Zotero on iOS: iPhone & iPad, explained
What the official Zotero iOS app can and can't do — and how to keep your library within reach on every device.
The official Zotero iOS app
Zotero has a free official iOS app for iPhone and iPad. It syncs with your Zotero account, so the references, PDFs and notes in your library appear on your device. You can read and annotate PDFs, highlight passages, add notes and organise items into collections — then those changes sync back through Zotero's servers to your desktop.
For reading and light organising on the go, Zotero on iOS is genuinely useful. If you mostly want to review papers on an iPad or check a citation on your phone, the app covers it well.
Where Zotero on iOS falls short
The iOS app is deliberately focused on reading and annotating. It does not run the desktop plugins many researchers rely on — tools like Notero or Better BibTeX are macOS, Windows and Linux only. So if your workflow depends on a plugin to push references into Notion or another app, that automation simply doesn't run from your iPhone or iPad.
It also can't act as an always-on sync engine. Plugin-based automations need the Zotero desktop app open on a computer to fire, which means your phone can't keep a Zotero-to-Notion pipeline running while your laptop is closed.
Reach and sync your Zotero library from any device with Citebridge
Citebridge is a web app, so it works from mobile Safari or Chrome on iOS the same way it works on a desktop — there's nothing to install. It connects directly to your Zotero account in the cloud, which means your references sync on a schedule whether or not a computer is running.
That closes the gap the Zotero iOS app leaves open: you can keep your Zotero library flowing into a Notion database automatically, from an iPhone or iPad, without a Mac and without any plugin. Read in the Zotero app, and let Citebridge handle the syncing in the background.
Zotero on iOS: common questions
Yes. Zotero offers a free official iOS app that syncs with your Zotero account so you can read, annotate and organise your library on iPhone and iPad.
No. Zotero plugins are desktop-only (macOS, Windows and Linux). To automate a Zotero-to-Notion sync from an iPhone or iPad, use a web-based tool like Citebridge that runs in the cloud instead of a desktop plugin.
Connect your Zotero account to Citebridge from any browser, including mobile Safari, and choose Notion as a destination. Citebridge then syncs your references to Notion automatically on a schedule — no desktop app required.
Keep your Zotero library in sync — from any device
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