On iPhone, PDF viewer jumps around while pinch-zooming in and out

Bug reports
, ,
1

Steps to reproduce

  1. On iPhone (16 Pro, if it matters), create a new vault
  2. Add the PDF file that I shared with WhiteNoise via DM and open it
  3. Use the pinch gesture to zoom in and out.

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N]

Y

Expected result

The PDF viewer should zoom in and out within the same page.

Actual result

While zooming in and out, the PDF viewer jumps across different pages. Moreover, the app sometimes reloads itself.

ScreenRecording_08-27-2025 01-07-54_1

(Please look at the page number; this is a cropped version, but I also sent the uncropped original video via DM)

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Operating system: ios 18.6.2 (Apple iPhone17,1)
Obsidian version: 1.9.12 (237)
API version: v1.9.12
Login status: logged in
Language: en
Catalyst license: insider
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: none
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
none

Additional information

  • This bug does not happen in every PDF file.
    The PDF I shared with WhiteNoise is not the only one that suffers from the bug, however I have not found a PDF file that I can share publically where this happens. I will update when I do so.
  • The page jumps tends to be more noticeable when you zoom in or out relatively fast.
2 Likes
2

Meet the same problem. Wonder why this bug has not been fixed yet. It’s awful :smiling_face_with_tear:.
This problem seems to happen every time I use mobile devices to inspect PDF files.

Obsidian version: 1.10.3
System version: iOS 26.1 & iPadOS 26.1
Has followed guide to enable restrict and set theme to default.

1 Like
3

Also have been having this issue for a while now, on iPhone and iPad.

Files were too large, even zipped so here are download links via my Proton Drive:

Only occurs for some multi-page documents, always beyond the 2nd or 3rd page, doesn’t seem to occur on the first page of any multi-page documents or on single page documents. Seems to be worse the longer the document is but I’m not certain on this.

I followed all debug procedures, disabled my themes, my plugins, my CSS snippets, restarted the app and device, updated iPadOS and iOS, tried creating a new local vault on iPad (not in iCloud Drive) - issue still occurs in all instances. Issue does not occur with pinch to zoom on a trackpad in macOS, only pinch to zoom with touchscreen apple devices.

As an engineering student that heavily relies on Obsidian and needs to quickly navigate lots of textbooks, this issue has significantly impacted the UX for me. The native iPad preview app doesn’t have a table of contents view so doesn’t work for textbooks, other PDF apps either track you, have a pay wall, or don’t have dark mode so they end up causing a lot of eye strain after long study sessions.

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: 1.12.7 (303)
API version: 1.12.7
Operating system: iOS 26.4.1 (Apple iPad16,3)
Login status: not logged in
Language: en
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: none
Snippets enabled: 1
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 24
Plugins enabled: 11
1: Advanced URI v1.46.1
2: BRAT v2.0.4
3: Desmos v0.6.8
4: Excalidraw v2.22.0
5: Filename Heading Sync v1.11.0
6: Folder notes v1.8.19
7: Heading Shifter v1.10.2
8: Ink v0.4.0
9: Latex Suite v1.11.3
10: Linter v1.31.2
11: Omnisearch v1.28.2