# Apple Preview 42 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Preview and 28 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Free PDF viewer and editor built into macOS, liked for signing, annotating, redacting and quick image edits; critics cite a buggy, inconsistent interface and removed features. ## Why people recommend it - Easy PDF signing and editing (7 comments): "It solves a long-standing, specific frustration: the inability to natively and seamlessly sign a PDF document directly on your iPhone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607768)) "It allows annotate, merge, realign pages, insert one page from another document or even a JPEG-scan" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46676551)) "Preview is the easiest way to sign anything sent as PDF." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46717548)) - Quick image edits and markup (5 comments): "set the screenshot tool to open the screenshot in Preview.app where you can perform basic editing on it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46824609)) "Just tried rotation in the built in MacOS Preview app, (Command+R or Command+L) and works really well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47370006)) "You can literally just open the image up in Preview or whatever and add a red box" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45923319)) - Built-in redaction and OCR (5 comments): "it has an explicit “redact” tool which deletes the content it’s used on" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46376511)) "the built-in preview app on mac can both competently redact documents" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46372361)) "use the builtin OCR in Preview to select and copy text all the time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48066367)) - Free and bundled everywhere (4 comments): "good stock apps cut down on time to get a new machine/install in usable condition substantially" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46715636)) "This has been the best free PDF app on the market for decades now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46998680)) "Part of what makes it so good is that it's everywhere" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45883768)) ## What people warn about - Buggy, inconsistent UI and menus (4 comments): "some of the menus in Preview are fixed (File, Edit), others aren't (View, Tools)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46498766)) "Every part of the UI is broken, though. You have to discover this by clicking (all icons, no text)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49903329)) "Preview is one of the most deeply frustrating, buggy, and unintuitive pieces of software" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46714081)) - Crashes and lost annotations (3 comments): "I have lots of troubles with the highlight annotation in Preview" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47978601)) "The stupid new preview app crashing if you scroll pdf pages too fast." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000239)) "some comment gets corrupted and it removes all existing comments" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49898885)) - Removed features and missing save (3 comments): "Semi new thing is the removal of proper "save as" in Preview and other 1P apps starting in Lion. Still sucks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905438)) "Features were removed from Preview and other apps that were better before." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47224875)) "I miss macOS’s Preview.app auto-converting PS to PDF when double-clicked." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46240658)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Okular](https://hackerapproved.com/p/okular.md): 12 recommend - [MuPDF](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mupdf.md): 11 recommend - [SumatraPDF](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sumatrapdf.md): 11 recommend - [pdf.js](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pdf-js.md): 10 recommend - [Foxit Reader](https://hackerapproved.com/p/foxit-reader.md): 6 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Preview", https://hackerapproved.com/p/preview/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).