Scan documents to PDF with your phone camera
Snap each page with your camera or add photos you already have. The page is found and straightened for you, you pick how it looks, and you download one PDF. Free, with no watermark and no account.
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Scanned and built into a PDF in your browser: your photos are not uploaded for that. Only if you press Copy text or Searchable PDF are the pages uploaded to our server for OCR, and a copy is then stored under our privacy page's retention policy.
How to scan a document with your phone
- Put the page on a flat, darker surface in good light, so the edges stand out.
- Tap Take photo for each page, or Upload photos for pictures you already have.
- Check each thumbnail. Rotate it, delete it, move it earlier or later, or tap Adjust corners if the crop is off.
- Choose a filter and a page size (A4, Letter, or the shape of your photo), then tap Create PDF.
What you get without paying
The PDF is the free part and is not limited: no watermark, no page cap, no account. It is assembled in your own browser, so it appears instantly and the page works without a signup. If you are comparing with other scanning apps, that is the difference to look for: many put their name on the page or lock the export behind a subscription.
Copying the text, and searchable PDFs
If you also want the words, Copy text reads the pages with the same OCR engine as our PDF OCR tool and shows English or Arabic text you can copy. Without an account that is 5 pages a day; a free account gets 30. Pro ($9.99 a month) removes the daily page limit, allows 50 pages in one batch, and adds a searchable PDF: your scan with an invisible text layer, so you can search it and select its text in any PDF reader. These are the limits the server enforces today; the page reads them from the server before you use it.
Tips for a good scan
- Light from the side or above, and avoid your own shadow across the page.
- Hold the phone parallel to the page. The page is straightened for you, but a sharper start is a sharper finish.
- For printed text use Document. For anything with colour, a stamp or a photo, use Enhance or Original.
- Several pages? Scan them in order, or reorder the thumbnails afterwards. Already have separate PDFs? Merge them. Photos already taken? JPG to PDF skips the cleanup.
- PDF too big to email? Compress the photos first, or pick a plainer filter.
Add it to your home screen
On iPhone use Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android use the browser menu, then Add to Home screen or Install app. It opens full screen like an app. It still needs a connection to load; scanning offline is not supported.
Questions
Is it really free? Is there a watermark?
Making the PDF is free and has no watermark, no page limit and no account. It is built in your browser, so there is nothing for us to meter. Only the optional step of reading the text on your pages (OCR) has limits, and they are listed on this page before you use it.
Are my photos uploaded?
No, not to make the PDF. Finding the page, straightening it, the filters and the PDF all happen in your browser. Pages are sent to our server only if you press Copy text or Searchable PDF, because the OCR engine does not run in a browser. In that case a copy is stored under our privacy page's retention policy, like any file sent to a server-side tool here. Do not use those two buttons for documents you would not hand to a third party.
Does it find the edges of the page by itself?
It tries. It looks for a bright sheet on a darker surface and straightens it. On a busy table, a white page on a white desk or a page that fills the whole frame it can miss, and then it tells you so. Tap Adjust corners and drag the four corners yourself.
Which filter should I use?
Original keeps the photo as taken. Grayscale drops the colour. Document makes black text on white paper and works best for printed pages and forms. Enhance brightens the paper and deepens the ink while keeping colour, which suits stamps, signatures and photos.
How much text can I copy for free?
Without an account: 5 pages a day and up to 5 pages at once. With a free account: 30 pages a day, up to 10 at once. On Pro ($9.99 a month): no daily page limit, up to 50 pages at once, and a searchable PDF. English and Arabic are supported. Check the result against the original: OCR is not perfect.
Does it work on iPhone and Android?
It is a web page, so it opens in the phone's browser. The Take photo button asks the browser for the rear camera; if your browser opens the photo library instead, take the picture in your camera app and add it with Upload photos. You can also add the site to your home screen so it opens like an app.
Can I scan something sensitive?
Making the PDF keeps your photos on your device. Use the text and searchable-PDF buttons only for documents you are comfortable sending to a server. Passports, bank details and medical records are better scanned with the PDF button alone.
Keep your scans, read their text
A free account raises the daily limit for copying text from 5 to 30 pages. Pro ($9.99 a month) has no daily page limit and makes searchable PDFs. The scanner and the PDF stay free either way.