A scanner app with no watermark, even on the free plan
Updated
Looking for a scanner app with no watermark? Doc Scanner by Ginowl, for iPhone and Android, never stamps your pages: every PDF and JPG you export is clean, on the free plan as well as Premium. No "Scanned with…" footer, no logo across the page, no upgrade screen standing between you and a clean file.
It also shows no ads and needs no sign-up, and free-plan PDFs come with an invisible text layer, so they are searchable the moment you send them.
Scan with your phone camera to get the app
Doc Scanner by Ginowl — iPhone & Android · Free to download
How to scan a document without a watermark
Open the camera
Install Doc Scanner and open it. There's no sign-up: tap the scan button and choose Document for one page or Batch for many pages in a row.
Let it capture
Hold your phone over the page. Smart edge detection finds the corners, straightens the perspective and captures the page for you. Keep going for every page of the document.
Clean it up
Crop with the corner handles, rotate, and pick a filter such as Magic Color, Grayscale or B&W. Tap Apply to all pages to use it everywhere. Add your saved signature with Sign if the form needs one.
Export a clean file
Tap Share, choose PDF or JPG, set the quality (Low, Medium or High) and the page size (Original, A4 or Letter), then send it through your phone's share sheet or tap Print. Nothing is stamped on any page.
No watermark on PDFs or JPGs
A watermark tells everyone who opens your file that you used a free app. On a job application, a lease, a tax form or a university submission, that looks careless, and some offices ask people to resend. Doc Scanner keeps the page exactly as it was on paper: your document, your signature, your highlights, and nothing else.
That applies to every export path in the app:
- PDF, single page or many pages, at Low, Medium or High quality
- JPG images, one per page
- Printing straight from the app
- Merged documents and documents made from imported photos or PDFs
Need a picture turned into a PDF instead of a fresh scan? Convert JPG to PDF with the same clean result.
What the free plan includes
Doc Scanner is free to download and has a free plan for scanning, signing and exporting PDFs. On the free plan you get:
- Scanning with automatic edge detection, perspective correction and auto-capture
- Six filters (Original, Magic Color, Grayscale, B&W, Lighten, Contrast), crop and rotate
- Free signatures: draw once, reuse on any page, place and resize
- Highlighter in four colours
- PDF and JPG export, printing and sharing
- Searchable PDFs: exported PDFs get an invisible text layer
- Folders and merging documents
Premium unlocks text extraction (the OCR screen and the Extract Text camera mode), Word and TXT conversion, ID card mode with both sides on one page, and password-protected PDFs. A watermark is not one of the things Premium removes, because there is no watermark to remove. More on what you get for free on the free scanner app page.
Which scanner apps watermark free exports
Watermark rules change, so we checked the official help pages, store listings and press for the most popular scanners on 1 October 2026. The table below sticks to what those sources say; the links are under Sources at the end of this page.
Two of the best-known names, Genius Scan and Adobe Scan, don't watermark free scans either, and we say so plainly: if you already use one of them, a watermark isn't your problem. The apps that do stamp free exports are the ones people most often search a way around. If that's you, see our CamScanner alternatives and the best free scanner apps.
The scanners built into your phone, Notes and Files on iPhone and Google Drive on Android, don't add a watermark either; neither Apple's nor Google's help pages mention one. Doc Scanner adds what their help pages don't describe: an ID card mode that puts both sides on one page (Premium) and export to Word (Premium) and PowerPoint.
| App | Watermark on free exports? | What the source says |
|---|---|---|
| Doc Scanner (Ginowl) | No | No watermark on PDF or JPG exports, free plan included. No ads, no sign-up. |
| Scanner Pro (Readdle) | Yes | Readdle: the free version adds a watermark to exported scans; watermark-free exports need a Scanner Pro Plus subscription. |
| SwiftScan (Maple Media) | Yes | SwiftScan's help center lists "No Watermarks" only for paid tiers; Android Authority (2025) describes a "Scanned with SwiftScan" watermark on free scans. |
| CamScanner (INTSIG) | Yes, by default | CamScanner's own 2022 blog: scans carry a "scanned by CamScanner" watermark; US Basic users got a free remove-watermark option that year. Its paid CamScanner+ listing sells "Export PDFs without watermark". |
| Genius Scan (The Grizzly Labs) | No | Genius Scan's help: "no watermarks are added to your documents" on the free Basic plan. |
| Adobe Scan (Adobe) | None reported | Adobe doesn't state it either way; independent write-ups report no watermark on free scans. |
No ads and no sign-up either
A clean file is only half of it. Doc Scanner shows no ads: no banner over your document, no full-screen video before you can export. And there's no registration wall. An account is created for you automatically in the background, and signing in with Apple or Google is optional.
So the whole job takes seconds: open the app, scan, share. If ads are what pushed you to look for a new scanner, read more on the scanner app with no ads page.
Everything else you expect from a good scanner is there too. Scan many pages into one PDF with Batch, then add, reorder or delete pages later. Sign a PDF with your saved signature, highlight the key lines, merge two documents into one, and keep it all organized in folders. Scanning, image processing and text recognition happen on your phone.
Tips for a scan that looks like a photocopy
- Flat and dark. Lay the page on a flat, darker surface so its edges stand out and auto-capture locks on quickly.
- Even light. Daylight from a window or a ceiling light works best. Avoid harsh direct light on glossy paper and tilt the page slightly if you see glare.
- Pick the right filter. Magic Color for colourful forms and receipts, Grayscale for a soft printer-friendly copy, B&W for crisp text-only pages, Lighten for dim photos.
- Match what the recipient expects. Most offices, portals and e-mail inboxes want a PDF. Choose Medium quality for e-mail and upload forms with a size limit, High for documents you will print, and A4 or Letter if the recipient prints on that paper.
- Check before you send. Zoom in on names, dates and numbers: they should be sharp.
Already have watermarked scans?
Doc Scanner is not a watermark remover. If you import a PDF that already carries another app's stamp, the stamp stays, because imported PDFs become page images.
The reliable fix is to scan the paper again: auto-capture makes it quick, and the new PDF comes out clean and searchable. If you no longer have the paper but you still have the original photos you took, import them with Photos and export a fresh PDF.
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
Frequently asked questions
How do I scan without a watermark?
Use a scanner app that doesn't add one. In Doc Scanner, tap the scan button, choose Document or Batch, capture your pages, then tap Share and export a PDF or JPG. No watermark is added on the free plan or on Premium.
Which scanner app is free without a watermark?
Doc Scanner is free to download and has a free plan for scanning, signing and exporting PDFs, and it never adds a watermark. It also has no ads and needs no sign-up. Premium unlocks text extraction, ID card mode, password-protected PDFs and more. Genius Scan's free plan and Adobe Scan are also free of watermarks, according to their help pages and independent reviews.
Does Adobe Scan add a watermark?
No watermark has been reported on Adobe Scan's free scans. Adobe doesn't state it either way, and independent reviews describe free scans without one. Doc Scanner is not affiliated with Adobe.
Does Genius Scan add a watermark?
No. Genius Scan's help center says no watermarks are added to documents on its free Basic plan. Doc Scanner is not affiliated with Genius Scan or The Grizzly Labs.
Can Doc Scanner remove a watermark from an existing PDF?
No. A stamp that is already in a PDF stays there when you import it, because imported PDFs become page images. Scan the paper again with Doc Scanner and you get a clean, searchable PDF.
Are the PDFs searchable on the free plan?
Yes. Exported PDFs get an invisible text layer on the free plan, so you can search them and select text in a PDF reader. Copying text on the OCR screen and converting to Word or TXT are Premium.
Sources
- Readdle: How to scan and store ID documents (Scanner Pro free version watermark) (checked 2026-10-01)
- Readdle Support: Use Scanner Pro for free or subscribe (checked 2026-10-01)
- SwiftScan Help Center: Premium Features (iOS) (checked 2026-10-01)
- SwiftScan Help Center: Pro Features by Account Type (Android) (checked 2026-10-01)
- Android Authority: Best PDF scanner apps (2025-08-31) (checked 2026-10-01)
- CamScanner blog: CamScanner unlocks an advanced feature to American iOS and Android users (2022-11-22) (checked 2026-10-01)
- App Store: CamScanner+ listing (checked 2026-10-01)
- Genius Scan Help: Quick start guide (checked 2026-10-01)
- Genius Scan pricing and plans (checked 2026-10-01)
- Mobile Village: Adobe Scan review (checked 2026-10-01)
- WildAndFreeTools: Mobile scanner with no watermark (updated 2026-03-11) (checked 2026-10-01)
- Apple Support: How to scan documents on your iPhone or iPad (checked 2026-10-01)
- Google Drive Help: Scan documents (checked 2026-10-01)
Doc Scanner is not affiliated with CamScanner, INTSIG, Scanner Pro, Readdle, SwiftScan, Maple Media, Adobe Scan, Adobe, Genius Scan, The Grizzly Labs, Apple and Google. Trademarks belong to their respective owners.
Related pages
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- 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.