PDF ArchiverPress
Everything here may be used freely in editorial coverage of PDF Archiver. Questions, review copies and additional material: [email protected]
In one paragraph
PDF Archiver scans, tags and archives documents on Mac, iPhone and iPad. Date, description and tags are written into the filename, so an archive stays searchable in the Finder or through Spotlight — with or without the app. Text recognition and suggestions run entirely on the device. Open source, built and maintained by one developer since 2018.
Facts
| Developer | Julian Kahnert |
| Category | Productivity / document management |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad (iOS 18+), Mac (macOS 15.6+) |
| First release | February 2018 |
| Languages | German, English |
| Licence | Open source, code on GitHub |
| Price | Free download with a two-week trial. Subscription or one-time purchase — current prices in the App Store |
What it does
In one sentence: PDF Archiver turns a pile of scans into an archive that stays searchable even without the app.
How it works: You scan a document or drop in a PDF. PDF Archiver recognizes the text on your device and suggests a date, a description and tags. You confirm, and the file is renamed — 2026-03-12--electricity-bill__energy_bill.pdf — and filed into a folder sorted by year.
Why that matters: The metadata lives in the filename, not in a database. The archive can be searched in the Finder, through Spotlight, on a NAS or on a Windows machine, and it stays readable if the app is ever gone. Text recognition and the suggestions run locally through Apple's built-in engine and Apple Intelligence — no document is uploaded anywhere.
Who it is for: Anyone with paperwork worth keeping — tax records, contracts, medical letters — who wants order without handing those documents to a cloud service.
Reviewing the app
Write to [email protected] and you will get a promo code for full access, no strings attached. Happy to answer questions about how the app works, and to provide additional screenshots.
About the developer
Julian Kahnert is a software developer working in Swift and, on the infrastructure side, with Kubernetes and Helm. He started PDF Archiver in 2018 out of his own need: a document archive that would still be readable in ten years, without depending on a database, a subscription, or a company staying in business. He has built and maintained the app in his spare time ever since. Besides programming, he is interested in podcasts, music and cooking.
Coverage
| Date | Publication | Article |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-12-10 | iFun | PDF Archiver: Lebenslange Lizenz kurze Zeit kostenlos |
| 2021-02-03 | appgefahren | PDF Archiver: Dokument-Verwaltung führt neue Finanzierungs-Option ein |
| 2018-07-17 | Sir Apfelot | PDF Archiver im Test: PDFs verschlagworten, ordnen und archivieren |
| 2018-07-14 | Caschys Blog | PDF Archiver: Dokumentenverwaltung führt Abo-Modell ein |
| 2018-05-22 | The Mac Observer | How to Archive PDFs with PDF Archiver |
| 2018-03-06 | iFun | PDF Archiver: Open-Source-Projekt zur Langzeit-Archivierung |
| — | Netzwelt | PDF Archiver |
Usage
App icon, screenshots and the wordmark may be used freely in editorial coverage of PDF Archiver. Please do not alter the icon or the wordmark. The app is called "PDF Archiver" — please keep the spelling.