The scanner app for iPhone that turns paper into searchable PDFs

How to scan a document with your iPhone

1. Install Doc Scanner

   Download Doc Scanner: PDF File OCR from the App Store and open it. You can start scanning straight away; signing in with Apple or Google is optional.

2. Open the camera

   Tap the scan button and pick a mode at the bottom of the camera: Document for a single page or Batch for a multi-page document.

3. Let it capture

   Hold your iPhone above the page. Doc Scanner finds the edges, corrects the perspective and captures the page automatically. Turn the page and keep going.

4. Fix and enhance

   Use Crop to adjust the corner handles, Rotate if needed, and pick a filter such as Magic Color, Grayscale or B&W. Tap Apply to all pages to match the whole document.

5. Sign or highlight

   Tap Sign to place your saved signature, or Highlight to mark key lines in one of four colours.

6. Share or print

   Tap Share, choose PDF or JPG, set the Quality and Page Size, use Select pages if you only need some of them, then send it through the share sheet or tap Print.

Scan on iPhone in seconds

Doc Scanner is built around the camera. Open it and you choose the job, not a menu:

• Document: one page, auto-detected and auto-captured.
• Batch: many pages in a row, saved as one PDF. Add, reorder or delete pages later.
• ID Card: the front and back of a card on one A4-style page (Premium).
• Extract Text: photograph a page and copy its text (Premium).
• QR Scanner: read a QR code, then copy the value or open the link.

After the capture you get six filters (Original, Magic Color, Grayscale, B&W, Lighten and Contrast) for one page or for all of them, crop with corner handles, rotate and rename. Draw your signature once and reuse it on any page for free: see how to sign a PDF on iPhone. For contracts and long forms, here's how to scan multiple pages into one PDF.

When you're done, export to PDF or JPG, or to Word (.docx), TXT and PowerPoint (.pptx). Word and TXT conversion are Premium. PDFs come in Low, Medium or High quality, at the original size, A4 or Letter.

Find any scan with Spotlight

This is the iPhone feature most scanner apps skip. Doc Scanner adds your documents to Spotlight, the search you open by swiping down on the Home Screen. Type a word from a document's title or from the text on the page, such as a landlord's name, an invoice number or a policy number, and the scan appears in the results. Tap it and Doc Scanner opens that document.

Inside the app, search covers the recognised text too, and folders, merging and multi-select move or delete keep the library tidy. Because every exported PDF carries an invisible text layer, the file stays searchable after you send it, in a mail app, a PDF reader or a computer. More on how that works in our guide to searchable PDFs.

Works on older iPhones (iOS 15.5+)

Doc Scanner needs iOS 15.5 or later. That covers recent models such as the iPhone 17, iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 lines, plus older iPhones that are still on iOS 15.5 or newer. To check yours, open Settings > General > About and look at the iOS version.

The app is made for iPhone. There is no iPad version. The interface comes in 21 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese and Arabic, with light and dark mode.

iPhone Notes scanner vs Doc Scanner

Does iPhone have a scanner? Yes. Apple's Notes app scans documents (in a note, tap Attachments, then Scan Documents), captures pages automatically and saves the scan as a PDF in the note. The Files app has Scan Documents under the More button, and Preview, which needs iOS 26 (iPhone 11 or later), scans too. For a quick one-off page, the built-in tools work well. Here's how to scan in the Notes app.

Doc Scanner is the better pick when the job asks for more than a quick page:

• ID cards: ID card mode puts the front and back on one page (Premium). Apple's scanning guides describe page-by-page capture only.
• Office formats: export the recognised text to Word or TXT (Premium) or the pages to PowerPoint, alongside PDF and JPG. Apple's Notes and Files scanners save PDFs.
• A text layer in every exported PDF: automatic, on the free plan, on iOS 15.5 or later. Apple's Notes and Files guides don't mention one in exported scans, and Preview documents an optional Embed Text setting for iOS 27.
• Export control: pick the quality, page size (Original, A4, Letter) and exactly which pages to send.
• One app on both platforms: the same scanner and the same steps on Android, so a family or team with mixed phones shares one workflow.

Import from Files, Mail and Photos

Not everything starts on paper. Tap Import from Photos to bring in several pictures at once and turn them into one PDF, or Import PDF to add a file you already have. From the Files app or a Mail attachment, use Open in to send a PDF straight to Doc Scanner.

The Tools tab collects the rest: Document, Batch, ID Card, Extract Text and QR Scanner, plus Convert to turn a document into PDF, DOC or JPG. Want the words, not just the picture? See how to copy text from an image on iPhone (Premium). Text recognition runs on the phone and works offline.

Free plan and Premium

Doc Scanner is free to download and has a free plan for scanning, signing and exporting PDFs. The free plan covers 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, with no ads and no watermarks. The free scanner app page lists it in full.

Premium is an optional auto-renewing subscription (weekly, monthly or yearly) billed through the App Store. It unlocks text extraction (Extract Text and the text screen), Word and TXT conversion, ID card mode, password-protected PDFs with AES-256 encryption 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. Apple Support: How to scan documents on your iPhone or iPad (published 2026-02-13) (checked 2026-10-01)
2. iPhone User Guide (iOS 27): Scan text and documents in Notes (checked 2026-10-01)
3. iPhone User Guide (iOS 26): Scan text and documents in Preview (checked 2026-10-01)
4. iPhone User Guide (iOS 27): Export or compress PDFs and images in Preview (Embed Text) (checked 2026-10-01)
5. iPhone User Guide (iOS 26): iPhone models compatible with iOS 26 (checked 2026-10-01)

Doc Scanner is not affiliated with Apple. Trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Related pages

• Scan on iPhoneStep-by-step: scan a document on iPhone with Notes or Files, or with Doc Scanner for searchable multi-page PDFs, ID cards on one page and more export formats.
• 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.
• Android scanner appDoc Scanner is a scanner app for Android phones, Samsung Galaxy included: searchable PDFs, free signatures, offline text recognition. No ads, no sign-up.
• 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.
• Scan ID cardsScan both sides of an ID card onto one page with Doc Scanner for iPhone and Android. Front and back on one A4-style PDF or JPG, ready to print or share.