Best Alternatives to CamScanner
Camera technology has come a long way in recent years, particularly the technology that goes into our smartphones. Today, most cameras can deliver image quality that blows away even the highest-end technology from just a decade ago.
Photos and videos are now something anyone can take, and with just a little bit of effort and practice, today’s smartphone cameras can be used effectively to capture even professional-level photographs and videos.
With all of the technology that goes into our smartphone cameras, it’s also opened up lots of new possibilities. On mobile phones especially, students and professionals from all over the world have access to apps and software that can transform their smartphones into portable scanners with features and performance that can trump even industry-grade scanning machines that you find in office buildings everywhere.
There are dozens – if not hundreds – of scanner apps available on both the Google Play Store on Android and the Apple App Store for iOS devices. One of the most popular of these apps used to be the Android and iOS mobiles canning app, CamScanner.
What is CamScanner?
Although it enjoyed mass popularity back in its heyday, folks today are weary of CamScanner, its ties to China, and the fact that it’s been reported to transmit usage and personal information to servers back in China. In fact, places like India have actually banned CamScanner and several other Chinese-made applications for reasons of national security.
However, before this information came to light, CamScanner was favored by hundreds of thousands of people across multiple platforms for its simplicity, optimization, and ease of use. While the reports were tragic, and many of its fans and followers quickly rejected the app for its deception and malice, there’s a brightside: there are tons of other options out there that offer the same level of performance and features – if not better, if not more.
Best 7 CamScanner Alternatives For Your Phone
If you’re looking for a good alternative to CamScanner but are weary to sift through the dozens of available options, we’ve taken the liberty of curating this list of the best scanner apps available on iOS and Android. With great features, top-notch performance, and overall high development quality, you’re sure to find the best CamScanner alternative for your phone.
1. Microsoft Office Lens – Convert images to PDF, Word and more…
Microsoft Office Lens is an award-winning app that’s used by professionals around the world for scanning documents, whiteboards, and more. Developed by Microsoft, Microsoft Office Lens is a powerful, industry-grade scanner app that comes with some of the most advanced features you’ll find in a scanner app anywhere and only platform.
With features and integrations you’d expect from a polished, premium software solution, Microsoft Office Lens lets users convert simple images into all kinds of documents – including PDF, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations. It also connects seamlessly to the OneDrive and its peripherals, including OneNote, to give you easy access to your entire Microsoft-based cloud.
Whether it’s for school, work, or otherwise, Microsoft Office Lens is a great scanner app for all of your image scanning needs. It’s also available entirely for free, so you’re getting a premium user experience on top of everything else.
2. Adobe Scan – Works on Your Mobile Devices
Neck and neck with Microsoft Office Lens, Adobe Scan is also a very popular scanner app, this time from renowned productivity software developer Adobe. Just like Microsoft Office Lens, Adobe Scan is a versatile and powerful tool that professionals the world over keep in handy for all of its features and capabilities. However, while Microsoft Office Lens caters especially to corporate professionals, Adobe Scan comes with a bunch of must-have features for artists, designers, and other creative professionals.
With Adobe Scan, users can transform their mobile device into powerful, feature-rich, and portable document scanners with optical character recognition (OCR) software to help recognize text and convert images into editable documents. You can save anything – from work documents to receipts to handwritten notes, photos, and more – into a JPEG or specialized Adobe PDF to turn your scans into enhanced professional documents.
3. SwiftScan – Best mobile scanner app for documents and QR codes
Available on Android Only
It may not have the same big-name pedigree as Microsoft or Adobe, but SwiftScan is a top contender among CamScanner alternatives. Free, lightweight, and robust in the features it offers, SwiftScan promises and delivers on its namesake – it’s a tool that lets you make swift scan, anytime, anywhere, with just the power of your smartphone or mobile android device.
SwiftScan lets users create high-quality PDFs and JPEGs with just a single press of a button. Scanned files and documents can easily be sent via fax or email through the app, or be uploaded to any number of cloud storage integrations including Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox, and more.
Designed for simplicity and ease-of-use, SwiftScan may not be the most feature-rich option out there, but it definitely gets the job done. Rated 98% based on Google Play user satisfaction reviews, SwiftScan offers desktop-grade scanning power in a lightweight mobile app.
4. Evernote Scannable – Captures the Paper in your life quickly
Available on iOS
When it comes to notes and documents, Evernote has always been a cut above the competition thanks to its powerful features, intuitive user interface, and reliable cloud services. In order to promote the Evernote ecosystem, they’ve also released a bunch of peripheral and accessory applications that let you make the most of your documents. For powerful, all-purpose scanning, Evernote Scannable is a worthwhile choice. Plus, if you already use Evernote, the seamless integration makes this app the ideal choice.
Evernote Scannable comes with OCR technology to turn any scanned text into an editable document. With a whole host of useful features, Evernote Scannable lets you save time by making automatic edits – from rotation, to cropping, to myriad adjustments – to improve clarity and ease of use.
Designed for paperless everything, Evernote Scannable lets you work primarily in a digital workspace by letting you do away with paper in the most professional manner. From business cards to multi-page documents, to collaborative features, Evernote Scannable is a powerful, portable scanner for everyone.
5. Google Drive Scanner – Use with Google Drive App
Google Drive is one of the most popular cloud storage services in the world, especially because of its integrations with the entire Google Workspace – from Docs to Sheets to Gmail,Calendar, and so much more. However, what a lot of people miss out on is that the Google Drive app – available on both Android and iOS – is that Google Drive comes with a host of impressive features for work and productivity. Among these useful tools is the Google Drive Scanner – a powerful, multi-purpose scanner app that’s built directly into Google Drive.
Apart from all of the standard features you’d expect from a polished, well-designed scanner app, Google Drive Scanner also comes with intuitive OCR technology. Scan documents and images and convert them directly into PDFs or editable documents that you can work on directly using the Google Workspace environment.
Google Drive is available for absolutely free, and apart from the scanner you’re getting a ton of reliable cloud storage and access to one of the most comprehensive productivity suites available anywhere.
6. TapScanner – Scan, print & manage documents in PDF with Mobile Devices
If you’re looking for a reliable and professional-grade document scanner that lets you scan, manage, and even print documents directly from your mobile device, TapScanner is a trusty choice used by thousands.
With all the standard features you would need from a scanner app, TapScanner lets you scan business documents, calling cards, receipts, and even QR codes with ease. Its scanner also automatically detects document borders, allowing you to save high-quality scans effectively.
One of our favorite TapScanner features is the intuitive document management system that lets you easily organize and categorize your documents for efficient use and storage. Despite being a free app, TapScanner also comes with OCR technology with over 110+ supported languages to help you encode live text from scanned images automatically.
7. TurboScan – Scan documents & receipts in PDF
As one of the highest-rated scanner apps available on both iOS and Android, TurboScan has a lot to offer. With a full feature set and tons of power under the hood, TurboScan lets you take the highest quality scans of documents – from reports to whiteboards, to business cards and more.
With the proprietary SureScan scanning feature, TurboScan lets you take the sharpest scans even under conditions with poor lighting. SureScan makes sure that scanned documents are clear, crisp, and ready for sharing or submission. Another neat TurboScan feature is self-emailing. Whenever you scan something using the app, you get the option to easily and conveniently email them to yourself or upload them to a cloud storage service with the touch of a button.
TurboScan also offers some more advanced features you would expect to find from polished, premium software. It offers ultra-fast scanning that accurately scans and renders documents in under three seconds. TurboScan also comes with multi-page functionality so you can keep a better track of multiple page scans and organize all of your scans intuitively from within the app itself.
