The material was prepared with the support of the advertiser
An increasing number of companies and individuals are ditching paper in favor of digital formats like PDF. PDF Expert, the Ukrainian app used by over 30 million people worldwide, tackles common challenges associated with PDF documents. It allows easy text editing, document signing, adding text or audio notes, and building a digital library. The app’s functionality continues to expand, with new artificial intelligence features now being integrated to simplify work with multi-page documents. The team is actively seeking new talent to help bring their ambitious plans to life.
In a joint project with Readdle, AIN.UA spoke with the leaders of the Customer Support, Engineering, and Design departments about the origins of PDF Expert, how user feedback has shaped product improvements, and how different departments collaborate.
It evolved from ReaddleDocs (now Documents), which was one of the first 500 apps available on the App Store after its launch on July 10, 2008. ReaddleDocs originally allowed users to manage email, and the team noticed that a segment of their target audience was specifically interested in the PDF editing functionality. This insight led them to create a separate PDF app in the App Store.
Readdle released the first version of PDF Expert in 2010, removing unnecessary features. With clear naming and a focus on PDF documents, the app became more user-friendly and accessible, attracting a large user base.
PDF Expert is perfect for educational use, essential for businesses and entrepreneurs, and invaluable for anyone who works with PDFs.
Readdle has received professional accolades, such as the Red Dot Design Award and Apple App of the Year. However, CEO Igor Zhadanov emphasizes that:
«The best recognition for the team is seeing real-life stories from users in over 200 countries who rely on Readdle products every day»
Karina Rubanovich
Customer Support Lead
Over 3000 textbooks – this is how many are in the online library of Latin teacher Vincent Huninka. He’s collected and stored these PDF-format books using PDF Expert. PDF Expert also makes working with educational documents easier by making texts more accessible and engaging, motivating students to learn. The features Vincent uses most in PDF Expert are scanning, OCR, editing, and page management.
David was diagnosed with heart disease as a teenager. After undergoing multiple surgeries and continuous tests, he accumulated tons of medical records. Now, thanks to the app, 40-year-old David no longer needs to carry around paper documents. He scans everything – MRI images, X-rays, ECGs, and cardiograms – and stores them in PDF format on his iPad and Mac. “With PDF Expert, I can track all my medical notes, and doctors can instantly access the information they need,” he explains.
Dmitry checks his email daily, responds to clients, and prepares documents for them. His work routine involves handling 200-300 emails and working with multiple PDF documents. PDF Expert optimizes and simplifies these tasks: it allows Dmitry to quickly edit, sign, and protect confidential information. The app helped him finalize a project when a client urgently needed to sign a certificate just five minutes before Dmitry’s flight. The mobile version of PDF Expert, with synchronized signatures and stamps, helped resolve the issue, and the client was satisfied.
Project manager Serkan juggles multiple projects, often switching between them instantly. PDF Expert has become his equivalent of a time-turner from Harry Potter: it allows him to multitask, saving hours of work – reviewing projects, making corrections, or adding notes. Serkan’s favorite features are split view and audio notes, which he constantly relies on in his daily work. He also appreciates the ability to instantly access projects on different devices, allowing him to work from any convenient (or inconvenient) place.
A common educational problem is old textbooks with scanned pages that are almost unreadable. Medical student Kaios found a solution - he uses the OCR feature in PDF Expert, which accurately recognizes text and makes it easy to search for specific fragments. Kaios also enjoys the app’s reading comfort, particularly the sepia mode, which reduces eye strain.
Andrii Ishchenko
Engineering Manager (iOS)
Andrii Podrugin
Engineering Manager (macOS)
Lina Kononenko
Head of Product Design
Readdle is a team of tech enthusiasts dedicated to creating world-class productivity apps we’re proud of.
To work at an international level, you need to be not only an expert but also skilled at collaborating with colleagues from different countries, cultures, and time zones. Sometimes, it’s challenging, but it’s never boring :) Personally, I’m incredibly proud of how quickly our team has grown professionally over the past few years.
The construction industry and architecture. PDF Expert works exceptionally well with large blueprints and is often used on construction sites for process control and quality assurance. Initially, we didn’t plan for this. But, over the years, we’ve played a part in a lot of construction and architecture success.
Every department works together to ensure users have a modern, intuitive, and useful tool that simplifies their workflow. Openness, support, and growth are core values within the PDF Expert team, where everyone feels like an important part of the shared mission.
