How do I change the PDF reader on iPhone?

Last reviewed: October 7, 2026 · Markdown version

Not from Settings: the iPhone's Default Apps list has entries for email, messaging, calling, the browser and a few others, but none for PDFs. The control lives in the Files app instead. Touch and hold a PDF, choose Get Info, and set Always Open With to the app you want; iOS then asks whether that applies to the one file or to the file type. For a one-off, Open With in the same menu picks an app without changing anything.

What Settings offers, and what it leaves out

Apple's page on default apps lists what you can swap under Settings, Apps, Default Apps: Email, Messaging, Calling, Call Filtering, Browser App, Translation, Passwords & Codes, Contactless App, Keyboards and Media Sharing Extensions. It adds that "Some app categories, including Maps, Camera, and Music, aren’t available in Default Apps" (Change the default apps on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 7 October 2026). PDFs are not on that list, and the page does not mention them at all. The iOS 26 edition of the page has no PDF entry either; its list stops at Keyboards (Change the default apps on iPhone (iOS 26), read 7 October 2026).

Set it in Files: Always Open With

Apple's Files guide has a section titled "Choose a default app for opening a file". Its steps: open Files, "Touch and hold the file, then choose Get Info", then "Below the Preview, tap the pop-up menu next to Always Open With, then select an app." Apple adds: "When you select a new default app to open the file, a prompt appears to verify if you want to change the default app for that file or file type" (Find and view files and folders in Files on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 7 October 2026). So choosing the file type is how one setting covers every PDF.

A version note: the same section appears on the iOS 26 edition of that page, but the iOS 18 edition has no default-app section (Find files and folders in Files on iPhone (iOS 18), read 7 October 2026). If Get Info shows no Always Open With menu on your phone, check which iOS it runs.

Pick an app once: Open With

From the same Files page, "Touch and hold the file you want to open", then "Choose Open With from the menu, then choose an option." To look at a PDF without leaving Files, the same menu offers Preview with Quick Look. Apple also notes that "If you haven’t installed the app that created a file, a preview of the file opens in Quick Look" (the Find and view files and folders page above), which is why a tapped PDF often opens in a plain viewer rather than an app.

What opens a PDF when you have not chosen

It depends on where you tap it. In Safari, Apple's steps for saving a PDF start with "Go to the PDF", so the browser shows it first (Download a PDF from Safari to your iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 7 October 2026). In Mail, Apple's Preview guide says you "can tap the attached file in the Mail app to open and complete the form in Preview" (Open and view PDFs and images in Preview on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 7 October 2026). That Preview guide is published for iOS 27 and iOS 26 only.

Send a PDF to a particular app

The Share button is the other route, and it moves a copy into the app you pick. For Books, Apple's steps are "Tap the PDF attachment to open it", then tap the Share button "then tap Books from the list options" (Read PDF documents in the Books app on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 7 October 2026). For Notes: "Touch and hold the file, tap the Share button, tap Notes, choose a note, then tap Save" (Work with PDFs in Notes on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 7 October 2026). Our Books walk-through covers what happens after the PDF lands there.

Which reader to choose

That depends on what you do with the files. Reading, highlighting and signing need nothing extra; the free readers page lists what each one offers without paying, and choosing a PDF app by job covers the rest.