In short
- In Notes: new note › attachment button › Scan Documents. In Files: ••• › Scan Documents.
- Hold your iPhone over the page in good light. It finds the edges and captures each page by itself.
- Every page goes into one PDF that you can share, print or keep in Files.
Choose an app
All three make a PDF. Notes and Files are free and already on your iPhone.
Notes
- Open Notes and start a new note.
- Tap the attachment button (a paperclip, or a camera in older versions of iOS) and choose Scan Documents.
- Hold your iPhone over the page. Once the page is outlined, it's captured automatically, or tap the shutter button yourself. Scan the next page the same way.
- Tap Save. The scan sits in the note as a PDF: tap it, then Share, to send, save or print it.
Tip To keep the scan as a file of its own, tap Share and Save to Files.
Files
- Open the Files app and go to the folder where you want the scan, such as On My iPhone or iCloud Drive.
- Tap the ••• button at the top of the screen and choose Scan Documents.
- Scan each page, then tap Save.
- The PDF appears in the folder. Touch and hold it, then choose Rename to give it a proper name.
Papiruno
- On the Scan tab, tap Scan documents.
- Hold your iPhone over the page: it captures each page by itself. Tap Save when every page is in.
- In Scan preview, reorder, rotate, crop or retake pages, then tap Finishing touches to choose the quality, and sign or redact if you need to.
- Tap Print or save to print it, share it or save it to Files. It's already in your library either way.
Tip Your first 20 documents are free. After that, one payment unlocks unlimited documents, with no subscription.
Tips for a clean scan
Good, even light
Daylight or a bright room. Keep your own shadow off the page, and tilt the phone a little if there's glare.
A flat page on a dark surface
A flat page on a darker background gives the camera clear edges to find.
Straight above the page
Hold your iPhone parallel to the page. The scanner straightens small angles, but not large ones.
Check before you save
Look through the pages and retake any that are blurred or cut off.
The right colour
Black and white for text, greyscale for pencil and faint print, colour for photos and stamps.
Find a scan by the words in it
Whether you can search for words inside a scanned PDF depends on the app that made it. On screen, Live Text still lets you select and copy the words in a scan: touch and hold them.
Papiruno reads the text in your scans, so you can find a document later by the words inside it. It reads the languages iOS can read, which isn't every language, so not every scan becomes searchable. See which languages.
When a scanner app helps
Notes and Files are fine for the occasional page. Papiruno is for when you scan often:
- A library of all your scans, searchable by their words in the languages iOS can read
- Both sides of an ID card or passport on one page, at true size
- Sign, redact and mark up before you share
- Make a PDF smaller for email
- Print straight away, with ink saver and several pages per sheet
Scan with your iPhone camera
Questions
Is scanning on iPhone free?
Yes. Notes and Files scan to PDF at no cost, with nothing to install.
Where do my scans go?
In Notes, the scan stays in the note. In Files, it's saved as a PDF in the folder you were in. In Papiruno, it's kept in the app's library on your iPhone, and you can save a copy to Files.
Can I scan several pages into one PDF?
Yes. Keep scanning, page after page, before you tap Save. Every page goes into the same PDF.
Is a phone scan as good as a scanner?
For documents, receipts and forms, yes: a recent iPhone captures more detail than they need. A flatbed scanner still does better with photos and fine artwork.
How do I scan a printed photo?
Scan Documents works, but colour usually looks better with the Camera app. Lay the photo flat in even light, take a picture from straight above, then crop it in Photos.