GoodReader 4 Review

While Apple seemingly has the dream of creating a computing world without files, the fact remains that because files are still ultimately the heart of computing we will need apps that work with them. Enter GoodReader, which has been one of the best file managers for iOS. The app now has a new version 4, which is a separate app from previous releases. This is the best all-purpose app on iOS, and a must-have utility; it's just not really a mandatory upgrade quite yet.

What does GoodReader do? Well, a bit of everything. .PDFs can be opened in it, and they can be annotated and drawn upon; version 4 also adds in PDF creation and page management to make working with PDFs even better. As well, it can open up .zip files and many other formats that don't have built-in tools to manage them with. There's a browser to download files. It can play music and videos from inside the app. It can transfer files via iTunes file management or a wi-fi server. It can connect to cloud services and FTP servers to help manage files. Quite simply, this is the be-all end-all of file management apps on iOS. Those who don't have this app yet would do well to buy it now because it's perfect for when it's necessary.

For existing users, is it worth picking up this app quite yet? Well, there are two big reasons to do so. One is if the new PDF management features sound like they'd be of use: this is probably the easiest way to create PDFs and manage pages that I've seen. I was able to duplicate a baseball scorecard PDF, making it into a two-page document so I had each team on each page. And with the annotation tools, I can use this instead of actual scorecards, with the ability to zoom in so that my drawing and handwriting is actually somewhat legible!

The other reason is just for future-proofing: the current apps work now, and feature an identical interface, and are still available on the App Store. But GoodReader 4 will be getting the future updates from here on out. So, for the $2.99 sale price, it's likely worth getting while it's cheap. It's a similar situation as Tweetbot 3: if one thinkgs giving the developers the money for this long-standing product and making sure they gets future updates is worth it, then go for it. But if not, then it's best to wait until a new feature makes it worth the money.

But for those who don't have this app yet, it is an absolute must-have. The update, while useful, might not be.