Scan, extract, edit, sign, and organize your documents.
Find an approach for: compress a pdf for sharing.
Find an approach for: convert a pdf into an editable document.
I need to edit and sign a PDF
I need original-quality images from a PDF
I need to combine several PDFs
Reorder a document, copy selected pages or split it into smaller PDFs—without confusing pages with embedded pictures.
Find an approach for: scan documents into searchable pdfs.
A focused iPhone and iPad utility for extracting text and pictures from PDFs, rather than editing complete documents.
Choose it for a focused picture-selection workflow rather than a full PDF editor. Our small iPhone sample saved four images together to Photos.
A mainstream PDF reader with free basic document interactions and separately paid editing and conversion capabilities.
Shortlist it when other people already exchange documents through Acrobat, or you need a familiar PDF reader with an upgrade path.
A PDF toolkit with mobile apps and web tools; document each execution environment explicitly.
Choose it when image extraction sits alongside merging, splitting and conversion. The iPhone follow-up recovered the three unique pictures as JPGs.
A focused iPhone and iPad app for combining PDF files in a chosen order, rather than managing an entire PDF editing suite.
Shortlist it for a focused file-merging workflow with control over input order. Compare PDFgear when you also need a broader mobile PDF toolkit; Preview and PdfCraft are separate Mac choices.
An Apple-focused PDF workspace spanning reading, annotations, signatures and paid document editing.
Shortlist it for a document workspace with reading, markup and paid editing capabilities rather than one isolated conversion.
An open-source PDF workbench for reading, merging, splitting and organizing pages, with a native Mac download.
A desktop/self-hosted option for document assembly. Its external tutorial makes the page-management workflow easier to assess before installing.
A broad PDF utility suite worth investigating before paying for routine document operations.
A sensible shortlist for merging, reading and other routine document tasks. Use the platform-specific documentation: desktop and mobile tools are not interchangeable.
Apple’s built-in PDF and image tool; mobile and Mac versions must be documented separately.
For ordinary viewing, annotation and page operations, start with the tool already on your Mac before installing a larger PDF suite.
A camera-first scanning workflow with document organization, OCR and multiple export formats.
Look here when scanning, recognizing text and exporting documents are recurring work, not just an occasional camera capture.
PDF ExpertAdobe Acrobat ReaderChoose PDF Expert for an Apple-focused document workspace with annotation and paid editing. Choose Acrobat Reader for basic reading, commenting and signing within the Adobe ecosystem, with paid mobile tools available separately. Match the exact platform and plan before paying.
PDF ExtractoriLovePDFPDF Extractor 1.01 returned four PNGs; iLovePDF 4.1.0 successfully returned three JPGs in the follow-up. The fixture contains three unique raster assets placed four times, so three outputs are consistent with resource deduplication, not a missing unique picture. Both retained the sample dimensions; neither returned transparency. PDF Extractor matched the RGB/scan reference pixels, while iLovePDF JPG pixels differed. This limited sample is not an overall ranking; no comparative winner is established.
PDF Extractor
Step-by-step guide
On the recorded iPhone, PDF Extractor selected and saved four pictures to Photos. The RGB/scan samples matched reference pixels, but transparency was not preserved. This is a partial workflow observation, not a lossless guarantee or an iPad test.
PDFgear
Step-by-step guide
According to PDFgear’s iOS guide, open Tools → Merge PDFs, add the documents, arrange their order and merge. The saved PDF appears highlighted in Files; open it before sharing.
Preview
Step-by-step guide
Preview on Mac provides PDF size-reduction options. Export a copy, compare its bytes and inspect fine detail. This Guide is Mac-specific and does not promise identical controls on iPhone or iPad.
Scanner Pro
Step-by-step guide
Capture the document, review the image, enable the appropriate OCR language and export a PDF. Reopen it elsewhere and search a known phrase. Our current workflow is sourced from Readdle documentation, not a completed device test.