Which Is The Best Scanning App For Android?

You don't need bulk scanners or printers to scan office documents.

As most smartphones pack a good camera nowadays, you can scan documents in high quality using any one of the best document scanner apps below. Moreover, scanning PDFs with your phone can be a faster process than using a desktop scanner.

A few advantages of using a popular Android scanner app are that it lets you access documents from the cloud, have powerful editing features, and some even come with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) support.

We have compiled a list of the best scanner apps for Android.

13 Best Android Scanner Apps (2021)

Note that Android scanner apps are different from barcode scanner apps. The former is used to scan text documents and images, while the latter is for scanning QR barcodes. If you want to scan a barcode, this list of barcode scanner apps might be useful.

Adobe Scan
Google Drive Scanner
Clear Scanner
Office Lens
vFlat Mobile Book Scanner
Photo Scan by Google
TinyScanner
TurboScan
Smart Doc Scanner
Fast Scanner
SwiftScan
Notebloc
Genius Scan

1. Adobe Scan

Adobe Scan is the best scanner app for Android. It allows you to scan notes, forms, documents, receipts, images, and convert them to PDF files. It is simple and effective to use. Once you point your phone's camera at the document you want to scan, it will automatically recognize and scan the document.

It even permits you to reorder the pages as needed, and you can also color-correct any of the pages. Also, there is built-in OCR that lets you reuse scanned content. You can also scan multiple pages and put them in a single PDF file.

Furthermore, the document scanner app allows you to send your scanned files via email or upload them to the cloud. Overall, Adobe Scan covers almost all the essential features. The best part about the app is that Adobe Scan is entirely free with no ads.

Why should I install Adobe Scan?

Supports multiple pages scanning into a single file.
Allows color correction and cleanup for any stains or creases in the scanned documents
A worthy OCR scanner for Android

App Installs: Over 50 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.7

2. Google Drive

At first, I was surprised to know that the Google Drive app for Android has an inbuilt option to scan documents. While this tool isn't as feature-rich as the other Android scanner apps on this list, it's worth giving it a try because many of us already have the Google Drive app installed on your Android smartphone.

To find the scanner option in the Drive app, locate the '+' button in the bottom right corner, and tap on it. It will reveal new options, including the 'Scan' option. You'll need to grant camera permission for the Google scanner feature to work. The tool has basic crop and adjustment features for the document, color change options, image quality selector, etc.

Overall, the document scanner app is a good alternative for users who rarely use Android scanner apps and don't want a dedicated one to fill up their phone storage.

Why use Google Drive's scanner?

No need to install any extra app if already have the Drive app
Directly save documents in the Drive
All the basic options you need are here

App Installs: Over 5 billion
Google Play Store Rating: 4.3

3. Clear Scan

Clear Scan for Android quickly scans any documents or images from your phone. You can convert your scanned documents and images to PDF or JPEG format. This excellent scanner app for Android is lightweight and offers fast processing.

You can print the scanned documents or pictures by using Cloud Print. The free scanner app offers various professional editing features even after saving the images to the gallery.

Also, you can save multiple pages within one document, reorder pages, set page sizes for PDF, etc. It has cloud support for Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox. Clear Scanner is free to download; however, it does feature obtrusive ads.

Why should I install Clear Scan?

It is a lightweight mobile scanner
It can operate fast.
Cloud support.

App Installs: Over 10 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.7

4. Office Lens

Office Lens is another best free Android scanner app developed by Microsoft for scanning documents and whiteboard images. You can quickly capture any document and convert images to PDF, Word, or PowerPoint files.

It also allows you to save your files to OneNote, OneDrive, or to your local storage. The app is relevant for both business and school purposes. Apart from English, it also works in German, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese.

Office Lens is ad-free and does not contain any in-app purchases.

Why should I install Office Lens?

Quick and easy to operate.
It is productive for both school and business purposes.
Ad-free app

App Installs: Over 10 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.7

5. vFlat

vFlat Android scanner app aims to be your one-stop solution for scanning books and notes quickly and efficiently. There's a timer option at the top that allows the app to take pictures regularly, making the process smoother.

In my experience, the 3-second timer worked fine and gave me enough time to turn the pages with the other hand. This way, you don't need to tap the shutter button again and again after turning the pages.

The scanned pages can be further stitched together into a single PDF document and exported. There's an OCR option as well, but it comes with a limit of 100 recognitions per day, which is enough, in my opinion.

Why use vFlat to scan books?

Automatic shutter option for fast scanning
Easy PDF stitching and export

App Installs: Over 1 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.4

6. Photo Scan by Google

If you are looking for the best scanner app for Android, not to scan documents but to scan old printed photos, then Photo Scan by Google is the perfect fit for you.

The Android app scans photos in an instant and removes glare, if any, automatically. So, lighting conditions are not something you should worry about; instead, you should focus on finding your old photo album. The app also crops up images based on the edge detection feature.

After scanning the printed images, you can immediately upload them to Google Photos online storage and share them with your friends and family.

Why should I install a Photo Scan?

Automatic glare removal
Best for storing digital copies of old photos

App Installs: Over 10 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.3

7. Tiny Scanner

Tiny Scanner is a reliable document scanning app for Android that delivers most of the standard features. The app doesn't require you to login before use so you can get started right away.

You can scan documents, receipts, reports, or other files and save them in PDF format. The Android scanner app has support for all popular cloud storage services and allows you to print your necessary files within minutes.

Moreover, it has auto edge detection that can help prevent distortion by straightening out the images. The app features five levels of contrast, a quick search by document title, has passcode protection for important files, etc.

Tiny Scanner is ad-supported and has in-app purchases.

Why should I install Tiny Scanner?

It is optimized to work fast.
You can scan in color, grayscale, or black and white.
Support for cloud services like Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, etc.

App Installs: Over 10 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.7

8. TurboScan

TurboScan is a powerful and fully-featured Android scanner app with a free and paid version. It allows you to scan and share multipage documents in high quality PDFs or JPEGs. It features a "SureScan" mode for very sharp scans and includes multipage editing features such as page adding, reordering, and deleting.

You can also use this phone scanner app to organize multiple receipts or business cards on a single PDF page. You can open PDFs or JPEGs in other apps like Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, etc. or print your necessary documents using Cloud Print.

Turbo Scan is ad-free and offers in-app purchases.

Why should I install TurboScan?

It is lightweight and includes almost all the necessary features.
It provides sharp scanned documents.
Fast and easy to operate.

App Installs: Over 1 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.6

9. Smart Doc Scanner

If we are talking about the best scanner apps for Android, the Smart Doc Scanner fits perfectly into the category.

It covers many essential features for document scanning. It has support for OCR to read text from images in more than 40 languages and also includes spelling checks. You can set page size, enable batch-scanning mode for multi-page documents, and a lot more features. It also comes with crop and zoom features to scan pages in a better way.

The document scanner app supports output in almost all the popular image formats such as JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIP, and WebP. It is also integrated with Dropbox, Google Drive, and other cloud storage options.

The app doesn't display ads or offer in-app purchases.

Why should I install Smart Doc Scanner?

It is lightweight.
Has an intuitive interface that allows users to scan rapidly
Support OCR and cloud storage

App Installs: Over 1 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.6

10. Fast Scanner

Fast Scanner is another reliable document scanning app that features most of the typical functions. It allows you to scan any document, export it to PDF or JPEG format, add multiple edits to scanned documents, etc. You can also add new pages or delete existing pages within the file. Moreover, you can print your documents using Cloud Print.

The document scanner app for Android is free to download and contains ads.

Why should I install Fast Scanner?

Multiple page editing support.
It is optimized to run fast.

App Installs: Over 10 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.6

11. SwiftScan

Another popular choice for the best document scanner apps is SwiftScan, often used as an alternative to Office Lens and Adobe Scan since it packs more features.

SwiftScan is extremely quick to scan the documents, and users can save the scan as PDF or JPG. Other than document scans, it also features QR code scanning and bar code scanning.

SwiftScan's OCR text recognition is outstanding. The scanner app for Android supports several cloud services, including Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Evernote, Slack, Todoist, and a few more. There is an auto-upload option as well.

Why should I install SwiftScan?

Excellent document recognition
Features auto-upload

App Installs: Over 1 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.4

12. Notebloc

Notebloc is one of the best free scanner apps for Android users. Two great things about Notebloc — no watermarks and no sign up required.

On top of that, the app includes OCR for more than 18 different languages. The Android scanner app's highlight is that it removes any trace of shade in the clicked images.

Other than that, users can scan multiple pages and add them to a single document. In the settings, users can change the page size of the PDF document. The only catch in Notebloc is full-screen ads that seem to pop-up every time you scan a document.

Why should I install Notebloc?

Remove shadows and make the document look natural
OCR for more than 18 different languages

App Installs: Over 5 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.6

13. Genius Scan

Genius Scan is another free scanner app for Android that you can use to scan documents. The app is fast in document detection, however the app is best in precise automatic crop. You will rarely feel the need to tweak the dimensions after the autocrop.

Other than that, it has standard document editing features such as the option to remove shadows, apply filters, batch scanning, create multiple-page PDFs and more. The app does a wonderful job when it comes to cleaning the document.

However, you will notice that the quality of PDF documents is not as good as you would see in other PDF scanner apps on this list.

Why should I install Genius Scan?

Pretty good with auto crop
Fast document detection and processing

App Installs: Over 5 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.8

Which Android scanner app do you prefer?

These were our picks for the best Android scanner apps of 2021. But choosing the right one depends on what kind of usage you're looking for.

Whether you want a pre-loaded and easy to use document scanner like Google Drive or Office Lens or, if you want advanced scanners then you might want to go for Clear Scanner, Adobe Scanner, Fast Scanner, etc.

F.A.Q

What is the best free scanner app for Android?

Adobe Scan and Office Lens are liked by many users and, therefore, are the best free scanner apps for Android. However, you will find many options in this list as well.

Can I scan a document with my Android phone?

Yes! You can scan documents using the camera of your Android device. Through the Android scanner app, you will also have the option to create a PDF version of your document.

Abhilekh Das

A tech enthusiast who likes to stay updated on latest technological developments.