PDF Beacon: Quick Search
Offline-first PDF archive, search, and study for iOS, iPadOS, and Android. Index PDFs on your device, find documents quickly, jump through matches inside large open files, and learn from what you read with a built-in study and language-learning companion.
What you get today
- Local PDF indexing on your device
- Fast library search for matching documents
- Explicit search inside an open PDF (submit with Enter / Search)
- Progressive ready-ahead so Next stays responsive on large PDFs
- Support for large PDF workflows
- Folder organization, rename, move, and sort
- Bookmarks, word highlights, Highlight All, bulk highlight remove, and typed page notes
- Apple Pencil write, draw, highlight, and erase on supported iPad devices (fingers stay available for navigation)
- Term and phrase translation using Apple’s system Translation framework on supported devices
- Define with Apple’s system dictionary UI
- A Vocabulary notebook plus simple Study / flashcards
PDF study and language learning
PDF Beacon doubles as a study tool and language-learning companion. Tap a word to translate, define, highlight, add a note, or save it to Vocabulary, then review saved terms in Study. Available translation languages depend on Apple’s system Translation support and installed language models. Your vocabulary, notes, study data, and saved translations stay on your device — PDF Beacon does not run a translation server and does not send your PDF text or vocabulary to a PDF Beacon developer server.
Free and Premium
PDF Beacon is free to download. An optional Monthly Premium auto-renewing subscription is sold through Apple App Store or Google Play. Eligible customers may see a 3-day introductory free trial when the store offers it. Prices are shown in the store for your country—this page does not list fixed amounts.
- Free (conceptual limits): about 3 PDFs, 100 pages per PDF, and 1 folder, with core on-device search within those limits.
- Premium unlocks: higher library capacity, Premium-gated tools such as OCR when enabled for Premium, and other limits removed as shown on the in-App paywall.
Privacy-minded by design
Document contents, search indexes, vocabulary, and study data stay on your device for normal use. There is no developer backend, no cloud account, and no login. The current build does not include developer cloud sync, in-app ads, or third-party analytics/crash SDKs. Purchases and restores use Apple or Google store services; entitlement is verified only by StoreKit or Google Play Billing and cached locally.
Not included today
Printing or exporting annotations as a finished annotated PDF is not shipped. Keep original PDFs and important notes backed up outside the App. PDF Beacon does not convert Apple Pencil handwriting into text.
Links
Contact: support@aerologx.net