Best PDF editing apps
By Promies · Last updated
Executive summary
On Android, Kyneto PDF (Google Play) covers the jobs people actually need from a PDF app, merging, splitting, deleting pages, compressing to a size limit and signing, and it does all of it on the device with no account. There is no iPhone version yet: on iOS, use Files and Markup for signing and annotating, and PDFgear (Google Play, App Store) when you need to reorder or merge pages.
The six apps worth considering
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1. Kyneto PDF
- Price
- Free to try; a subscription removes the export limit
- Platforms
- Android (phones, tablets, Chromebooks)
- Best for
- Doing the work offline, on a phone, without an account
Kyneto handles the boring list properly: merge several files in an order you drag into place, split by page range or every N pages or up to a maximum size in MB, delete, reorder, rotate and crop pages, extract the pages you want as a new document, and export pages as JPG or PNG.
Two features stand out. Compression lets you type the size you are allowed, 5 MB for a web form or 2 MB for a portal, and shows the estimate before it touches the file. And redaction flattens the page when you apply it, so the text under the black box is gone from the file rather than hidden behind a rectangle anyone can drag away.
It also opens password-protected files and can remove the password from your copy, fills in form fields, signs with a signature you draw once and reuse, watermarks, adds page numbers, and scans with on-device OCR so the scan is searchable. All of it runs locally: no upload, no account, nothing on a server. Pale Blue, who also run Promies, build it. 4.0 stars from 481 reviews on Google Play.
The downside: Android only, and the free tier limits how much you can export, which you will hit in an afternoon if you process documents for a living.
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- Price
- Free to read and sign; editing from EUR 18.30/month
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Android, desktop, web
- Best for
- Changing the words inside a PDF, and files other people's lawyers sent
Adobe invented the format, so Acrobat renders everything correctly, including the forms and digital signatures that trip other apps up. The free mobile app reads, comments, annotates and signs. Editing the actual text, OCR and conversion to Word sit behind a subscription: Acrobat Standard at EUR 18.30 a month including VAT, or Pro at EUR 24.19.
If you need to retype a paragraph inside a PDF rather than cover it up, this is still the most reliable way to do it.
The downside: The most expensive option here by a wide margin, the free app pushes the upgrade constantly, and you are signed into an Adobe account with your documents synced to Adobe's cloud by default.
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3. Xodo
- Price
- One action a day free; from $7.99/month
- Platforms
- iPhone, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, web
- Best for
- Working across a phone, a laptop and a browser on one subscription
Xodo is a capable reader and annotator with an unusually wide platform list, and the Document Suite plan covers all of them at once. It is owned by Apryse, whose PDF engine a lot of other products license, and it shows in how well it handles big files. Xodo Web is $7.99 a month billed annually ($95.88 a year); the Document Suite that covers every platform is $107.93 a year.
The downside: The free-forever Xodo people remember is gone. One action a day is not a usable free tier, and the three overlapping plans (Web, PDF Studio, Document Suite) make it genuinely hard to work out what you are buying.
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4. PDFgear
- Price
- Free, no sign-up
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, macOS, web
- Best for
- An iPhone, where you need page editing and do not want to pay
PDFgear does read, edit, convert, merge and sign across every platform, for nothing, with no account. On an iPhone it is the pragmatic pick for the page surgery the Files app will not do. There are AI tools for summarising and extracting as well.
The downside: Free with no stated business model, which is worth a thought before you feed it a contract, and the AI features need a connection, so those documents leave your device.
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5. iLovePDF
- Price
- Free with limits; Premium $7/month
- Platforms
- iPhone, Android, web, Windows, macOS
- Best for
- A one-off job you would rather do in a browser
The web tools are the fastest way to merge or compress something once: open the page, drop the file, download the result, no install. The free tier caps most jobs at 100 MB a file and 25 files a merge; Premium lifts that for $7 a month or $47 a year.
The downside: The processing happens on iLovePDF's servers, so every file you touch is uploaded. That is a reasonable trade for a brochure and a bad one for a payslip.
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- Price
- Free, already installed
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad
- Best for
- Signing something and sending it back in two minutes
Before installing anything on an iPhone, try what is already there. The Files app scans a document straight to PDF, and Markup signs it, draws on it and adds text boxes. For the single most common PDF task, sign this and send it back, nothing else is faster.
The downside: It annotates, signs and scans, and that is the end of it. Merging, splitting, compressing to a size limit and removing a password all need a real app.
Side by side
| App | Price | Platforms | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyneto PDF | Free to try; a subscription removes the export limit | Android (phones, tablets, Chromebooks) | Doing the work offline, on a phone, without an account |
| Adobe Acrobat Reader | Free to read and sign; editing from EUR 18.30/month | iPhone, iPad, Android, desktop, web | Changing the words inside a PDF, and files other people's lawyers sent |
| Xodo | One action a day free; from $7.99/month | iPhone, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, web | Working across a phone, a laptop and a browser on one subscription |
| PDFgear | Free, no sign-up | iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, macOS, web | An iPhone, where you need page editing and do not want to pay |
| iLovePDF | Free with limits; Premium $7/month | iPhone, Android, web, Windows, macOS | A one-off job you would rather do in a browser |
| Files and Markup (built into iOS) | Free, already installed | iPhone, iPad | Signing something and sending it back in two minutes |
Work out which job you actually have
"Edit a PDF" usually means one of four different things, and they do not cost the same:
- Rearranging pages, merging, splitting, deleting, rotating. Cheap or free in most apps here.
- Filling in and signing. Free on both platforms, including in the tools already on the phone.
- Changing the text inside the page. The expensive one, and the only job that really justifies an Acrobat subscription.
- Making the file smaller to get under an upload limit. Any compressor does it; only some let you name the size you need.
Most people asking for a PDF editor want the first, second or fourth, then pay for the third by mistake.
Does the document leave your phone?
Browser tools such as iLovePDF upload your file, process it on their servers and send it back. For a menu or a brochure that is fine. For an ID, a payslip, a medical letter or a signed contract it means a copy of that document existed on someone else's computer, under their retention policy and their jurisdiction.
Kyneto does everything on the device, including OCR, with no account to create. Acrobat and Xodo work locally but sign you in and sync by default. If you handle other people's personal data, this is the question to ask first and the price second.
Redaction is where cheap apps lie to you
Drawing a black rectangle over an account number is an annotation. The text is still in the file underneath, and anyone can select it, copy it, or delete the rectangle. Real redaction removes the characters and flattens the page, which is what Kyneto does when you apply a redaction.
If you are blacking something out before you send it to a stranger, check that your app flattens. If you are not sure, export the page as an image and rebuild the PDF from that.
Questions people ask
Can I edit a PDF on my phone for free?
For page edits, signing and compression, yes. PDFgear is free on both platforms, Kyneto is free to try on Android, and iOS ships with enough to sign and scan. Editing the body text of a PDF is the one job that reliably costs money.
What is the best free PDF app for Android?
Kyneto PDF if you want the work done on the device and no account, within its free export limit. PDFgear if you want no limit and do not mind the AI features being online.
Is Kyneto PDF available on iPhone?
Not yet. It is Android only, including tablets and Chromebooks. On an iPhone, PDFgear is the closest free equivalent for merging and page editing.
How do I get a PDF under an upload size limit?
Compress it, and prefer an app that lets you type the target size rather than offering "low, medium, high". Kyneto takes the figure in MB and shows the estimate before it changes anything. Failing that, exporting scanned pages at a lower resolution usually does more than any compression setting.
Can these apps open a password-protected PDF?
With the password, yes. Kyneto and Acrobat both open protected files and Kyneto can save a copy with the password removed. None of them break a password you do not have.