A scanner app for Android: searchable PDFs, no ads, no sign-up

How to scan a document on Android with Doc Scanner

1. Install from Google Play

   Get Doc Scanner: PDF Scan, OCR from Google Play and open it. No sign-up is needed; signing in with Google is optional.

2. Choose a mode

   Tap the scan button and pick Document for one page or Batch for several pages in one PDF. Use ID Card for both sides of a card (Premium).

3. Capture the pages

   Hold the phone over the page. The edges are found and the page is captured and straightened automatically. Add the next page, retake or delete as you go.

4. Enhance

   Open Crop or Rotate if needed, then pick a filter: Magic Color, Grayscale, B&W, Lighten or Contrast. Tap Apply to all pages for a consistent look.

5. Sign or highlight

   Tap Sign to place your saved signature, or Highlight to mark important lines.

6. Share the file

   Tap Share, choose PDF or JPG, set Quality and Page Size, pick the pages with Select pages, then send it through the share sheet to your email, chat or cloud storage app, or tap Print.

Scan on any Android phone

Doc Scanner runs on Android phones with Android 7.0 or later and installs from Google Play. On Android, automatic edge detection uses Google Play services' document scanner, so it works the same way across phone brands: the outline snaps to the page, the perspective is corrected and the shot is taken for you.

The camera has a mode for each job:

• Document: a single page, captured automatically.
• Batch: many pages into one PDF. Add, reorder or delete pages later.
• ID Card: front and back on one A4-style page (Premium).
• Extract Text: copy the text from a page or photo (Premium).
• QR Scanner: read a QR code, then copy the value or open the link.

Export to PDF or JPG, or to Word (.docx), TXT and PowerPoint (.pptx); Word and TXT conversion are Premium. Pick Low, Medium or High quality and Original, A4 or Letter page size. Step-by-step help is in our guide on how to scan documents on Android.

Samsung Galaxy phones

Looking for a scanner app for a Samsung phone? Doc Scanner installs from Google Play on Galaxy phones running Android 7.0 or later, and every feature on this page works there: auto edges, batch scanning, ID card mode (Premium), free signatures, searchable PDFs and offline text recognition.

Samsung also documents its own way to scan documents on Galaxy phones in its support pages. Doc Scanner is the option when you want the same scanner on every phone in the house, Android or iPhone, plus ID cards on one page, reusable signatures and password-protected PDFs (Premium). Our guide on how to scan documents on a Samsung phone walks through the options.

Google Drive's scanner vs Doc Scanner

Does Android have a built-in scanner? Google offers several. In the Google Drive app, tap Camera at the bottom right to scan and save searchable PDFs to your Drive. Files by Google has a Scan button and saves scans as PDFs in Downloads, and Pixel phones show a Scan document prompt in the camera. They're solid, free tools, and Doc Scanner's Android edge detection comes from the same Google Play services technology. Here's how to scan with Google Drive.

Where Doc Scanner does more for the job:

• ID cards on one page: ID card mode puts the front and back on a single page (Premium). Google's scanning help describes page-by-page capture.
• Reusable signatures, free: draw once, then place and resize your signature on any page. Drive and Files offer a freehand pen on PDFs.
• PDF passwords: lock a PDF with AES-256 encryption (Premium). Google's scanning help doesn't offer a PDF password.
• No Drive storage needed: Drive saves scans into your Google Account's storage, which is shared with Gmail and Google Photos. Doc Scanner keeps scans on your phone, with no sign-up.
• More export formats: Word, TXT (Premium) and PowerPoint on the phone. Drive's scanner saves PDF or JPG.
• One app on iPhone too: the same app and steps on the scanner app for iPhone.

Open PDFs and photos from other apps

Doc Scanner is built into Android's sharing. Open a PDF or an image in your file manager, email or chat app, tap Share or Open with, and choose Doc Scanner to bring it into your library. Inside the app, Import from Photos adds several pictures at once and Import PDF brings in an existing file.

From there you can merge documents, sort them into folders, sign them and use Tools > Convert to turn a document into PDF, DOC or JPG. Here is how to sign a PDF on Android.

Text recognition offline

Doc Scanner recognises text on the phone with Google ML Kit. It works without an internet connection, and nothing is uploaded for recognition, which helps on a train, on a job site or anywhere the signal drops.

Every exported PDF gets an invisible text layer on the free plan, so you can search it and select its text later. With Premium, Extract Text turns a page or photo into text you can Copy text or Share as TXT. Recognition supports Latin-alphabet languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Indonesian, Swedish and Danish. More in image to text on Android.

Free plan and Premium

Doc Scanner is free to download and has a free plan for scanning, signing and exporting PDFs. It includes automatic edge detection, all six filters, crop and rotate, signatures, the highlighter, PDF export with a searchable text layer, JPG export, printing, sharing, folders and merging. The free plan shows no ads and adds no watermarks.

Premium is an optional auto-renewing subscription (weekly, monthly or yearly) billed through Google Play. It unlocks text extraction, Word and TXT conversion, ID card mode, password-protected PDFs and more.

Scan your first document in seconds

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

Scan with your phone camera to get the app

Sources

1. Google Drive Help: Scan documents with Google Drive (Android) (checked 2026-10-01)
2. Files by Google Help: Scan documents (checked 2026-10-01)
3. Pixel Camera Help: Scan documents (checked 2026-10-01)
4. Google Drive Help: Annotate PDFs with a stylus or freehand on Android (checked 2026-10-01)
5. Google One Help: How your Google storage works (checked 2026-10-01)
6. Google for Developers: ML Kit document scanner (checked 2026-10-01)
7. Samsung Support: Scan and edit documents on your Galaxy phone or tablet (checked 2026-10-01)

Doc Scanner is not affiliated with Google and Samsung. Trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Related pages

• Scan on AndroidStep-by-step: scan a document on an Android phone with Google Drive, Files by Google or Doc Scanner, save it as a PDF or JPG and share it.
• 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.
• iPhone scanner appDoc Scanner is a scanner app for iPhone that turns paper into searchable PDFs that Spotlight can find. Free to download. No ads, no watermarks, no sign-up.
• Offline scannerDoc Scanner is an offline scanner app for iPhone and Android: scan, make searchable PDFs and recognize text on your phone, with no internet needed.