Top 4 document scanner apps in 2025

Scan documents with your phone and turn them into searchable PDFs

The best scanner apps help you transform physical documents such as invoices, contracts, notes and more into high-quality PDFs to save and share them. Nowadays, there are so many scanner apps available that there is no need for a desktop scanner – at least for the private use case. To help you decide which scanner app is the best, we tested four scanner apps and found our favorite.

The following article describes how we tested, which criteria we used to rank the scanner apps, which scanner app is the best for daily use and give tips on how to digitize documents with a scanner app for your document management.

Best scanner app for Android and iOS overall

TL;DR

Docutain stands out from the tested solutions by providing the best scanning quality at the smallest PDF size of the saved scan (see our separate test article). It is intuitive in its usage and supports the user by automatic scanning and automatic perspective correction. It is a feature-rich scanner that differentiates with document management features and extras such as expense overviews or payment services to round up a full document management lifecycle. In comparison to CamScanner and Adobe Scan you get a great document scanner with Docutain for a lower price and the highest document privacy standards. It can be used in every situation, e.g. for scanning in the office or for students in school or uni.

Scan documents fast and in the best quality with Docutain
Download the Docutain Scanner App for free for Android or iOS and see for yourself how easy scanning and managing documents can be.

Docutain

Price:Free; Premium version: 49,99€/year

Rating on App Store: 4,7

What we liked:

• Very good scanning quality, batch scanning
• Easy onboarding and intuitive UX
• Local storage and PDF encryption for maximum data safety
• Good OCR text recognition to extract data for further processing
• Feature-rich in terms of document management index information (e.g. tagging, tax relevancy signs…), expense overview, collaborations with multibanking-apps for direct payment
• Bonus: Climate protection aspect (They support reforrestation project)

Download on Google Play Store
Download on App Store

Other scanner apps for mobile we tested

Adobe Scan

Price:Free; Premium version: 10,99€/month --> 132€/year

Rating on App Store: 4,8

What we liked:

• Different scanning options (document, book, whiteboard, ID)
• Good scanning quality
• Good OCR text recognition

What we disliked:

• Chaotic document overview on main page (there are colorful banners showing ads, tips)
• No document management functions like tags or reminders
• For signing documents, you need to download Adobe Acrobat as well, you switch apps during the process
• You are forced to create an account, so you have to disclose private data (email address, Gmail, app ID, Facebook) for a login, before you can even start
• High pricing

CamScanner

Price:Free; Premium version: 66,99€/year

Rating on App Store: 4,7

What we liked:

• Different scanning options (document, book, whiteboard, ID)
• Good scanning quality
• Many features (text extraction, editing features, conversions), but only in paid version

What we disliked:

• Many annoying ads in free version
• Data safety concerns after malware scandal and knowing that ads are in the app
• Seems over-engineered
• No automatic document capture to support user
• High pricing

Microsoft Lens

Price: Free, no Premium version available

Rating on App Store: 4,7

What we liked:

• Different scanning options (document, book, whiteboard, ID)
• Good scanning quality
• Annotations and signatures to add
• Free of charge

What we disliked:

• No automatic document capture
• No options to manage scanned document within the app
• No document management functionality
• No user guidance on how to proceed within the app
• No OCR options

Please also note that Microsoft Lens will be retired from iOS and Android devices and can only be used in it’s capacity until December 15, 2025.

As best alternative to Microsoft Lens we recommend Docutain.

How we tested and rated

After carefully choosing the scanner apps for the test, we conducted our tests under standard household lighting conditions with an iPhone 15 Pro around the same hour of the day.

To compare the chosen document scanner apps, we used a set of predefined features we were expecting of each app. These features mirror our recommendation on what to look out for when deciding for a scanner app:

1. Scan Quality: The most important factor of a scanner app is its output quality, meaning the clarity and readability of the scanned document.
2. Edit Options: Besides good scanning quality, edit options including filters or automatic perspective correction are key to receiving a high-quality scanning output.
3. User Experience: How easy is it to start using the app after downloading it? Is there onboarding or some guidance helping me to get started? Are the subsequent steps intuitive and is the navigation within the app self-explanatory?
4. Data Security: Especially when scanning sensitive documents, it is key to having a scanner app that is compliant to data safety standards. We were looking out for ads displayed in the scanner apps, password protection, PDF encryption options and whether functions work locally on the device.
5. Features Offered: Besides the main reason for scanner apps, document scanning, we looked out for features such as OCR text recognition, editing options, document management options to save a document in the app and sharing options.
6. Pricing Structure: We compared the pricing structure of each app, the prices itself and considered limitations given on free versions versus paid version, also including the existence of ads.

How to digitize your documents and why you should use a scanner app

We tend to see recommendations of just using the notes app or simply taking a picture with the smartphone camera of a document. The usage of a document scanner app like Docutain brings multiple following advantages in comparison to just taking a picture or using a physical scanner:

• Scanner apps are designed to create high-quality scans that (in the case of Docutain) come with OCR text recognition, which make the scanned PDF searchable for content. Especially when using a scan for further processing, it is recommended to use a scanner app that creates searchable PDFs as you can extract relevant information easily.
• Scanner apps can be used anywhere, and you are not bound to be at home or in the office to scan a document like you are with a flatbed scanner or other physical scanner types.
• Scanner apps like Docutain guide users on how to create the perfect scan and are equipped with functionalities like shadow or stain removal, perspective correction and other filter-options that facilitate the usage for everyone.
• Scanner apps like Docutain also provide functionalities to share the scanned document directly via Email or Messenger and to manage the scanned documents within the app with features like tags, reminders, address management, tax relevancy marks and more.

Start using the Docutain scanner app right away and see how it helps you!

Scan documents fast and in the best quality with Docutain
Download the Docutain Scanner App for free for Android or iOS and see for yourself how easy scanning and managing documents can be.

Why our opinion matters

We tested thoroughly as a team and conducted meticulous research. We didn't let ourselves be swayed by paid advertising in the App Store and simply selected the highest-ranking apps but rather checked ratings ( > 4,6) and reviews as well as range of functions to come up with a set of scanner apps to be compared. The number of total downloads an app has achieved so far was not that determining as some apps simply exist longer on the market than others.

Did we miss an important app or a significant feature? Then reach out to us and let us know.

Which one is the best scanner app?

The best scanner app from the test we conducted is Docutain scanner app. Docutain convices with high-quality scanning, many features for document management like OCR text recognition, spend management and payment functions, options for editing and share options.

---

Is it better to scan documents with a phone or scanner?

We highly recommend scanning a document with a document scanner app instead of just taking a camera picture. With a scanner app like Docutain you receive a high-quality, searchable PDF you can extract data from. This is not possible with a simple camera picture.

---

Which scanners are good?

All of our tested document scanner apps showed good scan results. The best result was obtained with the Docutain scanner app, that showed the smallest document size with the highest quality compared to Adobe Scan, CamScanner an Microsoft Lens.