The 8 Best Free PDF Readers for Android in 2024

By Charlotte | Follow | Updated on July 15, 2024

Introduction:

PDF formats are universal and are highly used for sending and receiving all kinds of documents because of their popularity and high level of safety and security. You may receive one at any time and need to open, read, and work on it on the go for seamless productivity. For instance, you may be required to fill out forms or e-sign a document. So, having a reliable PDF reader for Android installed on your device is not just a convenience but a necessity to manage, modify, and collaborate on the go.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed to choose a PDF viewer and reader from a plethora of options. But fear not; we're here to guide you. In this article, we'll walk you through the eight best free PDF readers for Android. By the end, you'll feel confident in your decision, knowing that you've chosen the one that best fits your needs and is worth downloading to your device.

What Is the Best PDF Reader for Android?

PDFs are ubiquitous in life, and choosing the right PDF reader for your phone can minimize the frustration of reading, signing, editing, and sharing these documents. While PDFs can be opened and read in any browser, a dedicated app has all the necessary functionality to make managing these documents a breeze.

When you search for the best Android PDF reader, ensure to be mindful of several factors that include but are not limited to:

• Basic features: reading and viewing
• Advanced features: Editing and annotation
• Printing and export
• Collaboration tools
• Price
• Compatibility
• Your needs and future prospects
• User reviews and ratings

1. SwifDoo PDF for Android

SwifDoo PDF for Android is undoubtedly the best PDF Reader for Android available for free without ads. It lets you swiftly view, annotate, create, edit, and share PDF documents anywhere. Moreover, it enables you to draw on, add notes, highlight, read aloud a PDF, rearrange pages, easily navigate, and more to keep you productive and your business moving.

Besides the availability of this free PDF viewer for Android, SwifDoo PDF is also available on iOS 14.0 and later, Windows and Mac computers.

Pros:

• Reads PDF aloud with utmost comfort
• Annotate and review PDFs without hassle
• Add sticky notes, type text, and insert text boxes to PDFs
• Easily create PDFs from other files to share
• Rapidly converts PDF from/to other formats

Cons:

• Offers a 7-day free trial only

Download this free PDF reader for Android phones and manage your PDF documents on the go at any time for a seamless work experience.

2. Adobe Acrobat Reader for Android

Adobe PDF Reader for Android is one of the best PDF readers - simple, easy to use, suitable for everyone and all uses. It is excellent for reliably viewing, annotating, and signing PDFs. Moreover, the app lets you fill and sign PDF forms, print, store, and share files, organize pages in PDF, create PDF, export PDF files to Word or Excel, and more. This PDF reader for free download on Android has a free version. It's less feature-filled than the Standard and Pro subscription.

Pros:

• Cross-platform availability
• Free and easy to use for advanced users and experts
• Fill & Sign tools are now available in the app
• View PDFs in various modes: Reading, Continuous Scroll, and Single-page modes

Cons:

• Key tools need a subscription
• Prompts to upgrade the program
• New users cannot understand the UI and robust features to use the program to its full potential

3. Foxit PDF Reader

Foxit PDF Reader for Android is a lightweight, fast, and versatile tool for reading PDF documents and many other files. PDFs open quickly, and the text reflows to fit. With Foxit PDF Reader, you can access standard and password-protected PDFs and annotate texts for collaborative work. This PDF reader for free download supports cloud storage for downloading and uploading PDFs from various sources. It provides all the necessary tools for reading and editing PDFs.

Pros:

• A speedy and straightforward PDF reader
• Fill out your PDF forms and import/export data
• Tweaks brightness and background for a comfortable reading experience
• Easy document sharing and collaboration

Cons:

• No OCR in the free version
• Subscription unlocks more tools

4. Xodo PDF Reader & Editor for Android

Xodo PDF Reader & Editor for Android is one of the best free Android PDF readers available on the market. It provides a smooth navigation and automatically syncs with any changes on Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. It enables users to convert various formats into PDFs and is generally ad-free. Download the best PDF reader app for an Android mobile to simplify tasks and optimize daily business productivity by safely storing and syncing your files on cloud services.

Pros:

• Versatile PDF reader
• Edit and annotate documents
• offers over 30+ features to boost efficiency
• Sync edits with cloud services
• Flexible PDF creation from images and documents

Cons:

• It can be laggy sometimes

5. Google PDF Viewer

Google PDF Viewer is Google's official PDF viewer and reader. Google PDF Reader for Android works similarly to Google Drive. You can find all the rich features this app offers right on Google Drive, and thus, the app's main aim is to provide an option when Google Drive isn't available on your Android device. It is a good app for opening and reading PDF documents; its main attraction is its simplicity. Also, the viewing quality of Google PDF Viewer is very high.

Note: The Google PDF Viewer was discontinued on February 9th, 2021, and is no longer available on the Play Store.

Pros:

• Lightweight and easy to use
• A great alternative to Google Drive
• Allows to zoom in on a specific part of the page
• Allows to search inside the document

Cons:

• Discontinued
• Works only on Android 4.1,4.11 or higher versions

6. PocketBook Reader

PocketBook Reader is a free yet powerful PDF book reader for Android devices that helps you read content in PDF and other popular formats without disturbance. The application supports 26 book and audio formats, including the most popular - EPUB, MOBI, FB2, PDF, CBZ, CBR, DJVU, and more. PocketBook Reader allows you to read without ads and with total comfort. This app helps you choose any content in any format!

Pros:

• Reads all e-content, including books, magazines, textbooks, comic books, etc.
• Allows to listen to audiobooks
• It supports 26 book and audio formats like PDF, EPUB, MOBI, DOCX, etc.
• Supports reading without ads

Cons:

• Often stops copying and highlighting texts
• The backup folder settings do not work

7. Librera Reader

Librera Reader is another of our list's best PDF book reader app for Android. It is a lightweight, free book-reading app that devours almost any e-book format. For instance, you can open and access content in different formats: PDF, EPUB, EPUB3, MOBI, DJVU, FB2, FB2.ZIP, TXT, RTF, AZW, AZW3, HTML, ODT, XPS, CBZ, CBR, TIFF, PDB, MHT and OPDS Catalgos. You can download the PDF file reader for Android mobile and multitask with its read-aloud feature.

Pros:

• Lightweight and free book-reading app
• It works with almost all e-book formats, including EPUB, PDF, MOBI, CBZ, HTML, and TIFF
• Reads the content out loud for multitasking
• Highly customizable interface

Cons:

• The reading settings do not work
• Displays only the justified texts
• Do not edit document or file information like title and author

8. PDF Reader Pro for Android

PDF Reader Pro for Android is amongst the top PDF readers for Android devices. Over 90 million people in 200 countries support it. With PDF Reader Pro, you can add texts and stamps and edit your documents anytime and anywhere. You can switch or delete the pages, or you can even rewrite the contents of the PDF using the correct tools. It is one of the best PDF reader software for Android mobile devices to sign documents on the go. 

Pros:

• Clean and easy-to-use interface
• Cross-platform availability
• Enables reading and annotating PDF documents
• Supports editing and importing/exporting documents

Cons:

• Requires an upgrade to use all features
• Many ads in the free version

Compare the 8 Best Android PDF Readers

After familiarizing yourself with the best free PDF readers and viewers for Android phones and tablets, it is time to compare them quickly to see what unique features each tool offers.

In Conclusion

Now, you have eight of the best PDF readers to read and manage your documents on Android phones. You only need to pick the one that best suits your needs. After weighing all the apps' pros and cons, SwifDoo PDF for Android stands out with its excellent features, including chat with AI. You can download and use it to manage your PDFs more efficiently.