The best free scanner app for your iPhone

This free app is the best scanner for iPhone. Its strength lies in process automation.

Your iPhone has a great document scanning app built into the Notes app. It is very effective at detecting the edges of your document and even extracting text. The problem is that the scanned text is saved in the PDF note itself. You will then have to manually export the document in order to benefit from it.

This free app is the best scanner for iPhone

All of this can be improved with the completely free QuickScan app. The latter stands out because it is one of the few applications that does all the processing with Apple’s tools. You do not have to transfer your data through third-party servers.

But what really makes this app so powerful is the workflow and built-in automation system. You can create an export profile with your settings and a pre-selected destination for your documents. Once the scan is complete, the app will automatically detect the format and save the PDF file to the specified location, including a cloud service such as Dropbox.

Here is an example of how it works. Open the QuickScan app, tap the New Scan button, and start scanning pages using the Shutter button (the app does the cropping automatically). When you’re done, click on the “Save”button.

Instantly you will see a grid with all scanned pages. You can drag them, reorder them, and touch the page to preview or edit the file. There you can click on the “Live Text”button to highlight and select the text individually. If you click the Eye icon on the bottom toolbar, the app will scan and extract all the text. You can then view and copy the specified text.

Tap the Share icon and you can export the file as a PDF, JPG, or plain text document with or without password protection. Click the “Select Destination”button, then share through the Files app, any messaging app, or simply copy the result to your clipboard.

Its strength lies in process automation

Now you can automate the whole process. On the Export page, go to the Export Favorites section and create a new Favorite. Choose where to send files (locally or in the cloud) and set other options, including the file type. Give a name to this automation and click on the “Save”button. You can now go to “Settings > Automatic Export > Enabled”and select the export profile you just created.

Your automation is now set up. The next time you scan the pages and click the Save button, the application will automatically export the document with your settings to the destination. Devilishly effective!