The best free scanner apps and what each free plan includes

Disclosure: Doc Scanner is made by us (Ginowl), so we rank it first. Other apps are described only from their store listings, official sites and the sources listed on this page.

1. Doc Scanner

Best for: people who want the essentials free on both iPhone and Android: scanning, signing, merging and searchable PDFs.

Doc Scanner is free to download and has a free plan for scanning, signing and exporting PDFs. Here's what that free plan includes:

• Scanning with smart edge detection, perspective correction and auto-capture, page after page into one PDF with the Batch mode.
• Searchable PDFs. Every PDF you export gets an invisible text layer, so its words can be searched and copied later.
• Free signatures. Draw yours once, then place and resize it on any page with Sign.
• Six filters (Original, Magic Color, Grayscale, B&W, Lighten, Contrast) for one page or all pages, plus crop, rotate and a highlighter.
• PDF and JPG export with Low, Medium or High quality, Original, A4 or Letter page size and your choice of pages, plus printing and sharing.
• Folders and merge, so the pages of one application end up in one file.
• No ads, no watermarks, no sign-up. An account is created for you automatically; Apple or Google sign-in is optional.

Premium is optional. It unlocks text extraction (the Extract Text mode and the text screen), Word and TXT conversion, ID card mode that puts the front and back of a card on one page, and password-protected PDFs with AES-256 encryption. The free plan also has a document limit, so heavy users may eventually want Premium. Our free scanner app page lists exactly what is free and what is Premium.

2. Genius Scan

Best for: plain scanning with no account and no cap on how many documents you keep.

Genius Scan by The Grizzly Labs has one of the most usable free versions around. Genius Scan Basic scans with automatic document detection, perspective correction and a batch mode, merges and splits PDFs, imports photos and PDFs, and adds no watermark. It shows no third-party ads, needs no account and doesn't limit the number of documents you scan.

What it keeps for paying users: text recognition, searchable PDFs, TXT export and searching inside documents need a paid Plus or Ultra plan, and so do PDF passwords. It also says it doesn't support signing inside the app and points to its separate Genius Sign app for iOS. If you need searchable PDFs or a signature without paying, Doc Scanner includes both on its free plan.

3. Adobe Scan

Best for: Acrobat users who don't mind keeping their scans in Adobe's online storage.

Adobe Scan's free version is generous on features: Document, Whiteboard, Book, ID card, Business card and Form modes, auto-capture with edge detection, PDF and JPEG saving, and text recognition on shorter scans. Its ID card mode puts both sides on one page, and Adobe doesn't list it among Premium features. Adobe Scan has no 'Contains ads' label on Google Play.

The catch: you sign in with an Adobe, Google, Facebook or Apple account before you can scan, and every PDF you save goes to Adobe's online storage. Combining files, password protection, exporting to Office formats and text recognition on longer scans are Premium. Doc Scanner needs no sign-up and merges documents on its free plan; our Adobe Scan alternatives page compares them in depth.

4. Google Drive's scanner (built in on Android)

Best for: Android users who already keep everything in Google Drive.

The scanner in the Google Drive app costs nothing and is already on most Android phones (it runs on iPhone too). Tap the camera button, let it find the page, then crop, rotate, choose a filter or tap Clean to erase stains and fingers. Drive saves a searchable PDF or a JPG into your Drive, and Files by Google offers the same scanner with PDFs saved on the phone. Drive's Play listing carries no 'Contains ads' label, and Google documents no watermark.

What's missing: scans saved with Drive go into your Google Account's storage, shared with Gmail and Photos. Google's scanning help documents no ID card mode and no PDF password, and turning a scan into editable text happens in Google Docs on a computer. Doc Scanner adds a reusable signature on the free plan, plus ID card mode, PDF passwords and Word export as Premium options, right on the phone. Our list of the best scanner apps for Android goes deeper.

5. Apple's built-in iPhone scanner (Notes and Files)

Best for: iPhone owners who scan now and then and want nothing extra to install.

Every iPhone has a free scanner. In Notes, open a note, tap the Attachments button, then Scan Documents; in Files, tap More, then Scan Documents (steps from Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 26 and iOS 27). The camera captures each page when it finds the edges, you can add filters and more pages, and Notes saves the scan as a PDF in the note. It's free, ad-free and needs no extra sign-up.

Where Doc Scanner adds value on iPhone: its ID card mode places both sides of a card on one page (Premium), it exports Word (.docx), TXT (both Premium) and PowerPoint (.pptx) as well as PDF and JPG, and every exported PDF gets a searchable text layer automatically. Apple's Notes and Files guides don't mention a text layer in exported scans, and Preview adds one only when you turn on Embed Text at export, an option Apple documents for iOS 27. Doc Scanner also works on Android, so mixed-phone households use the same app.

Free plans compared

What each free version includes, from the apps' own store pages, help centres and reputable press, checked on October 1, 2026 (see Sources). Free versions change often, so check the store page before you decide.

Free with ads vs free without ads

Some 'free' scanners pay for themselves with advertising. CamScanner's store listings say it contains ads, Tiny Scanner's Google Play listing says the same (and Zapier saw its text recognition offered once in exchange for watching a video ad), and SwiftScan's help centre lists 'No Ads' only for its paid tiers.

Plenty of good free scanners show no ads at all: Doc Scanner, Genius Scan (no third-party ads since 2020), Apple's built-in scanner, and Google's scanners. If you scan ID cards, bank statements or contracts, an ad-free app is simply calmer to use. Read more on our scanner app with no ads page.

Watermarks on free exports

A watermark is the fastest way to make a scan look unofficial. Three well-known apps add one on the free version: CamScanner stamps 'Scanned by CamScanner' by default (US users have been able to remove it with a tap since 2022, while CamScanner's web code still calls PDF watermark removal a paid function), SwiftScan's free version adds a SwiftScan watermark, and Readdle says Scanner Pro's free version adds a watermark to exported scans.

Doc Scanner never stamps your pages, on the free plan or on Premium. Genius Scan, iScanner, Adobe Scan, Google's scanners and Apple's scanner don't add one either. More on our scanner app with no watermark page.

What you usually pay for

Across these apps, the same features tend to sit behind a subscription:

• Text recognition (OCR) and copying text: paid in Genius Scan, iScanner, Tiny Scanner, SwiftScan and Scanner Pro. In Doc Scanner, extracting text is Premium, but the searchable text layer in exported PDFs is on the free plan.
• Password-protected PDFs: paid in Genius Scan, Adobe Scan and Scanner Pro, and Premium in Doc Scanner (AES-256).
• Signatures: paid in Scanner Pro, and outside the Genius Scan app itself. Free in Doc Scanner.
• Merging documents: Premium in Adobe Scan ('Combine files') and Plus in Scanner Pro. Free in Doc Scanner.
• Word and Office exports: Premium in Adobe Scan, and Premium in Doc Scanner for Word and TXT conversion.
• Removing ads or watermarks: the main upgrade reason in CamScanner and SwiftScan. Not needed in Doc Scanner.

Our tip: try the free version on the exact job you need (a two-sided ID, a long contract, a signed form) before you subscribe to anything. For the overall picture beyond free plans, see our ranking of the best scanner apps.

Scan your first document in seconds

Doc Scanner is free to download for iPhone and Android. No ads, no watermarks, no sign-up required.

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Sources

1. Genius Scan pricing and plans (checked 2026-10-01)
2. Genius Scan Help: Quick start guide (checked 2026-10-01)
3. Genius Scan Help: Plan details and comparison (checked 2026-10-01)
4. Genius Scan Help: Text recognition (OCR) (checked 2026-10-01)
5. Genius Scan Help: Document protection (checked 2026-10-01)
6. Genius Scan Help: Sign and annotate your scans (checked 2026-10-01)
7. Genius Scan Help: Account management (checked 2026-10-01)
8. The Grizzly Labs blog: No more ads (2020) (checked 2026-10-01)
9. Adobe Scan product page (checked 2026-10-01)
10. Adobe Scan on Google Play (checked 2026-10-01)
11. Adobe Scan for iOS: taking scans (checked 2026-10-01)
12. Adobe Scan for iOS: managing subscriptions (checked 2026-10-01)
13. Adobe Scan for Android: managing subscriptions (checked 2026-10-01)
14. Adobe Scan for Android: settings (OCR) (checked 2026-10-01)
15. TechRadar: Adobe Scan review (2025) (checked 2026-10-01)
16. Google Drive Help: Scan documents (Android) (checked 2026-10-01)
17. Google Drive Help: Scan documents (iPhone) (checked 2026-10-01)
18. Files by Google Help: Scan documents (checked 2026-10-01)
19. Google Drive Help: Convert PDF and photo files to text (checked 2026-10-01)
20. Google One Help: How storage works (checked 2026-10-01)
21. Google Drive on Google Play (checked 2026-10-01)
22. Apple Support: How to scan documents on your iPhone or iPad (February 2026) (checked 2026-10-01)
23. iPhone User Guide (iOS 27): Scan text and documents in Notes (checked 2026-10-01)
24. iPhone User Guide: Add or remove accounts (On My iPhone notes) (checked 2026-10-01)
25. iPhone User Guide (iOS 26): Scan documents in Files (checked 2026-10-01)
26. iPhone User Guide (iOS 27): Export or compress PDFs in Preview (checked 2026-10-01)
27. iPhone User Guide (iOS 26): Export or compress PDFs in Preview (checked 2026-10-01)
28. CamScanner on the App Store (checked 2026-10-01)
29. CamScanner on Google Play (checked 2026-10-01)
30. CamScanner download page (platforms) (checked 2026-10-01)
31. CamScanner blog: watermark removal for US users (2022) (checked 2026-10-01)
32. CamScanner web code: watermark and OCR credit strings (checked 2026-10-01)
33. CamScanner CS Account terms (checked 2026-10-01)
34. iScanner support: Free version vs Pro version (checked 2026-10-01)
35. iScanner privacy policy (checked 2026-10-01)
36. Tiny Scanner on the App Store (checked 2026-10-01)
37. Tiny Scanner on Google Play (checked 2026-10-01)
38. Tiny Scanner terms of service (checked 2026-10-01)
39. Tiny Scanner FAQ: watermark (checked 2026-10-01)
40. Zapier: The best mobile scanning and OCR apps (checked 2026-10-01)
41. SwiftScan Help: Premium features (iOS) (checked 2026-10-01)
42. SwiftScan Help: Premium features (checked 2026-10-01)
43. SwiftScan Help: SwiftScan Plus OCR (checked 2026-10-01)
44. Android Authority: best PDF scanner apps (2025) (checked 2026-10-01)
45. Scanner Pro on the App Store (checked 2026-10-01)
46. Readdle Support: Use Scanner Pro for free or subscribe (checked 2026-10-01)
47. Readdle Support: Scanner Pro text recognition (OCR) (checked 2026-10-01)
48. Readdle Support: Signatures in Scanner Pro (checked 2026-10-01)
49. TurboScan on Google Play (checked 2026-10-01)
50. TurboScan on the App Store (checked 2026-10-01)

Doc Scanner is not affiliated with Apple, Google, Google Drive, Files by Google, CamScanner, INTSIG, Adobe, Adobe Scan, Genius Scan, The Grizzly Labs, iScanner, BP Mobile, Scanner Pro, Readdle, SwiftScan, Maple Media, Scanbot, Tiny Scanner, TinyWork Apps, TurboScan, Piksoft and Zapier. Trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Related pages

• Best scanner appsThe best scanner apps for iPhone and Android in 2026, compared on ads, watermarks, sign-up and free searchable PDFs. Every competitor fact is sourced.
• Best for AndroidThe best scanner apps for Android in 2026, ranked: Doc Scanner, Google Drive, Adobe Scan, Genius Scan, CamScanner. Sourced facts on ads, watermarks, OCR.
• Best for iPhoneThe best scanner app for iPhone in 2026: Doc Scanner, Genius Scan, Scanner Pro, Adobe Scan and more, ranked against the built-in Notes scanner.
• Free scanner appDoc Scanner is a free scanner app for iPhone and Android: scan, sign and export searchable PDFs on the free plan. No ads, no watermarks, no sign-up.
• No watermarkDoc Scanner is a scanner app with no watermark on PDFs or JPGs, free plan included. No ads, no sign-up, searchable PDFs. For iPhone and Android.
• No adsDoc Scanner is a scanner app with no ads, no watermarks and no sign-up, for iPhone and Android. Scan, sign and export searchable PDFs on the free plan.
• Searchable PDFMake a PDF searchable for free on iPhone or Android. Doc Scanner adds an invisible text layer to every PDF it exports, offline, with no upload needed.