SkanFree scanner apps for iPhone: what “free” really means
The best free scanner for an iPhone is already on it: the Files app and Notes scan documents to PDF with no ads, no watermark and no account. Most free scanner apps in the App Store are free to download and make their money from ads, watermarks, limits on text recognition or a subscription. Skan isn’t free. It costs $1.99, once, and then there’s nothing more to pay.
The free scanner you already have
Files and Notes scan several pages into one PDF, they work without an internet connection, and Notes search finds text in your scans. The steps are in How to scan a document to PDF on iPhone. For the odd form, that’s all you need.
What you don’t get is one place with all your scans. Files saves each one in the folder you pick, and Notes keeps it inside a note. Neither reads the total off a receipt.
How free scanner apps make their money
An app that’s free to download still has to pay its developers somehow. CamScanner says so in the FAQ on its own website: the free version covers basic scanning, saving and sharing with a limited number of OCR uses, and Premium removes the ads and watermarks. Other free scanners use one or more of the same models, and the App Store listing shows which.
There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just worth knowing before you scan your passport or a payslip.
What to check before you install one
- Next to the Get button, the App Store says “In-App Purchases” if there are any. Scroll down to Information › In-App Purchases for the prices. A weekly or yearly price means a subscription.
- Read the App Privacy section. Data Used to Track You means the app shares data with other companies to follow you across apps and websites; CamScanner’s listing, for one, names identifiers and usage data.
- Does it ask you to create an account, or start saving to its own cloud? Then your bills and ID cards sit on a server you don’t control.
- Make a test scan and open the PDF it exports. Look for a watermark in the corner, and try searching for a word.
What Skan costs, and why
I made Skan for the papers you’d rather not send through a stranger’s server: bills, contracts, payslips. It costs $1.99, once. There’s no subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads and no account, and everything works from the first scan: searchable PDFs, names for your documents, totals and VAT from receipts, CSV export and signatures.
Skan works without internet, and its App Store page says “Data Not Collected”. If you’re weighing up a popular free scanner, read Is CamScanner safe?