With PDFs being a universal document standard across devices, having a reliable PDF editor for iPhone can be highly beneficial. It lets you view, annotate, sign, fill out, and modify PDFs easily while on the go. It is possible to edit PDFs using free and paid apps that include adding text notes, highlights, drawings, signatures, filling out forms, and even editing text and images within a PDF. We will explore some of the top PDF editors for iPhone in this post to suit the requirements and budgets as per users’ needs.

1. PDF Expert – Edit, Sign, Read

PDF Expert is widely considered the leading PDF editor App for iPhone and iPad. It has a robust set of versatile features to view, annotate, modify, sign, and manage PDFs. You can add annotations like highlights, underlines, text boxes, arrows, shapes, etc. It supports Apple Pencil integration for freehand drawing and writing. You can easily insert, delete, reorder, rotate, copy/paste, and extract PDF pages.

PDF Expert Best PDF Editors for iPhone and iPad

One of PDF Expert’s standout features is the ability to edit text and images within a PDF by simply selecting and changing the content. You can insert photos from your camera roll and edit them in the PDF. Thanks to its intuitive interface and powerful features, PDF Expert is undoubtedly the best PDF app for iPhone.

Pros
  • Robust set of PDF editing features
  • Annotate with Apple Pencil
  • Fill out forms and sign documents
  • iCloud sync across devices
Cons
  • Expensive compared to other options
  • No one-time purchase option

Price: Free (Subscription starts at $9.99)

2. Adobe Acrobat Reader: Edit PDF

As the official PDF reader app from Adobe, the original creators of the PDF format, Adobe Acrobat Reader is a trusted choice for reliably viewing, annotating and filling PDFs on iPhone. The user interface is simple and intuitive, making navigating a long PDF document easy and zooming in on details. The App’s key features are the ability to highlight, take notes, add shape callouts, and sign documents using your finger or Apple Pencil.

Adobe Acrobat Reader Best PDF Editors for iPhone and iPad

Form filling with Acrobat Reader on iOS is smooth and hassle-free, even with interactive fields, drop downs, calculations, and digital signatures. Documents can be conveniently accessed from anywhere via cloud storage services like Dropbox, OneDrive, and iCloud. Documents and annotations can be shared directly from the App for team collaboration.

Pros
  • Trusted Adobe software
  • Reliable PDF viewing
  • Basic annotations and form-filling
  • Cloud storage integration
Cons
  • Limited editing capabilities
  • It can be slow and laggy on older devices

Price: Free (Subscription starts at $3.99)

3. PDFelement: PDF Editor & Scanner

For converting and editing PDFs on iOS devices, PDFelement offers a robust set of features and an intuitive interface. The powerful PDF converter lets you quickly create PDFs from many file types by importing documents from iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, and more. You can combine multiple documents like Microsoft Office files, images, and emails into a single PDF.

PDFelement Best PDF Editors for iPhone and iPad

PDFelement makes it simple to insert, delete, extract, split, rearrange, copy/paste, and rotate pages in existing PDFs. Editing text, images, headings, and tables is enabled with just a few taps. Other key features include Bates numbering, support for e-signatures, and OCR for editable scanned documents. With strong encryption and permission controls, PDFelement is great for working with sensitive documents.

Pros
  • Robust PDF editing and conversion
  • Edit text, images, links, pages
  • Fill out forms and e-sign documents
  • OCR for scanned PDFs
Cons
  • Advanced editing tools require an annual subscription
  • Costlier than some competitors

Price: Free (Subscription starts at $6.99)

4. UPDF – AI-Powered PDF Editor

UPDF delivers full-featured yet easy PDF management right on your iPhone or iPad. It supports every major PDF task including viewing, editing text and images, annotating with pens/highlights, converting between PDF and other formats, organizing pages with rotations and extractions, scanning paper documents directly into editable PDFs, filling out interactive forms, applying password protection and encryption, and more.

UPDF AI-Powered PDF Editor Best PDF Editors for iPhone and iPad

Unique to UPDF is its AI assistant which can summarize long PDF articles, translate text into other languages, and explain complex passages, saving you time in digesting documents. The app also provides an advanced file manager with robust tools to search, and share files, supporting two-finger selection and bulk operations.

Pros
  • Robust editing features
  • AI assistant for simplifying documents
  • Form filling and signing
  • Page organization tools
Cons
  • Potential privacy concerns with AI assistant
  • Steep learning curve with many features
  • More expensive subscription

Price: Free (Subscription starts at $14.99)

5. PDF Editor – Edit Maker, Reader & Converter

PDF Editor delivers reliable essential PDF capabilities for iPhone and iPad users. It enables quick opening, viewing, and navigating through PDF documents with smooth scrolling and zooming. Paper documents and forms can be scanned directly into PDFs within the app using the camera, and images can be perspective-corrected, color-adjusted, and auto-cropped for clarity.

PDF Editor Best PDF Editors for iPhone and iPad

Once scanned, PDFs can be annotated using highlights, sticky notes, shapes, and drawing tools. The app supports stylus input including Apple Pencil for added precision when marking up PDFs. Interactive PDF forms are easy to fill out by typing into text fields, and documents can be signed by applying a digital version of your signature.

Pros
  • Smooth basic PDF viewing
  • Scan documents directly to PDF
  • Annotate and draw on PDFs
  • Fill and sign PDF forms
  • Local file storage maintains privacy
Cons
  • Limited PDF editing capabilities
  • No cloud storage integration
  • Lacks advanced features of some competitors

Price: Free (Subscription starts at $11.99)

6. Xodo PDF Reader & Scanner – View, Annotate, Fill, Sign PDF

Xodo PDF Reader & Scanner all-in-one app aims to fulfill all your PDF needs on iOS. It offers smooth, fast PDF viewing in different color modes with useful features like bookmarks and tabbed documents. Xodo makes it simple to scan paper documents and images into editable PDF files. It provides a capable PDF editor to rotate, crop, split, merge, and extract pages in existing PDFs.

Xodo PDF Reader & Scanner Best PDF Editors for iPhone and iPad

Xodo offers a premium subscription option that unlocks additional power user capabilities like PDF to Word conversions, redactions, smart pen integration, and PDF form creation. With its intuitive design and range of free and paid features, Xodo aims to be the leading all-in-one PDF solution for your iPhone and iPad.

Pros
  • Capable editor with helpful utilities
  • PDF creation from files or scans
  • Sync with major cloud platforms
  • Password protection for security
Cons
  • Subscription required for full features
  • Editing capabilities limited for power users
  • Light annotation features in free version

Price: Free (Subscription starts at $11.99)

7. pdfFiller: PDF Document Editor

pdfFiller provides iOS users with a fully featured PDF editing toolkit enabling complete control over PDF documents. You can easily modify text, reorder pages, insert or extract pages, merge separate PDFs into one, and split single PDFs into multiple files. Robust annotation abilities allow highlighting, adding sticky notes, drawing shapes, and blacking out content.

pdfFiller Best PDF Editors for iPhone and iPad

Files are securely stored in the cloud with unlimited storage capacity, accessible across devices anytime. pdfFiller enables converting to and from PDFs and various formats like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and image files. Standout features include rearrangement of page order, adding and removing entire pages, merging and splitting files, and applying digital signatures for paperless workflows.

Pros
  • Comprehensive PDF editing and conversion
  • Robust annotation and markup tools
  • Apply digital signatures
  • Unlimited cloud storage
Cons
  • Bulk of features require paid subscription
  • Form creation limited on mobile
  • Expensive subscription plan

Price: Free (Subscription starts at $19.99)

8. Foxit MobilePDF

The Foxit PDF Editor for iPhone enables efficient PDF management. A free app allows you to view PDF documents smoothly, add annotations and drawings, fill out forms and sign documents, and make basic editing changes like combining pages and manipulating them. With an annual $10.99 subscription, you can unlock advanced features such as multimedia insertions, text/image editing, conversions, redactions, and XFA support.

Foxit MobilePDF Best PDF Editors for iPhone and iPad

Foxit PDF Editor is an easy-to-use, lightweight, and fast-performing PDF editor and offers reliable, compliant PDF handling. An AI assistant is introduced through ChatGPT for smart recommendations. Its intuitive interface and free PDF tools make Foxit PDF Editor an easy and capable option for PDF tasks on your iPhone or iPad.

Pros
  • Fill out, sign, and submit PDF forms
  • Share and collaborate on documents
  • Sync with cloud storage services
  • AI assistant via ChatGPT
Cons
  • Limited capabilities for free users
  • Lacks advanced features of some competitor
  • ChatGPT assistant may raise privacy concerns

Price: Free (Subscription starts at $10.99)

Conclusion

In closing, there are excellent options for editing, annotating, and managing PDFs on iPhones and iPads, both free and paid. The full-featured paid apps provide robust tools for power users, while free options cover basics well. When selecting a PDF editor for iOS, consider your usage needs and budget. For intensive editing, a paid app like PDF Expert may be best. For only occasional annotations, a free tool like Preview could suffice. With the right App chosen, you can handle essential PDF tasks efficiently from your iPhone or iPad

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