Smartphones have advanced so much over the past decade that they have supplanted a rising number of consumer electronics. Do you remember the days of standing in line for the one office scanner that worked for everyone? You, on the other hand, have a smartphone in your pocket that can perform the same function.
Here are the top 10 scanner apps for Android that can read barcodes, QR codes, documents, and images.
Which Features Should a Good Android Scanner Have?
Accurate and high-quality scans are impossible without automated edge recognition in a competent Android scanner app. It should also be able to make use of features such as:
Modifying Your Viewpoint
You can save scanned photos as JPGs, PDFs, Word documents, and more.
Using the Cloud for Storage
Separate documents
To find the best scanning app, we dove headfirst into the Google Play Store. Some of them had amazing features, but the annoying full-screen advertisements ruined the reading experience. Therefore, we picked the top free Android apps that enable OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for scanning. To make things easier, we separated them into dedicated document scanners, dedicated photo scanners, dedicated QR code scanners, and dedicated barcode scanners.
The Finest Android Apps for Scanning Paperwork
Microsoft Lens.
It appears that Microsoft borrowed a page from Google’s playbook with their Lens software, and it serves its intended purpose admirably. Again, it includes a batch scanning mode and can automatically recognize the edges of individual pages. Microsoft Lens functions quite similarly to a picture editor due to its extensive collection of filter options. Using the pen tool, you may manually draw objects into photos and annotate texts with colored backgrounds. Microsoft includes OCR functionality, and the program can read scanned text aloud in either a female or male voice.
You can save your scanned photographs as a JPG, PDF, Word document, or PowerPoint presentation using Microsoft Lens. The app has no in-app purchases and does not require a subscription. Using a Microsoft account also grants you access to 5GB of free cloud space. Your scanned documents will not be branded with the service’s logo.
Features include free cloud storage for up to 5 GB, OCR text-to-speech, and several image effects are highlights.
Free of charge
Second, Adobe Scan
Adobe is a household name in the design software sector, and Adobe Scan is a product of theirs. The app is available on the Google Play Store at no cost. Adobe Scan makes scanning simple by automatically detecting the document’s edges and cropping the image to fit. Manually adjusting the crop is an option as well. You can also scan many documents at once using the app’s batch scanning mode, which automatically crops the photographs to remove unnecessary white space.
You may either take pictures with the app’s built-in camera or use pictures from your phone’s gallery. Filters in Adobe Scan include monochrome, grayscale, and an artificial intelligence–driven automatic color filter that simulates the look of a scanner. You can find these alternatives in the color picker. Images can be arranged, with or without captions, before being exported to PDF. Scanned documents are saved to Adobe’s cloud servers in PDF format after conversion. The app provides 2GB of free cloud storage, and you can buy up to 20GB more if you need it.
Key functions: simple UI, 2 GB of cloud space, 99.9% uptime guarantee, absence of annoying adverts.
Use is free, however a monthly subscription for extra space and OCR costs $10.
(3) CamScanner
CamScanner is an effective scanner that includes modern capabilities like optical character recognition and the ability to superimpose texts on images. Document edge detection is fast and accurate, and you may tweak curve effects for better scanning of paper documents. Images taken from a book or a computer screen can be scanned directly into a written document using the OCR feature. The OCR-retrieved text can be saved as a text file for later use. However, OCR can only be used with a live internet connection. You have the option of saving your scanned photographs as PDFs or exporting them as JPGs. The app also includes 500MB of free cloud storage, so you can upload all of your scanned documents without worrying about space.
The free edition includes ads and a tiny watermark in the bottom right corner of every photo. The watermark can be removed in the premium version, which also includes other benefits, such as the ability to password lock PDF files, export photographs to Word documents, add a digital email signature to scanned images, and more. The paid edition has those extra features that the basic one lacks.
OCR, the ability to add text to scanned photos, and a plethora of color filter effects are all features that stand out.
Use is free with a watermark, or you can pay $19.99 per year for the full unrestricted edition.
vFlat
vFlat is a robust scanning program with features including optical character recognition (OCR), PDF file import, two-page book scanning, and more. You may have noticed by now that vFlat, like most scanner apps, is capable of automatic edge identification. The book scanner also displays a central grid line, allowing you to align two pages in a single frame. If your finger happens to make an appearance in the scanned image, you can use the application’s “finger removal tool” to edit it out.
Existing PDF files can be imported onto the phone, allowing you to add new photos. Your scanned photographs can be saved as PDFs or JPGs with this program. Scanned text in OCR mode can be saved as a text file for easy export. There are no in-app purchases required, no annoying banner ads, and no watermarks in vFlat.
Essential functions include a PDF importer, optical character recognition, and a modernized user interface.
Free of charge
Count Five: A Brain Scan
The interface of Genius Scan is sleek and modern, and the program itself is quick to respond. Genius Scan, like the other programs discussed here, can accurately identify the borders of scanned documents. It has a small collection of filters, but the software is designed with practicality in mind rather than flash. You may use the app’s built-in scanner to make digital copies of paper documents and images taken with your smartphone. You can save your scanned documents into PDFs or JPGs sans watermarks using this program.
Genius Scan is a free, ad-free program that can be downloaded immediately. Genius Scan is a free program that may be upgraded to Genius Scan+ for additional features like optical character recognition and cloud storage. For the best results while using Genius Scan to scan your photographs, we recommend setting the image quality to Highest from the Menu > General > Image Quality menu.
The app’s quickness and user-friendly interface are two of its most notable qualities.
OCR and unlimited cloud storage are available for a $5 one-time purchase and are otherwise free to use.
Drive, Google.
Google Drive for Android allows you to scan photographs and documents and save them as PDFs, which may come as a surprise to some. Launch the Google Drive app on your mobile device, then hit the + sign and select “Scan.” There are also several color filters, such as B&W, and intelligent edge recognition. The app doesn’t let you scan photos from your phone’s gallery or use optical character recognition (OCR).
With Google Drive’s scanning feature, you can quickly scan and upload documents, and the Google Ecosystem facilitates simple file sharing. The Drive app can get the job done if you need fast, error-free scanning and don’t need fancy features like optical character recognition or batch mode.
Features of note: Google Drive, which comes preinstalled on your phone, allows you to share files via links.
Free of charge
Popular Image Scanner Apps for Android
It’s not always necessary to scan books or documents; sometimes you just need to digitize some old images or make a digital duplicate of a card or other piece of paper. These are the top recommended Android photo-scanning applications.
PhotoMyne.
Using a smartphone and an app called PhotoMyne, you can easily make digital copies of your physical photographs. The application’s built-in algorithms are fantastic at boosting the colors in your scanned image, and it can even colorize some Black-and-White photos. Albums can be organized chronologically, and preexisting photos can be scanned. Clean, modern material design is used for the app’s user interface.
With PhotoMyne’s premium version, you may save your scanned images to the cloud, where they’ll be accessible from any computer or smartphone. It’s possible that some mobile devices won’t be able to run PhotoMyne. The APK file can be downloaded from this page and installed manually on an Android device.
Outstanding color handling; sleek, minimalistic, and fully Material user interface.
Cloud storage is available for a one-time fee of $13.50 for a period of two years.
Google’s PhotoScan 2
Thanks to Google’s technical brilliance, PhotoScan is a one-stop shop for scanning your images, complete with potent glare reduction capabilities. To use, launch the app, select an image, then place your phone so that its camera is aligned with the four dots on the screen. The app may then process all these photographs into one high-quality scan using algorithms that accounts for light glares.
You can get PhotoScan from the Google Play Store, and it won’t cost you a dime to use. The glare suppression found here is unparalleled.
Principal attributes: glare-free visuals
Free of charge
Top Android Barcode Scanner and QR Code Reader Apps
Since QR Codes allow users to quickly disseminate information and web links, they are increasingly appearing in public spaces. The top QR Code Scanner apps for Android are listed here, along with some other options for scanning Bar Codes.
Simple QR Code Reader
This program from QR Easy is extremely compact, coming in at around 2MB in size. If you don’t have a QR Code or Barcode handy, you can select an image from your phone’s gallery to scan instead. Website QR Codes, contact information like phone numbers and emails, and other QR Codes may all be created and saved within the program.
The QR Easy scanner is ad-free and available for no cost. It’s available for free on the App Store and Google Play.
The QR SCAN Team’s Barcode and QR Code Scanner
A quick and easy way to scan QR Codes and Barcodes is with a scanner. The app’s accent colors can be customized to fit the aesthetic of your mobile device. You may create QR Codes for everything from a website’s address to a contact’s email address or a physical location’s coordinates. A record of all the barcodes you’ve scanned is kept in the app’s local storage.
The QR SCAN Team’s scanner is ad-free and available for no cost on the Google Play Store.
Three, Google Lens
Google Lens also allows you to read barcodes and QR codes on your mobile device. You no longer need to independently install Google Lens thanks to recent improvements that have made it a part of the Google Assistant, which is pre-installed on nearly every Android smartphone.
Launch Google Assistant on your phone, then select Lens from the menu. The Google Lens app can also be launched independently. Then, position the camera over the barcode or QR code, and select it by touching the screen. A pop-up window detailing the outcomes for that code will now be displayed by Google Lens.
- Browse your device for a preinstalled app.
Scan QR codes without installing an additional software if your Android smartphone is preloaded with a customized skin of Android, such as MIUI on Xiaomi, Realme UI on Realme, Origin OS/Funtouch OS on Vivo smartphones, etc. These Android skins typically have a scanner software built right into the OS, which works great for scanning QR Codes but may have trouble reading barcodes. If you have a compatible device, using one of these system scanners is a viable alternative.
However, if you’re using a phone that comes with standard Android, Google Lens or one of the other apps on this list is your best chance for accuracy and reliability.