Guide

How to scan documents on iPhone

The quickest way to scan documents on iPhone without installing anything is to open a scanner in Safari. OpenDocScan is a free document scanner that runs in the browser tab: point the iPhone's camera at a page and it finds the edges, straightens the perspective, cleans the lighting, reads the text and writes a multi-page PDF you can search. No app, no account, and nothing is uploaded: every step runs on the phone. The iPhone's own Notes and Files apps can also scan; both ways are below.

How to scan documents on iPhone in Safari

1. Open opendocscan.com in Safari. When Safari asks whether the site may use the camera, allow it.
2. Tap Scan and hold the iPhone over the page. The outline follows the sheet as you move; capture when it sits on the edges.
3. Check the corners. If the outline picked the wrong edge, drag any corner onto the right one, then tap Continue.
4. Clean it up. Choose Photo, Enhance or B&W, and Rotate if the page is sideways, then tap Add page.
5. Keep going. Photograph each further page; there is no page limit, and pages can be reordered or dropped in the tray.
6. Save the PDF. Name the document, leave Recognise text (OCR) on, pick A4, US Letter, US Legal or Match the scan, then Save & export. Save PDF or Share hands the file to the iPhone, so it can go to Files, Mail or Messages.

Pages you have already photographed can be scanned too: choose Import images and pick them from the photo library. To open the scanner like an app, tap Share in Safari and then Add to Home Screen. It opens full screen, uses the rear camera, and works offline.

How to scan documents on iPhone with Notes or Files

The iPhone also has a scanner built in. Apple's own steps (How to scan documents on your iPhone or iPad):

• Notes: open a note, tap the attachment button and choose Scan Documents, point the camera at the page, adjust the corners, tap Keep Scan, then Done.
• Files: tap More, then Scan Documents, scan the same way, tap Done, choose a location and tap Save.

If those do what you need, use them; they are already on the phone. OpenDocScan is for when you want something they are not built around: a PDF with an invisible text layer you can search and copy from, a choice of A4, Letter or Legal page size, a search across every scan you have made by the words inside them, and the same scanner on an Android phone or a laptop, all without an account.

Where the scans go

Finished documents stay in Safari's storage on this iPhone, not on a server and not in an account. That also means they do not appear on your other devices, and clearing Safari's website data clears them, so save or share the PDF to keep a copy. The scanning core has no networking code compiled into it, and the text recognition is served from opendocscan.com itself, so once the page has loaded you can scan documents on iPhone in Airplane Mode.

OpenDocScan is a free, open source document scanner. For more on the PDF itself, see how to scan to PDF in your browser and make a searchable PDF; for small things, the receipt scanner guide and how to scan an ID card.

What to know first

• Text recognition reads English. A page in Chinese, Japanese or Korean still scans and exports as an image, but gets no searchable text, and the scanner says which pages those are.
• It makes new PDFs. It scans paper or imports images; it does not open a PDF you already have.

Questions

Do I need to install an app to scan documents on iPhone?

No. You can scan documents on iPhone in Safari at opendocscan.com, with nothing to install, or with the Notes or Files app that comes with the phone. If you want the scanner on your Home Screen, add the page there from Safari's Share menu.

Is it free to scan documents on iPhone with OpenDocScan?

Yes. Every feature is free, including the text recognition, with no page limit, no watermark, no trial and no account.

Are the documents uploaded?

No. Finding the page, straightening it, cleaning it, reading the text and writing the PDF all happen in Safari on the iPhone. The scans are kept in the browser's storage on the phone, not on a server.

Does it work offline on iPhone?

Yes. Once the page has loaded it keeps working with no connection, including the text recognition.

Is there a native OpenDocScan app for iPhone?

An iPhone and iPad build over the same scanning code is in progress, but it is not signed for distribution yet, so there is nothing to download. The browser version is the complete one.

Scan your first page

Open the scanner in Safari, photograph the page, and save the PDF. It is free, and the document stays on your iPhone.