) and more. 16 of them sell in-app purchases. 2 report no in-app purchases.
- Which PDF reading app has the best App Store rating?
- PDF Gear - PDF Editor & Reader at 4.7 from 8,860 ratings.
- How many PDF reading apps reach S or A tier?
- 13 of 26. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier.
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