Embedding PDF in Mobile App

Question

Created Mar ’18

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Hello, we have developed an iOS App which is used by language students learning French and Spanish to play audio that goes along with their lessons. The client would like to include information for parents which is currently available as a PDF. Before I go ahead and quote for this, I'm wondering if the community has any thoughts on if Apple has objections to displaying information which is essentially designed for print in a mobile app.

I know there are guidelines on the use of type, minimum size etc but does this apply when viewing a PDF? It would be a lot of work to take the content out the PDFs and convert the design so it works on the smaller mobile screen. However, displaying content designed essentially for print on a mobile device doesn't quite sit right with me and I'm wondering this may breach Apple Design Guidelines somehow? Then again there are plenty of Apps that use PDFs?

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Regards

Daniel

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Answer 1

KMT OP

Mar ’18

Outright, I think it is ok to include PDF assets. The issue comes when the app is just duplicating content that is readily available on the 'net, or if that is all the app the app does. Your app is expected to deliver a unique user experience that showcases the platform.

As for the screen, all content is expected to lay out correctly on all screens it supports. If this means having to redo your PDFs, then that is something you'll need to address.

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Answer 2

NotMyName OP

Mar ’18

I agree, displaying PDFs on an iPhone/iPod touch screen isn't really a problem. I mean, the iBooks app exists for those devices, after all. 🙂

On the other hand, I think you have the right intuition that displaying a PDF document on a mobile device usually isn't the best solution in terms of user experience or perceived app quality. If you're the developer trying to sell the client on doing the work to convert the content to something other than PDFs, then probably want you want to do is put that as a proposal anticipating future development:

1. The now part where the PDF content is converted to a raw form.

2. The now part where you display the raw form data in a nice way on the current mobile devices.

3. The future part where the raw form can be displayed nicely on mobile web pages, or the future mobile devices.

But that gets into business stuff and "Let's make a plan where you agree to pay us more money (to do more work) now, and then more money in the future. Instead of just doing that all in the future."

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