iScanner
iScanner is an easy-to-use app that makes capturing documents into a digital format efficient and painless. The app has some remarkable special features and it works really well. It does feel as though the app is on the pricy side since a scanning function is built into iOS, but it is priced competitively with other iOS scanning apps.
- DESIGN
- EASE OF USE
- PRICE
iScanner turns your phone into a digital office
Are you looking for a way to be more productive and organized in your work and daily life? If so, then you may want to consider using an iScanner for iOS. This app will turn your device into a powerful digital office, allowing you to easily keep track of your work and personal affairs.
If you’re like most people, you have piles of paper strewn all over your office—from invoices to receipts to old work documents. It can be really tedious to go through all of that paperwork and organize it into files, and it’s even more time-consuming to scan it all and save it on a computer. Thankfully, there’s an app for that: iScanner.
About iScanner
iScanner is a fully functional scanning app that allows users to scan documents into high-quality PDFs. Users can edit PDFs, add signatures, send out via email, solve mathematical equations, and even measure the square footage in a room.
iScanner Is owned by a US-based company, BP Mobile, which is part of AIBY Group. BP Mobile was founded in 2010 and iScanner was first released in 2015. To date, iScanner has more than 80 million users from various backgrounds including knowledge workers, SMB & freelancers, students & educators,
The main goal behind iScanner’s development was to encourage people and companies to implement paperless processes, increase mobility, save time, and even eliminate the need to physically need to go to the office to sign and mail or fax a document.
iScanner was developed using various open-source technologies including PyTorch, CoreML, OpenCV, and others. BP Mobile developers also use shared algorithms and they train their own neural network.
Main Features
- Scanning documents, plastic cards, and passports with a camera or by uploading an image from the device. The app’s neural network automatically determines the exact borders of the document, corrects distortions caused by tilting, and processes the colors of the scan.
- Adding a signature to a document or transferring a stamp from any other image.
- Highlighting and adding text to a scan.
- Extract text from an image to copy or edit it.
- Counting identical objects in a photo.
- Solving mathematical equations.
- Measuring area and distance.
Pricing & Availability
iScanner is available for iOS and is compatible with iPhones (iOS 14.0 or later) and iPad (iPadOS 14.0 or later). Users can use the app for free, but with limited features. There are two subscription plans ($9.99/month and $19.99/month) that unlock batch scanning, OCR, Math mode, Count mode, and provides no export limitations. Free Features include unlimited scanning, full PDF editor and eSignature, no advertisements, and the ability to convert files.
Privacy Policy
According to the App Store, iScanner collects Purchase, Location, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics, and other data. All of these bits of data can be used to track users and could be used to identify users, too. For the full privacy policy from the developer, click here.
A representative from iScanner let us know the following:
We collect the minimum user data necessary for product performance analytics and marketing. The data is anonymized (e.g. User ID, Device ID, Crash Data).
User Experience
iScanner is indeed a powerful scanning tool. It has a very minimal setup and for simple scans, you simply hold your phone (or iPad) over the document and wait for the app to do the rest of the work. After a document has been captured, you can crop, straighten, adjust color settings, and rename the file. The file is saved in your document library where you have additional options for editing the PDF. You can share, sign, redact, markup, edit text, hide elements, and insert images if needed.
If you decide to share your document, you simply choose if you want to share the PDF, Image (JPG), or text file. Once you choose the file format, you a standard iPhone sharing menu pops up and you can choose what method to use for sharing. There is also an option for sharing the document via fax. This button takes you to “FAX from iPhone,” in the App Store. This is another app from BP Mobile that allows users to send faxes from their iPhones. That app also has a subscription payment method.
What really sets iScanner apart from other scanning apps is its special scanning modes. It appears that iScanner takes advantage of augmented reality technology in order to make some of its work, but I can’t say for sure. The features I was particularly taken with were the Math, Area, and Count modes.
Math Mode is designed to help solve math problems that are written on paper. It’s sort of a new age calculator. As someone who was helping a high school student with Algebra not too long ago, this feature really comes in handy. The only issue I can really see with it is that it doesn’t show the steps on how to complete the problem. For a student trying to learn how to do different types of arithmetic, it’s a bit of a crutch, but for people who don’t use more complicated forms of math on a regular basis, it’s a helpful tool.
To use Math Mode, you simply hold the phone over the paper where your math problem is written. Slide the mode option over to Math and then tap on the capture button. The app will then analyze the image captured and show you what it thinks the message said. If it’s correct, you can tap Next to have it solve the problem. If it’s incorrect, you can trash it and try again. I made up a couple of problems (the first was 2+2) and I was very impressed with the responses I got. The last one I did actually ended up being a slope equation and the app provided a graph as well as the numeric solution.
Area Mode gives users the option to measure the area of a space just by using the phone’s camera. To use this you put the app into Area mode the same way as the Math Mode above. Then you find a starting point and tap the capture button. This maps your starting point and you can move the phone to draw a line to the next spot. You do this until you have completed the area you want to outline.
Then you tap the next button. iScanner saves the drawing and provides the measurements. This is very useful if you need to measure a room in your house quickly. As I was completing the tests of the feature, it reminded me a lot of playing Pokemon Go because I was seeing an animated element in the real environment in my house. This is why I think augmented reality is being used for this feature.
Count Mode is designed to provide a way for users to quickly count items that are alike. For example, if you have paperclips laid out on your desk and you want a quick check of how many are there, you can tap on the capture button once you are in Count Mode and the app provides a box for you to define a single item in the group. Then the app will count the remaining objects in the frame. It’s a useful tool especially for keeping track of things like medication. The app was very accurate in its counting ability. This is another feature that seems to use augmented reality.
Conclusion
iScanner is a remarkable productivity tool that can help you get more done in less time. With its powerful features and easy-to-use interface, iScanner makes it easy to scan documents, photos, receipts, and more. It’s an essential app for business professionals, students, and anyone who wants to get more done. Download iScanner today and see for yourself how it can help you work smarter and faster.
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