Seamless Mac App, not quite there with the iPad app.
An iPad PDF editor needs to seamlessly integrate the Apple Pencil with the viewing experience. So cutting right to the chase: Positives: 1. The loading of files is appreciably fast and easy 2. The syncing with Mac is a nice feature that not all apps have. However, syncing large files like textbooks doesn’t seem to work yet. 3. The notes and highlighting experience is one of the best out there on the Mac and almost there with the iPad. 4. The security space is an extremely intelligent feature that allows important files to be loaded. 5. Signatures are fast and easy to write. 6. Seamless search function. However, noticeably slower than other PDF apps. Negatives and Improvements 1. UPDF doesn’t seem to recognise you are writing with an Apple Pencil or an equivalent stylus until you start writing with it. What this means is that when you tap on the pen function and you attempt to scroll down the document, you will tragically find that you have wrote with your finger. There is no setting for only writing with Apple Pencil. It would be great if there was a quick and easy setting for ‘draw with finger.’ 2. A shortcut to create notes with the Apple Pencil would be great. As of right now, the fastest way seems to be highlighting the text and tapping on notes. Removing the friction just like on Mac, where it is extremely easy to add notes, would drastically improve the app. 3. Bookmarks on UPDF needs to be more seamless. Appreciably, you can view pre-loaded bookmarks. It would be a wondrous addition if you could create another group of bookmarks for your own bookmarks. Furthermore, the addition of a select tool for bookmarks to delete or make subfolders would be much better than the manual handling of bookmarks as of present. Perhaps an integration with the search function too to quickly add bookmarks to pages you searched for. 4. The pen functions are not enough for a PDF viewer. One style of pen and having to press multiple buttons to change colour each time needs some sort of improvement. 5. Importing files needs to have the app first confirm with the user of where it is to be located, ie in what folder. As of now, it just places it in the folder that you were last on, which is, most of the time, not the folder you want it to be in. Overall, this seems to be a developing app which is quite premature but definitely has potential. Hopefully in a few years these improvements will be seen.
