As most smartphones pack a good camera nowadays, you don’t need bulk scanners or printers to scan office documents anymore. Some apps on the Google Play Store allow you to scan documents in high quality while also making the overall scanning process faster and more efficient. Hence, in this article, let’s look at some of the best Android scanner apps you can download in 2022.
A few advantages of using a popular Android scanner app are that it lets you access documents from the cloud, has powerful editing features, and some even come with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) support.
14 Best Android Scanner Apps (2022)
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 helpful.
- Adobe Scan
- Google Drive Scanner
- Clear Scanner
- Office Lens
- vFlat Mobile Book Scanner
- PhotoScan by Google
- TinyScanner
- TurboScan
- Smart Doc Scanner
- Fast Scanner
- SwiftScan
- Notebloc
- Genius Scan
- OpenScan
1. Adobe Scan
Adobe Scan is one of the best scanner apps for Android. It allows you to scan notes, forms, documents, receipts, and 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 it.
It even allows you to reorder the pages as needed and color-correct any of the pages. Also, there is a 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 thatitis free with no ads, making it one of the best Android scanner apps.
Why should I install Adobe Scan?
- Supports multiple page 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
You probably didn’t see this coming. We were also surprised when we discovered that the Google Drive app for Android has an inbuilt option to scan documents. If you have Google Drive installed on your smartphone, you can use your phone as a scanner. The process of scanning documents with Google Drive is a piece of cake.
While this tool isn’t as feature-rich as the other Android scanner apps on this list, it’s the easiest way to scan documents as Google Drive comes preinstalled on all Android smartphones.
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’llneed to grant camera permission for the Google scanner feature to work. The tool has essential 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 you already have the Drive app
- Directly save documents in your Google Drive storage
- 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.
You can also 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 features intrusive ads, which may ruin your experience.
Why should I install Clear Scan?
- Lightweight.
- Fast and efficient.
- Cloud support.
App Installs: Over 10 million
Google Play Store Rating: 4.7
4. Office Lens by Microsoft
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 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. The best part? It’s completely ad-free and does not contain any in-app purchases, which makes it one of the best scanner apps on Android.
Why should I install Office Lens?
- Quick and easy to operate.
- Great 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 repeatedly after turning the pages.
The scanned pages can be further stitched 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. PhotoScan by Google
If you are looking for the best scanner app for Android, not to scan documents but to scan old printed photos, then PhotoScan by Google is the perfect fit for you.
The Android app scans photos instantly 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 PhotoScan?
- 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 log in before use so you can get started immediately.
You can scan documents, receipts, reports, or other files and save them in PDF format. The Android scanner app supports 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 the images. The app features five contrast levels, a quick search by document title, passcode protection for important files, etc.
Tinyscanner has both ads and in-app purchases to remove those ads.
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, fully-featured Android scanner app with a free and paid version. It allows you to scan and share multi-page documents in high-quality PDFs or JPEGs. It features a “SureScan” mode for very sharp scans and includes multi-page 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 many more features. It also comes with crop and zoom features to scan pages better.
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 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. Besides document scans, it also features QR code scanning and barcode 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.
Users can also 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 and does a remarkable job when it comes to precise automatic cropping. You will rarely feel the need to tweak the dimensions after the auto-crop.
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
14. OpenScan
As the name suggests, OpenScan is an open-source file scanner application. It’s pretty basic at best, but as its code is available to the public, you needn’t worry about the app stealing and selling your data. OpenScan is pretty straightforward to use.
You can open the camera and scan a document or open images from the gallery to convert them into documents. The best part is that the app has no intrusive ads. Overall, it is one of the best Android scanner apps for scanning documents.
Why use OpenScan
- Simple, straightforward, and responsive UI.
- Lightweight footprint.
- Free and open-source.
App Installs: Over 10,000
Google Play Store rating: 4.5
Which Android scanner app do you prefer?
These were our picks for the best Android scanner apps of 2022. 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’re searching for feature-rich apps, you might want to go for Clear Scanner, Adobe Scanner, Fast Scanner, etc.
FAQ
1 Which 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.
2. 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.
3. Which app is the best for scanning documents?
In my opinion, for scanning documents with precision, PhotoScan is the best Android app you can find. The quality of a Google app reflects when you start using this one.
