12 Best PDF Editor Apps for iPhone & iPad in 2026: Complete iOS Guide

Every iPhone and iPad comes with Markup, Apple's built-in annotation tool accessible through the Files app, Mail, Safari, and Photos. It offers surprisingly capable PDF markup tools including drawing, highlighting, adding text, signatures, shapes, and a magnifier. With Apple Pencil on iPad, Markup becomes a natural handwriting and sketching tool.

Key features: Freehand drawing with Apple Pencil, add text and signatures, highlight and underline, insert shapes and arrows, magnifier tool, and access from any app via the share sheet.

Pricing: Completely free — included with iOS

Best for: Quick annotations and signatures without installing any additional apps.

Adobe Acrobat on iOS delivers the same industry-leading PDF editing capabilities available on desktop. The iPad version is particularly impressive, with a full toolbar layout that takes advantage of the larger screen. Apple Pencil integration allows for precise annotations, and Liquid Mode reformats PDFs for comfortable reading on iPhone screens.

Key features: Liquid Mode for mobile reading, Apple Pencil annotations, full text and image editing (premium), scan to PDF with OCR, e-signatures, combine files, compress PDFs, and export to Word/Excel/PPT.

Pricing: Free (basic features) | Acrobat Premium: $9.99/month | Acrobat Pro: $19.99/month

Best for: Professionals who need the most complete PDF editing suite on iOS.

PDF Expert is widely considered the best third-party PDF editor built specifically for Apple devices. Designed from the ground up for iOS, it feels native and responsive. The app excels at annotation with Apple Pencil, offers smooth page management, and provides genuine text editing that preserves the original document formatting.

Key features: Native Apple Pencil support with palm rejection, edit PDF text and images, annotate with customizable tools, fill and sign forms, merge and reorder pages, convert to Word/Excel/PPT, redact sensitive content, and iCloud sync.

Pricing: Free (reading and basic annotation) | Premium: $79.99/year

Best for: iPad users with Apple Pencil who want the best native annotation and editing experience.

GoodNotes combines note-taking with PDF annotation in a way that feels effortless on iPad. Import any PDF, annotate it with Apple Pencil using realistic ink, and organize your documents in notebooks and folders. The handwriting recognition engine lets you search through your handwritten notes and annotations.

Key features: Best-in-class Apple Pencil writing, handwriting recognition and search, import and annotate PDFs, organize in folders and notebooks, presentation mode, shape recognition, and iCloud sync.

Pricing: Free (limited notebooks) | Full version: $9.99 one-time purchase

Best for: Students and academics who annotate PDFs with handwritten notes using Apple Pencil.

Foxit delivers reliable PDF editing on iOS with a focus on performance. The app handles large multi-hundred-page documents without slowdowns, which is where many competitors struggle. ConnectedPDF technology adds unique features like document analytics and version tracking.

Key features: Edit text and images, annotate with Apple Pencil, scan to PDF, fill and sign forms, ConnectedPDF for tracking, collaborate via shared reviews, and integrates with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.

Pricing: Free (basic features) | Pro subscription: $10.99/year

Best for: Users who work with large, complex PDF files and need reliable performance.

PDFelement on iOS offers desktop-level PDF editing with AI-powered features. The standout capability is its OCR engine that converts scanned documents and photos into fully searchable, editable text. The interface adapts well to both iPhone and iPad screen sizes.

Key features: AI-powered OCR, edit text and images, Apple Pencil annotations, fill and sign forms, create PDFs from scratch, batch processing, password protection, and convert to multiple formats.

Pricing: Free trial | Annual plan: $29.99/year | Perpetual license available on desktop

Best for: Users who need to digitize paper documents with accurate OCR on their iOS device.

Notability is a note-taking powerhouse that doubles as an excellent PDF annotator. Its unique audio recording feature links recordings to your annotations — tap on any note to hear what was being said when you wrote it. This makes it invaluable for lectures and meetings where you annotate PDF slides in real time.

Key features: Audio recording synced to annotations, Apple Pencil with palm rejection, import and annotate PDFs, rich text notes alongside annotations, dividers and subjects for organization, and iCloud sync.

Pricing: Free (basic features) | Premium: $14.99/year

Best for: Students and professionals who annotate PDF presentations during lectures or meetings.

Smallpdf brings its well-known web tools to iOS with a task-based interface. Instead of one complex editor, you pick a specific action — compress, convert, merge, split, or sign — and the app guides you through it. This approach is refreshingly simple for users who need to quickly perform one task and move on.

Key features: Compress PDFs to reduce size, convert PDF to Word/Excel/PPT/JPG and back, merge multiple PDFs, split documents, e-sign, scan with camera, and protect with passwords.

Pricing: Free (2 tasks/day) | Pro: $9/month or $69/year

Best for: Users who need quick, one-off PDF conversions and compressions without learning a complex app.

The Microsoft 365 app on iOS bundles Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF tools in one package. The PDF capabilities include signing, scanning, and converting Office documents to PDF. If you already use Microsoft 365, this consolidates your workflow into a single app.

Key features: Sign PDFs, scan documents to PDF with AI enhancement, convert Office files to PDF, extract tables from images, annotate and comment on PDFs, and deep OneDrive integration.

Pricing: Free (basic features) | Microsoft 365 Personal: $6.99/month

Best for: Microsoft 365 subscribers who want PDF tools integrated into their existing Office workflow.

Made by the same team behind PDF Expert, Scanner Pro is the premier scanning app on iOS. It produces exceptionally clean scans with automatic edge detection, perspective correction, and smart filters. The app integrates deeply with PDF Expert and other iOS apps for seamless scan-to-edit workflows.

Key features: AI-powered edge detection and correction, multiple filter options, OCR text recognition, multi-page scanning, automatic cloud upload, Siri Shortcuts support, and workflow automation.

Pricing: $3.99 one-time purchase | Pro features via PDF Expert subscription

Best for: Users who need the highest quality document scanning on iPhone or iPad.

iLovePDF replicates its popular web-based tools in a well-designed iOS app. The toolbox layout puts every function front and center — merge, split, compress, convert, annotate, and sign. Batch operations let you process multiple documents at once, which is rare among mobile PDF apps.

Key features: Merge, split, and compress PDFs, convert to and from multiple formats, annotate and highlight, e-signatures, add page numbers and watermarks, extract images, and batch processing.

Pricing: Free (limited tools) | Premium: $5.99/month or $49.99/year

Best for: Users who need batch PDF processing and conversions on iOS.

Xodo stands out on iOS with its cross-platform consistency — your annotations and edits sync perfectly between iOS, Android, web, and desktop. The free tier is generous, covering annotations, form filling, and document signing. Real-time collaboration lets multiple people annotate the same PDF simultaneously.

Key features: Cross-platform sync, annotate and markup, fill and sign forms, real-time collaboration, merge and split documents, Apple Pencil support, and connect to cloud services.

Pricing: Free (most features) | Pro: $6.99/month

Best for: Users who work across multiple platforms and need consistent PDF tools everywhere.