Scanning documents on iPhone: the apps compared
In short: Microsoft retired its Lens scanner in early 2026 and recommends the OneDrive app instead. The built-in scanner in Notes and Files is free and good for a page or two. The dedicated apps add filters, OCR and batch scanning, often behind a subscription, and several save to their own cloud. Better PDF for iPhone and iPad, coming to the App Store, scans with every filter and on-device OCR for free, for scans up to 100 pages.
For years, the answer to “how do I scan this on my phone” was one free app from Microsoft. In January 2026 Microsoft began retiring it. It left the App Store on 9 February and stopped scanning on 9 March. Microsoft’s support page points people to the scanner in the OneDrive app, and notes that those scans cannot be saved locally.
So a lot of people are choosing a scanner again. We make one, the Lens mode in Better PDF for iPhone and iPad, so read this with that in mind. Prices and features below are from each app’s own pages and its US App Store listing, checked on 9 November 2026.
The scanner already on your phone
Notes and Files both have a document scanner. Find it in Notes under the attachment menu, or in Files under the More menu as Scan Documents. It finds the page, captures it automatically when the phone is steady, and lets you drag the corners if it guessed wrong. In iOS 26 you can set the flash and a filter while you scan, and the result is a PDF.
For a receipt or a two-page letter, it is all you need. It is free, it is on every iPhone, and it keeps the scan where you save it. Its limits show on longer jobs: few filters, no control over the export size, and no batch work.
The scanner apps, side by side
| App | Price (US App Store) | Free tier | OCR | Account, cloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notes and Files scanner | Built in | Free | Not stated on Apple’s scan pages | None beyond your Apple Account |
| OneDrive scanner | Free with OneDrive | Free | Not checked | Microsoft account; scans saved to OneDrive, not locally |
| Adobe Scan | Plus $4.99 a month or $19.99 a year; Premium $9.99 a month | Free scanning; OCR limited until you pay | Device or cloud not stated | Scans saved to Adobe’s cloud; sign-in for paid features |
| Genius Scan | Basic free; Ultra $39.99 a year | “Unlimited and fully-functional” basic scanning | In Ultra | Optional cloud |
| Scanner Pro | Free with in-app purchases ($3.99 to $59.99) | Free scanning and sharing | Built in | Not stated |
| CamScanner | Premium $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year | Free tier; watermark rules unclear | Device or cloud not stated | Sign-up implied by its privacy label |
| SwiftScan | VIP $5.99 a month or $34.99 a year | Free scanning; OCR and sync paid | In paid plans | Your choice of cloud provider |
| Google Drive scanner | Free with Drive | Free | Says it makes “searchable PDFs” | Google account; saved to Drive |
| Better PDF (coming) | Free in version 1.0 | Every filter, every export size and OCR, up to 100 pages | On the device | No account, nothing uploaded |
The pattern is familiar from PDF apps on the Mac. Basic scanning is free nearly everywhere. Text recognition, the step that makes a scan searchable, is where most apps start charging. And several save every scan to their own cloud by default.
What makes a scan good
Four things decide whether a scan is worth keeping:
- Edges and perspective. The app should find the page and square it, so a photo taken at an angle comes out flat.
- Shadows and paper colour. A good filter removes the shadow of your hand and the grey of the paper, without losing faint pencil.
- Text recognition. Without OCR, a scan is a photo, and you cannot search it, select a word or copy a line. With OCR it becomes a document.
- Size. A fifty-page scan at full camera resolution is too big to email. You should be able to choose the size when you export.
Where the recognition runs matters as much as whether it runs. A scan of a passport, a medical letter or a bank statement is the kind of file you may not want on a server, even for a minute.
Better PDF for iPhone and iPad
Better PDF for iPhone and iPad is coming to the App Store, free. Its scan mode is called Lens. It finds the edges, squares the page, cleans the shadows and recognises the text, all on the phone. Then you can read, annotate, fill and sign the same file, or export it to Word, images, text, Markdown or CSV.
In the first version everything is free and there is nothing to buy: every Lens filter, every export size and OCR, for scans up to 100 pages. A later version adds iOS Pro ($4.99) for new on-device features: Ask this PDF, Cards from scans and iCloud sync. Mac Pro includes it in either edition, so one purchase covers Mac, iPhone and iPad.
On the Mac, the Scan mode does the same with your iPhone as the camera through Continuity Camera, or with photos you drop in. It stitches every page into one searchable PDF. Colour and greyscale are free there, and the extra filters and scans over 20 pages come with Pro.
Nothing is uploaded on either. There is no account, and recognition runs on the device.
Which one to pick
- A page or two, now and then. Use the scanner in Notes or Files.
- You already keep everything in one cloud. That cloud’s scanner saves you a step, as long as you are happy for scans to live there.
- You scan often and want searchable PDFs without a subscription or an upload. That is the job we built Lens for.
The iPhone app is not in the App Store yet. The Mac app is: download Better PDF to scan with your iPhone as the camera today. If you have a scanning job we should test Lens against, write to [email protected].
Checked on 9 November 2026: Microsoft Lens retirement, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lens/retirement-of-microsoft-lens · Notes and Files scanner, https://support.apple.com/en-us/108963 · Adobe Scan, https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adobe-scan-pdf-ocr-scanner/id1199564834 · Genius Scan, https://thegrizzlylabs.com/genius-scan/pricing/ · Scanner Pro, https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scanner-pro-pdf-doc-scan/id333710667 · CamScanner, https://apps.apple.com/us/app/camscanner-pdf-scanner-app/id388627783 · SwiftScan, https://apps.apple.com/us/app/swiftscan-pdf-document-scanner/id834854351 · Google Drive, https://support.google.com/drive/answer/3145835
Questions people ask
- What replaced Microsoft Lens?
- Microsoft's support page recommends the scanner in the OneDrive app. Lens was removed from the App Store and Google Play on 9 February 2026 and stopped scanning on 9 March 2026. Microsoft notes that OneDrive scans cannot be saved locally.
- Can an iPhone scan a document without an app?
- Yes. Notes and Files both have a document scanner that finds the page, captures it automatically and lets you adjust the corners. It is free and saves a PDF.
- Do scanner apps upload my documents?
- Some do by default. Adobe Scan saves scans to Adobe's cloud, and the OneDrive scanner saves to OneDrive. Others keep scans on the phone unless you turn on a cloud export. Check the app's settings and privacy label before you scan anything private.