Skan

Receipt scanner apps: which kind do you need?

It depends on what the receipts are for. If you only want a copy you can read later, the scanner built into Files and Notes on the iPhone is free and good enough. If you want the date, total and VAT in a spreadsheet, you need an app that reads the receipt; Skan does that on the iPhone for $1.99, once, without an account. If your employer has an expense service, use its app, since the report has to end up there anyway. Rewards apps such as Fetch are a different deal: you get points, they get your shopping data.

Blank paper receipts spilling out of a small cardboard box onto a desk next to a black phone.

Four kinds of receipt app

“Receipt scanner” covers apps that have little in common except the camera. What sets them apart is what you get back, where the receipts go and who pays for it.

What you get, where it goes, who pays

The iPhone’s own scanner

What you get
A PDF: a picture of the receipt
Where the receipts go
Your iPhone, or iCloud Drive if you save there
How it’s paid for
Free, part of iOS

Files and Notes

Reads the receipt on the phone

What you get
Date, total and VAT as a CSV, plus a searchable PDF
Where the receipts go
They stay on your iPhone
How it’s paid for
One price, paid once

Skan, $1.99 once

Expense service

What you get
Claims, approvals and export to the books
Where the receipts go
The service’s servers, under your account
How it’s paid for
Subscription, usually per user

The one your employer uses

Rewards app

What you get
Points you swap for gift cards
Where the receipts go
The company’s servers; shared with brands and ad platforms
How it’s paid for
Free: you pay with your shopping data

Fetch

Fetch’s row is from its own privacy policy (January 22, 2026) and App Store privacy label, read November 11, 2026.

If you only need a copy

For a warranty or a return, a readable copy is all you need, and the iPhone makes one without any extra app: open Files, tap the More button, then Scan Documents, and save the PDF in a folder called Receipts. Do it the same week. Most till receipts are printed on thermal paper, and the print fades.

Whether a scan can replace the paper depends on where you live and what the receipt is for. In the US, IRS Publication 583 lets a business keep its records in an electronic storage system and sets out what that system has to do. Elsewhere, ask your accountant before the paper goes in the bin.

The steps, with tips for narrow and crumpled receipts, are in How to scan receipts on iPhone.

If you need the numbers

For an expense claim, a VAT return or your own budget, the picture isn’t the point. You need the date, the shop and the amounts in rows you can add up, and typing those in is the part people put off until the shoebox is full. Before you pick an app for it, check four things:

I made Skan for the middle case, someone with a pile of receipts and a spreadsheet. You scan the receipt, Skan reads the total, VAT, date, shop and currency on the phone, and + › Export receipts (CSV) gives you one row per receipt. Each receipt is also kept as a PDF you can search.

Skan showing a scanned receipt with the line Total 412.45 DKK and VAT 82.49 under it.1Named for you: shop and month2Total and VAT, read on the phone
Skan’s list of scans, where the receipt shows its amount, 412.45 DKK.3The amount shows in the list
  1. Named for you: shop and month
  2. Total and VAT, read on the phone
  3. The amount shows in the list
A hardware-store receipt in Skan: the total and VAT under the scan, and the amount in the list of documents.

What Skan doesn’t do: it has no categories, no mileage, no approval flow and no link to your bank, and it only runs on iPhone. If you need those, you need an expense service, not a scanner.

Skan costs $1.99, once. No subscription, no account, and its App Store listing says “Data Not Collected”.

What general scanner apps cost

A general scanner app will do for receipts too, if a searchable PDF is all you’re after. Two well-known ones, from their own pages on November 11, 2026:

Neither is a bad app. Just read the list of in-app purchases before you scan a year of receipts into one of them. We have a longer piece on how free scanner apps earn their money.

See also: Is CamScanner safe to use?

Expense services and rewards apps

If your company uses an expense service, the choice is made: its app sends the receipt straight into your claim, and anything else means entering it twice. Those services keep receipts on their servers under your account. That’s the point of them, since your manager and the bookkeeper have to see them too. They are usually paid per user per month, by the company.

Rewards apps are something else. Fetch describes itself with “Scan receipts, earn gift cards”, and it’s free. Its App Store privacy label lists identifiers under “Data Used to Track You” and, linked to you, your purchases, location and contacts among other things. Its privacy policy says it may disclose your information to brand partners to deliver personalized offers and advertisements. That is the trade, and it’s a fair one if you know about it. It isn’t a filing system, though.

What to check on any App Store listing

Download on the App StoreMore about Skan