PDF Restriction on Mobile Devices (Android/iOS)

Question

I created a code in java to apply restrictions on PDF files and it works fine in Desktops using Acrobat Reader.

But when I open the same pdf in a mobile device using Drive PDF Viewer or any other app on Android or iOS it is not reflecting and I get the option to print or copy the content.

Any suggestions on how to apply the restrictions on pdf documents which works across platforms? Thanks!!

Answer 1

This is not possible; if it works in Adobe Reader on desktop, you're likely doing it right. But honouring these restrictions is a feature of the PDF reader, so if your reader choses to ignore the restrictions, there is nothing you can do about it.

Answer 2

A workaround would be to place an opaque cover field over every page, and then use JavaScript to hide it.

Of course, the crappy PDF viewers would only display a number of blank pages, and only the better PDF viewers (where we can assume that they do honor the restriction settings) can be used.

A variant would be putting the contents as icons in button fields which are hidden by default. Now, if someone removes or flattens the fields, there would still be no contents.