The ability to modify text in PDFs has been around for years, including in Acrobat (although not as elegantly). The only safe way to verify that a document hasn't been tampered with is to cryptographically sign it and verify the signature.
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Readdle Launches PDF Expert 6 With New Editing Features, Revamped Design
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This is incorrect information. The app itself is a free update for those with 5.7.8 but it isn't entirely free. After installing the upgrade there is no PDF edit function, after hitting "restore purchases" which finishes with "success" there is still no PDF edit function. The only way to get the PDF edit function is to buy the IAP. Period. They are even saying this on their Twitter feed!
Sadly Readdle does a very bad job at explaining things which leads to lots of confusion and unhappy customers. All the old features such as annotation and highlighting are still there and do not require the IAP. If you want to change the font and the text in the PDF itself then you do need the IAP. What the IAP does is get PDF Expert for iOS on PDF Expert for Mac level.
They now have 2 versions of the app:
- pay for the app and you get the first version which can read and annotate a PDF so for people who only need this kind of functionality this is enough
- pay for the app and get the IAP so you can read, annotate and edit the PDF.
Let's hope they increase the editing features and keep both the iOS and Mac versions on the same level when it comes to features.
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I only have two real gripes with these sorts of IAPs:
1) Can't backup IAPs to iTunes. Restoring IAPs is a matter of connecting to a server that may go down at Apple's discretion. Not mine. I don't like that, let alone the concept of DRM to begin with.
2) If I don't care for a certain feature many apps will still bug me about adding it, waste screen space or otherwise clutter settings options with said options. Heck, I've seen apps go from paid to free with IAPs and suddenly features got locked behind a paywall, ads got injected and so on...
I understand a business model sometimes may have to change, but at least have the audacity to let your old customers somehow opt-out without having to carry eternal app update badges around and avoiding the "Update All" button like the plague.
App updates suck on ALL digital stores I know of with ONE exception: GOG Galaxy gets it right.
Glassed Silver:win
Hello world! I'd like to give some clarification on the new PDF Expert 6.
- The new is free for all existing PDF Expert iOS users.
- The in-app purchase enables you to edit existing text in the PDF document, also edit it's size and font.
- It is a one-time purchase of Text Editing feature, for 9.99$, which is a more user-friendly price comparing to apps allowing to do way more than other apps for 'from $180/year' subscription.
- Before, there never was a feature of editing existing PDF text on PDF Expert in iOS, and Readdle team worked over the last 6 month developing this.
- There are many cases when user needs to edit PDF text, for example to correct the presentation, invoice, update CV and other files, so it makes perfect sense to have this ability
- Readdle described the situation around in-app purchase and what feature it brings in their blog here: https://blog.readdle.com/meet-the-new-pdfexpert-6-4fb743aba9c3, press releases are meant to be for press, and blogs & twitter for people. It was described on Readdle's Twitter too: https://twitter.com/Readdle/status/862327377128456198
- Readdle team spent around 6 months developing this feature, so it is quite new
- The new is free for all existing PDF Expert iOS users.
- The in-app purchase enables you to edit existing text in the PDF document, also edit it's size and font.
- It is a one-time purchase of Text Editing feature, for 9.99$, which is a more user-friendly price comparing to apps allowing to do way more than other apps for 'from $180/year' subscription.
- Before, there never was a feature of editing existing PDF text on PDF Expert in iOS, and Readdle team worked over the last 6 month developing this.
- There are many cases when user needs to edit PDF text, for example to correct the presentation, invoice, update CV and other files, so it makes perfect sense to have this ability
- Readdle described the situation around in-app purchase and what feature it brings in their blog here: https://blog.readdle.com/meet-the-new-pdfexpert-6-4fb743aba9c3, press releases are meant to be for press, and blogs & twitter for people. It was described on Readdle's Twitter too: https://twitter.com/Readdle/status/862327377128456198
- Readdle team spent around 6 months developing this feature, so it is quite new
Those are all very good reasons. However, if it is your CV, or your invoice, you should have the original source material to directly at it and re-publish as a PDF.
Think of it this way, you send an invoice to somebody and then they alter how much you have charged before forwarding it to Accounts Payable. Do you really want somebody else to have that ability? Along that same scenario; somebody alters your invoice increasing your cost. They send you the money that you asked for and then pocket the differenice. Thereby committing investment. To work around to that situation and I've used them at various times but we wind up with a much bigger size. As I said, for document integrity I do wish these reader programs did not have a way universally of being able to edit the content.
What you are asking for is technically impossible. If someone can read the document, they can also make a modified copy of it. If it's a text-based PDF, you can simply use a hex editor. If all else fails you can just take a screenshot, edit it in Photoshop, and create a new PDF from the image.
If you have important documents that need protection, use digital signatures. In Acrobat (perhaps even Reader?) you can sign PDFs with your own certificate. If the signature is removed or doesn't match the document, you will see that when you open it. Or you could use something like PGP to create a separate signature that the receiver can use to verify the PDF file hasn't been modified.
How do you markup PDFs on iOS? I am not aware of any such option on my iOS devices.
Refer to Apple's free iPhone User Guide for iOS 10.3 (available in the iBooks store) — if you search the eBook for the term "markup", the third match is a good example, with screen shot.
They WERE paid for their work. Their editing feature is why many people purchased the app in the first place. If they wanted to charge extra, they should've done it from the beginning. The feature is not new. It was already included but they did an automatic update, removed it, and charged people for it. I am not cheap by no means. If the app costed $30 I wouldn't mind paying for it but don't give me one price and then later try and make me pay for what I've already was suppose to have paid for. That is pure greed and tacky.
