The best STEP viewer for Android in 2026 — honestly compared
Updated 7 July 2026By the tool room at Saptasati Industries9 min read
Quick answer
For most people, the best free STEP viewer on Android in 2026 is PartLens —
it opens STEP/STP files entirely on the device (no upload, no login, no ads), and includes
measurement, live section views and revision compare at no cost. If you need SolidWorks
ecosystem features, eDrawings is a good free viewer whose measurement tools cost
extra; if you need many proprietary CAD formats and don't mind a subscription,
Glovius is the established paid option.
We run a tool room that builds sheet-metal stamping dies and checking fixtures. Customers send us
STEP files all day — over WhatsApp, over email, from every CAD system there is — and the person who
needs to look at the part is usually standing next to a press, not sitting at a CAD seat. So we've
installed and genuinely used every STEP viewer on the Play Store. This is the comparison we wished
existed, including where our own app fits and where it doesn't.
Android STEP viewers at a glance
App
Price
Opens STEP offline
Measurement
Section views
File privacy
PartLens (closed beta)
Free
Yes — parses on device
Free, snap + exact/approx tags
Free, live 2D profile
No INTERNET permission at all
eDrawings (Dassault)
Free viewer; Pro is a paid in-app purchase
Yes
Pro only
Pro only
Local processing, app has network access
Glovius
Subscription
Yes, within plan limits
Included in subscription
Included in subscription
Account-based; cloud features optional
Basic "STEP Viewer" apps
Free with ads / one-time
Usually
Rare or crude
Rare
Varies — check permissions
CAD Assistant (Open Cascade)
Removed from Google Play around May 2025 — no longer an option, despite what older lists say.
Feature status checked July 2026 from Play Store listings and hands-on use. Vendors change pricing and features — check the current listing before you rely on this table.
What actually matters in a STEP viewer (from the shop floor)
Ignore the feature checklists for a second. After years of opening customer files on phones, five
things decide whether a STEP viewer is useful in practice:
Does it open the file where you receive it? STEP files arrive on WhatsApp and email. A viewer that can't register as a file handler, or needs the file pushed through a cloud account first, loses you ten minutes every single time.
Does it work with no signal? Press shops, basements, supplier visits. If the app needs a server to convert the file, it fails exactly where you need it.
Can you measure — and can you trust the number? Reading a hole diameter or a flange gap is the whole job. Bonus points if the app is honest about whether a value is exact geometry or a mesh approximation.
Does it survive big, ugly assemblies? Real production files are 50–500 MB with thousands of parts, exported by every CAD system imaginable. Toy viewers choke.
Where does the file go? Customer CAD data is confidential. An app with no network permission can't leak it; an app with cloud upload needs your customer's blessing.
The contenders, one by one
1. PartLens — best free STEP viewer for Android (our app, so read critically)
Free · offline by design · STEP, STP, IGES, DXF, STL · currently in Google Play closed testing
PartLens is the viewer we built because nothing else fit the shop floor. The STEP parser,
NURBS evaluator, tessellator and renderer are written from scratch and run entirely on the
phone — the app ships without the Android INTERNET permission, so files physically
cannot be uploaded. It opens .step/.stp straight from WhatsApp or email,
measures with magnetic snap to vertices, hole centers, edges and faces, cuts live sections with a
2D profile window, detects holes and slots analytically, and compares two revisions. Every readout
is tagged exact ✓ or approximate ≈ so you know what you're quoting.
View and measure only; it never edits or re-exports CAD
Android only
2. eDrawings — best if you live in the SolidWorks ecosystem
Free viewer · eDrawings Pro via in-app purchase · STEP, STP, IGES, JT and SolidWorks formats
Dassault's eDrawings is a competent, stable viewer and the natural choice if your customers send
native SolidWorks files alongside STEP. The catch for STEP work: measurement, cross-sections
and markup sit behind the eDrawings Pro upgrade, so the free tier is view-and-rotate only.
If you only occasionally need to check a dimension, that paywall is the difference between
"free viewer" and "another line on the expense sheet".
Good
Mature, from a major CAD vendor
Opens SolidWorks parts/drawings natively
Free tier is genuinely useful for viewing
Caveats
Measure & section are paid (Pro)
Heavier assemblies can be sluggish
3. Glovius — best format breadth, on a subscription
Subscription · STEP plus CATIA, NX, Creo, SolidWorks, Inventor and more
Glovius is the professional multi-format viewer: if you're routinely handed native CATIA or NX
files — not just STEP — it's the one app on this list that opens nearly everything, with
measurement and section tools included. The trade-off is the recurring cost and an account-based
workflow. For a team that only ever receives STEP/STP, a subscription is hard to justify when
capable free options exist.
Good
Widest CAD format coverage on Android
Measurement and sections included
Actively maintained
Caveats
Subscription pricing
Overkill if you only open STEP files
4. Basic "STEP Viewer" apps — fine for a quick look
Free with ads or small one-time price · STEP AP203/AP214 viewing
The Play Store has several minimal STEP viewers that load a file, shade it and let you orbit.
For "is this roughly the right part?" they're fine. They generally fall over on the details that
matter professionally: units handling, big assemblies, measurement you can trust, and section
views. Check the permissions and privacy policy before opening confidential customer files in
ad-supported apps.
Why the old recommendation disappeared
For years the standard answer to "best free STEP viewer on Android" was Open Cascade's
CAD Assistant. It was removed from Google Play around May 2025 and hasn't returned,
which is why so many older listicles now point at a dead link. The category has been wide open
since — that gap is exactly why we built PartLens.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free STEP viewer for Android?
PartLens — free, fully offline, and it includes measurement, live sections and revision compare without a paid tier. eDrawings is a good free alternative for pure viewing, but its measurement tools are paid.
Can I open a STEP file on Android without uploading it anywhere?
Yes. PartLens parses STEP entirely on the device and ships with no INTERNET permission, so the file cannot leave the phone. If confidentiality matters, prefer viewers that state local, on-device processing.
Which Android STEP viewer can measure parts?
PartLens (free, with snap and exact/approximate tagging), Glovius (subscription) and eDrawings Pro (in-app purchase). Basic free viewers usually can't measure reliably.
Is there a STEP viewer APK I should sideload?
We'd advise against sideloading CAD viewers from random APK sites — you'll be opening confidential customer geometry inside unverified software. PartLens is distributed through Google Play (closed testing today, wider release next), which keeps the install verifiable.
What about viewing STEP on an Android tablet?
Everything on this page applies to tablets. More screen genuinely helps for assemblies; PartLens's renderer scales its tessellation quality to the device's memory, so mid-range tablets stay smooth.
Try the viewer we built for the shop floor
Free, offline, honest measurement — PartLens is in Google Play closed testing now. Join and open your own STEP files on your phone this week.