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Better PDF is a free PDF app for Mac: read, fill, scan, recognise, convert and sign with a certificate on your Mac, with nothing uploaded. These articles cover each part.
Reading
Open and read a PDF
Open files, work in tabs, find every match and choose light, dark or night reading.
Read →Reading on an e-ink screen
The E-ink appearance and E-ink reading, for Boox, Dasung and Kindle Scribe style monitors.
Read →Recognise a scanned PDF
Turn a scan into selectable, searchable text on your Mac, and save a digital copy other apps can read.
Read →
Signing
Sign with a certificate or USB token
Place a signature, then draw or type it, or sign with a keychain certificate, smart card or USB token as a PAdES signature with an optional RFC 3161 time-stamp.
Read →Signature styles
Set how a signature looks on the page, with logos, text lines, fonts and date formats, and make one style the default for a certificate.
Read →
Pro and licences
Support
Questions
Asked often.
Still stuck? Write to hello@evenpine.com. A Diagnostics zip from Help › Diagnostics… helps us help you.
Is Better PDF free?
Yes. Reading (including e-ink), filling forms, recognising scans, signing with a certificate or USB token, verifying signatures, basic annotation and basic page tools are free for good. Scanning from your iPhone and converting to images, text, Markdown and CSV are free too. Pro adds editing, signature styles, redaction, password protection and PDF to Word for one payment ($9.99 for the first 100 buyers, $19.99 up to 500, $29.99 after that) that covers Mac, iPhone and iPad, with a 7-day full trial on first launch.
Does Better PDF work offline?
Yes. Reading, filling, OCR, annotating and signing all run on your Mac. The only network requests are the once-a-day update check in the direct download, which you can turn off in Settings › General, and RFC 3161 time-stamps, which are off until you turn them on and send only a hash.
Should I get it from the App Store or download it directly?
Same app, same price. The Mac App Store edition adds Family Sharing and Universal Purchase with iPhone and iPad. The direct download adds USB tokens that need a PKCS#11 driver, such as the Watchdata ProxKey, and crash reports in Diagnostics, and its licence key covers up to three Macs, one iPhone and one iPad.
Does my Mac licence work on my iPhone?
Yes, both editions. One purchase. Mac, iPhone and iPad. Better PDF for iPhone and iPad is free in its first version. When iOS Pro comes, a Mac App Store purchase unlocks it under the same Apple Account, and a betterpdf.co licence key works on up to three Macs, one iPhone and one iPad. Need more devices? Email hello@evenpine.com and we will usually add them.
Can I sign a PDF with a digital certificate?
Yes, for free. Press S for Fill & Sign, drag a rectangle where the signature goes and choose a keychain certificate, smart card or USB token. Better PDF writes a PAdES signature as an incremental update, with an optional RFC 3161 time-stamp. You can also draw or type a visual signature.
Does it work with e-ink monitors?
Yes, with any e-ink monitor your Mac can use. View › Appearance › E-ink makes the app pure black on white with no motion and whole-page turns; ⌥⌘E changes only the page. The choice is remembered per display.
What does Better PDF need to run?
macOS 26 or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. The download is 18 MB.