Free to start · No account · On-device OCR
Free PDF Scanner for iPhone
Scan documents, IDs, receipts, and passports on iPhone & iOS. On-device OCR in 50+ languages, e-signature, merge, split, and searchable PDFs. No account required for scanning — documents stay on your phone.
Free to start
No account
No ads
On-device OCR
Built for: receipts, forms, letters, IDs, passports, contracts, textbook pages, and everything else worth keeping. One scan and it is a searchable PDF, a JPG, or off to your cloud.
What does "free PDF scanner" actually mean?
The phrase "free PDF scanner for iPhone" is used loosely across the App Store, and it usually hides trade-offs: a 3-day trial that charges after, a "lite" edition with unusable output, daily scan limits, watermarks on exports, or an account required just to save a PDF. Before installing anything, it is worth knowing exactly what a scanner app gives you for $0.
This page answers that directly for ScanLens — what is in the free tier, what is locked behind Premium, and what costs nothing. If you are looking at product comparisons instead (which scanner app is best, feature by feature), see the PDF scanner app overview or the best scanner apps for iPhone in 2026. This page is about pricing and what "free" covers.
Short version: ScanLens is free to download, free to open, and free to scan on iPhone or iPad without creating an account. Free-tier exports include a watermark. Premium removes it and unlocks OCR, cloud sync, e-signatures, PDF tools, and searchable PDF export. The paid tiers are $4.99/month, $29.99/year, or a $79.99 one-time Lifetime license.
What's free and what's paid, line by line
ScanLens does not hide the paywall in "premium pop-ups" in the middle of your scan. Every feature below is either labeled free or labeled premium from the moment you open the app. This is the precise list as of April 2026.
Free on ScanLens — no account, no trial, no time limit
- Document scanner with live edge detection and auto-capture
- ID card scanner and passport scanner modes
- Business card scanner
- Crop, rotate, perspective fix, filters (Original, Rich Color, Smart B&W, Grayscale)
- Multi-page document scanning
- Export as PDF, JPG, and PNG (with a ScanLens watermark on free-tier exports)
- iOS share sheet, print, save to Files or Photos
- Folders and favorites to organize scans
- Face ID, Touch ID, and passcode lock on the app
- No ads, no in-app "watch to unlock" prompts, no account required
Premium on ScanLens — $4.99/mo, $29.99/yr, or $79.99 lifetime
- Watermark-free export (plain PDF, JPG, PNG with no "Scanned with ScanLens" mark)
- OCR text recognition in 50+ languages, including handwriting — required for searchable PDF, text copying, and translation
- Searchable PDF on iPhone with an embedded OCR text layer
- Merge PDF, split PDF, compress PDF, and page reordering
- AES-256 password-protected PDFs for contracts, tax forms, and medical records
- E-signature workflow with saved signatures — sign any PDF on iPhone without redrawing
- Annotate PDF with pen, highlighter, shapes, stamps, and the magic eraser
- Add custom watermarks (DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, company name) with full position control
- Cloud sync to Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive (iCloud-only is free via the iOS share sheet)
- Workflows: filter → OCR → rename → tag → upload automation
- PDF/A archival export, DOCX and XLSX export
- Extended export page sizes (A4, A3, A5, Letter, Legal)
Always free, regardless of tier
- App download and initial install
- No ScanLens account required at any tier
- On-device processing — documents never leave your iPhone unless you explicitly share them
- No advertising SDKs or analytics embedded in the app
- Updates (bug fixes, new iOS support) — not paywalled
For a side-by-side pricing table with Premium details (7-day trial, refund policy, lifetime math, currency conversions), see the ScanLens pricing page.
How "free" compares across iPhone scanner apps
Not all "free" iPhone PDF scanners mean the same thing. Here is how the main options handle the free tier as of 2026:
- Apple Notes (built-in) — genuinely free, no install, no account. Limited: no searchable PDF export, no PDF merge/split/compress, no password protection. See ScanLens vs Apple Notes.
- Microsoft Lens — free with a Microsoft account, no paid tier. Lean feature set compared to dedicated scanner apps. See ScanLens vs Microsoft Lens.
- CamScanner — free tier shows ads and watermarks exports; full features are subscription-only. Cloud-based OCR, not on-device. See ScanLens vs CamScanner.
- Adobe Scan — free tier, but OCR limits (25 pages/month), export limits, and requires an Adobe account. Full features require Adobe Acrobat subscription. See ScanLens vs Adobe Scan.
- ScanLens — free scanning, free export (with watermark), no account required. Watermark-free export and PDF tools require Premium.