Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

IOS 12.1 PDF rendering bug

Yeah, some quick Googling makes it seem like that there is a combination of iOS native PDF viewer being buggy along with handling color models, specifically, color models for print. Though this does seem to be a historical issue as old threads about color models out there dating back years.

In this case, can understand as this is probably the physical brochure one gets at the dealer.

Not seeing any viable built-in workaround on iOS. Dropbox and Adobe Reader apps render the document fine. MacOS as well. If one prints/exports the PDF as a PDF from MacOS and put on Dropbox, iOS Books reads the document fine (but is huge).

There is a Shortcut in the gallery that allows for downloading of a file to cloud storage. Get it and invoke via Share Sheet, then export/open-in Adobe, Dropbox, etc.

(Deleted Shortcut: there is a good one in the Shortcut Gallery)
 
Last edited:
I have this exact same problem in iOS 12.1 and macOS 10.14.1 Elements of PDF magazines don't display properly. (see attached image)
 

Attachments

  • pdf bug2.png
    pdf bug2.png
    764.7 KB · Views: 689
This problem has been around from a long time as @NoBoMac says. It’s a fault in the default iOS PDF browser but Acrobat’s own viewer works correctly. Here is the same page of exactly the same file rendered by GoodReader and by Acrobat side by side:

3A38BBB5-4A00-44EB-8ABA-80930BF5145C.jpeg
 
How crazy. I’m surprised it’s not bigger news. The magazine I’m having issues with now worked as recently as 3 or 4 months ago. So I wonder if it’s become worse with the last round of updates.
 
IOS 12.0.x was working fine. This bug was (re?)introduced with 12.1 and is still present in 12.1.1 beta.
 
  • Like
Reactions: I7guy
gotcha6789 said:
IOS 12.0.x was working fine. This bug was (re?)introduced with 12.1 and is still present in 12.1.1 beta.
Click to expand...

That sucks it’s still in the 1.1 beta. It means a fix won’t be till next year at the earliest.

I’ve filled in the bug report online for both Mac and iOS. But you have to figure they know about it already.
 
Some screenshots from the PDF referred to in post one:

Safari, iOS 12.0:

Photo%2016-11-2018%2C%2010%2021%2052.jpg


Safari, iOS 12.1:

Photo%2016-11-2018%2C%2010%2015%2036.jpg


Acrobat, iOS 12.1:

Photo%2016-11-2018%2C%2010%2011%2046.jpg


PDF Viewer, iOS 12.1:

Photo%2016-11-2018%2C%2010%2011%2029.jpg


Note: these screenshots have been cropped and resized (size reduced).
 
Last edited:
I didn’t think to send an online link when I bug reported to Apple. I’m sure they must know?

Does anyone know if it’s fixed in the latest beta?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Infrared
Does anyone know if this problem is fixed in the iOS 12.2 beta?
I have problems with all apps (e.g. Files, Books, WhatsApp, ...) that use the iOS native PDF viewer.
Mainly PDFs with many vectors cause problems e.g. Blueprints or Geographic Plans.
With the Dropbox or Acrobat iOS app, the PDFs render correctly without any problems.
 
mister-smith said:
Does anyone know if this problem is fixed in the iOS 12.2 beta?
I have problems with all apps (e.g. Files, Books, WhatsApp, ...) that use the iOS native PDF viewer.
Mainly PDFs with many vectors cause problems e.g. Blueprints or Geographic Plans.
With the Dropbox or Acrobat iOS app, the PDFs render correctly without any problems.
Click to expand...

I wonder why it’s not a much bigger deal? I have issues of magazines I’ve bought as PDFs I cant read. It’s ridiculous. I’m sure it would only take a post from macrumoirs and a bit of press to ring an alarm bell in Apple and remind them it’s broken.
 
CBlakeston said:
I wonder why it’s not a much bigger deal? I have issues of magazines I’ve bought as PDFs I cant read. It’s ridiculous. I’m sure it would only take a post from macrumoirs and a bit of press to ring an alarm bell in Apple and remind them it’s broken.
Click to expand...

I am also very surprised that it is not a big topic in the forums or the press.

First, Apple said that the error would be caused by faulty PDF files, but when we could exclude this, Apple has recommended that I reinstall the books app and if that does not work, I should reset the entire iPhone to factory settings.
All this did not help and the problems still exist.

@CBlakeston: Could you test it already on iOS 12.2?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: dk001
mister-smith said:
I am also very surprised that it is not a big topic in the forums or the press.

First, Apple said that the error would be caused by faulty PDF files, but when we could exclude this, Apple has recommended that I reinstall the books app and if that does not work, I should reset the entire iPhone to factory settings.
All this did not help and the problems still exist.

@CBlakeston: Could you test it already on iOS 12.2?
Click to expand...

I’m not in the beta unfortunately:/ if someone could that would be great tho.
 
mister-smith said:
I am also very surprised that it is not a big topic in the forums or the press.

First, Apple said that the error would be caused by faulty PDF files, but when we could exclude this, Apple has recommended that I reinstall the books app and if that does not work, I should reset the entire iPhone to factory settings.
All this did not help and the problems still exist.

@CBlakeston: Could you test it already on iOS 12.2?
Click to expand...

That seems to be their fall back: factory reset.
 
mister-smith said:
I am also very surprised that it is not a big topic in the forums or the press.

First, Apple said that the error would be caused by faulty PDF files, but when we could exclude this, Apple has recommended that I reinstall the books app and if that does not work, I should reset the entire iPhone to factory settings.
All this did not help and the problems still exist.

@CBlakeston: Could you test it already on iOS 12.2?
Click to expand...


I just installed the 12.2 PB on my backup ip8+. PDF rendering bug appears to be fixed. At least the BMW PDF is now displayed as it should
 
  • Like
Reactions: mister-smith
isobel76 said:
I just installed the 12.2 PB on my backup ip8+. PDF rendering bug appears to be fixed. At least the BMW PDF is now displayed as it should
Click to expand...

That’s great news. Hopefully the corresponding MacOS release will have a fix too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back