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Adobe Reader for iOS icon

Adobe Reader

Proper PDF perusal on't 'Pad?

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iOS App of the Week It’s hard to believe that it has taken Adobe so long to release a PDF reader for iDevices, especially since the Android version has been available for more than a year now.

And with so many other apps already available for reading PDF files, including Apple’s own iBooks, I could barely muster the enthusiasm to download Adobe Reader when it was finally released earlier this month.

However, I have to admit that it does work rather well and throws in some features that aren’t available natively on iOS.

Adobe Reader for iOS screenshot Adobe Reader for iOS screenshot

Reader provides all the usual PDF reading modes, absent from other iOS PDF viewers

The key feature here is the fact that it can open variations on the standard PDF format, such as PDF Portfolios, which include multiple files that are kept separate within the larger Portfolio file.

I was able to use Reader on my iPad to view Portfolio files that I couldn’t open in iBooks or even using Apple’s Preview application on my Mac. That feature alone will make Reader a worthwhile download for many designers – though, admittedly, it probably means little to everyone else.

Adobe Reader for iOS screenshot Adobe Reader for iOS screenshot

Skipping through pages pops up a preview to aid navigation (left) but Reader only supports a document's own integrated bookmarks (right)

Reader's browsing features work well too, as you can flick through single pages one at a time, switch into "continuous" mode in order to quickly scroll down through a document, or use the scrub control to get a high-speed preview of individual pages as you run through them.

The app also allows you to copy text selections and paste them into other apps, such as Pages or Notes.

Adobe Reader for iOS screenshot Adobe Reader for iOS screenshot

Here, you can select and copy text (left). PDF Portfolios are supported too

But while the app works well as a reader, it doesn’t allow you to modify PDF files. You can’t add annotations to your files, fill in forms – or even, to my surprise, add your own bookmarks.

Comments on Adobe’s support forum suggest that some of those features might be coming in a future update. As it stands, though, Reader is a fast and efficient viewer app, but certainly doesn’t deliver the knock-out blow that would render its third-party rivals obsolete. ®

We make our selection of the best iOS smartphone and tablet downloads every Thursday. It you think there's an app we should be considering, please let us know.

More iOS App of the Week Winners

Vlingo The Guardian
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Readings

I'll be sticking with GoodReader, thanks. Excellant app, easy to use, with annotation and reflow, and fully integrated into various cloud storage, including dropbox. And, crucially, not made by that pisspoor excuse for a bloatware factory, Adobe.

Oh, random piece of trivia I noticed when googling Macromedia Flash: CEO of Macromedia when it was bought by Adobe in 2005 was a Mr Stephen Elop, whose name you may have noticed in other contoversial strategies recently...

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Thumb's down?

Should I have used an <irony> tag ? :(

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Anonymous Coward

The irony...

of a HTC/Android manual featured in a iOS PDF review...

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Ahem

" It’s hard to believe that it has taken Adobe so long to release a PDF reader for iDevices, especially since the Android version has been available for more than a year now."

No, it is not. Remember how long it took for them to come up with a semblance of 64-bit software for the Mac, years and years after they had done so for the Windows version.

And people wonder why Apple didn't want these morons setting up an application layer on the iPhone. If they had allowed Flash for developing apps on iOS, they would have been at the mercy of Adobe for introducing new features that wouldn't break with the update.

If that means not having Flash on my mobile, then so be it. Adobe is the new Microsoft anyway: shoddy, bloated software with insane hardware requirements full of security holes without bringing anything new to the table ("oooh, healing brushes, now that's re-inventing the wheel, innit").

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Hmmm...

Maybe they can slip a Flash player into the Reader App.

LOL.

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