How to Read Mendeley Papers on iPad in 2026
There is no official Mendeley app for iPad. Here are the options for reading your Mendeley library on an iPad in 2026, and what each one is good at.
Mendeley is where a lot of researchers keep their library. The iPad is where a lot of researchers actually read. Connecting those two is less obvious than it sounds, because there is no official Mendeley app for iPad.
This article covers what changed, what the options are in 2026, and what each one is good at. It is not an argument for leaving Mendeley. For most people the library should stay exactly where it is — the question is only how the reading part of the workflow gets easier.
What Happened to the Mendeley Mobile App?
Mendeley retired its mobile app on March 15, 2021. On that date the app was withdrawn from the App Store and Google Play, and signing in to it stopped working. Users were asked to sync their library to the cloud beforehand, and to use Mendeley Reference Manager — on the desktop or on the web — from then on. The announcement is still up on the Mendeley blog.
That is the whole change, and it is the starting point for everything below. The fuller version — what was announced, what it changed in practice, and why nothing else filled the gap — is in What Happened to the Mendeley Mobile App?.
What Does This Mean for Reading Mendeley Papers on iPad?
Reaching your library on an iPad is not the hard part — the web interface opens in Safari like any other site. The gap is the step after that: opening a paper in something built for reading it.
Reading on an iPad is worth the trouble for a few specific reasons. It picks up where you left off, Apple Pencil puts notes in the margin rather than in a separate document, and two papers can sit side by side without a second screen.
So the question is not whether an iPad is a good place to read a paper. It is how a paper gets there from your Mendeley library, and what happens to your notes once it has.
The Options Available in 2026
| Option | What it gives you | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Mendeley on the web | Access to your library from any browser | The reading experience |
| Downloading PDFs to another app | Complete freedom in how you read | Manual file management |
| A third-party app | Reading connected to your library | Varies by app |
| Rectoly | Reading connected to your library, built for the iPad | A paid app |
Safari / Web
Open your Mendeley library in Safari and read the PDF in the browser. Nothing to install, and it is the shortest path to a paper you want to check rather than study.
What it does not give you is offline access, a real annotation layer for Apple Pencil, or a reader that remembers your place between sessions the way a dedicated app does.
Downloading PDFs to Another App
Download the file from your library and open it in a PDF reader on the iPad. This gives you the best reading and annotation experience of the three, and it works with no connection at all.
The cost is bookkeeping. Each paper is a manual download, and the annotated copy then lives in the reader app rather than in your library. Months later, the copy you catalogued and the copy you wrote on are two different files. The actual steps, on the iPad and at the desktop, are in How to Get Mendeley PDFs onto an iPad.
Third-Party Apps
Some iPad apps sign in to your Mendeley account directly, so your library appears on the device without downloading files one at a time. One such app is PaperShip, which supports Mendeley and Zotero libraries on iPhone, iPad and Mac. It is still listed on the App Store, where the version history shows the most recent release, 3.8.5, in November 2019.
That date is worth paying attention to. An app in this category sits between your library and an operating system that changes every year, so how recently it was updated tells you a lot about what to expect from it — as does which annotation types it syncs back to your library. Both are on the App Store listing, and both are worth reading before you move a working routine onto any app here.
The Real Problem: Your Library and Your Reading Are in Different Places
Each option above is a different way of bridging the same gap. Mendeley knows what is in your library. The iPad is where the reading happens. Nothing joins the two on its own, so you end up being the connection — downloading, re-filing, and keeping track of which copy of a paper has your notes on it.
That is the part worth solving. Not the library. The distance between the library and the reading.
Where Rectoly Fits
Rectoly is an app for iPad and iPhone that signs in to your Mendeley account, brings your library onto the device, and opens each paper in a reader built for reading: Apple Pencil annotation, two papers side by side, and your place kept between sessions. Highlights, notes and sticky notes move in both directions between the iPad and your Mendeley library, so the annotated copy and the catalogued copy stay the same copy. A PDF that arrives on the iPad can be added to the library from there as well, rather than waiting until you are back at the desktop.
It is deliberately not a reference manager. Mendeley stays where your library lives, where your citations come from, and where your groups and folders are. Rectoly is the reading end of that same workflow, not a second place to maintain.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an official Mendeley app for iPad in 2026?
No. Mendeley's mobile app was retired in March 2021. Mendeley Reference Manager, on the desktop or in a browser, is what Mendeley offers today.
Do I need to move my library out of Mendeley?
No. Everything described here assumes your library stays in Mendeley. The reading happens somewhere else; the library does not have to move.
Can I read my Mendeley papers offline on an iPad?
Not through the web interface, which needs a connection. Reading offline means the file is on the device — either downloaded by hand into a PDF reader, or synced there by an app connected to your library.
Do annotations made on the iPad go back into Mendeley?
In Rectoly, highlights, notes, sticky notes and other PDF annotations sync back to your Mendeley library and show up there as annotations. It works the other way round as well: annotations you made in Mendeley before are there when you open the paper on the iPad, and a change in either place reaches the other as soon as it syncs. Freehand Apple Pencil ink is the one exception — the Mendeley API has no way to represent handwritten strokes, so drawings stay on the iPad.
Syncing runs automatically, and you can also trigger it by hand. Annotations made offline are saved on the device and go up the next time you are online. If something looks wrong — two devices in conflict, or more annotations disappearing than should — Rectoly tells you rather than resolving it quietly.
Can I add a paper to my library from the iPad?
Yes. A PDF already on the iPad can be opened in Rectoly and added to your Mendeley library from there, so a paper you picked up away from your desk does not sit in a downloads folder until the next time you open the desktop app.
Conclusion
If you mainly use Mendeley to manage your research library but prefer reading papers on an iPad, the goal is not to replace your reference manager. It is to make the reading part of that workflow easier.
That is the problem Rectoly was built to solve.