Privascan

Scan documents on your iPhone. Keep them there.

Edges found automatically, free OCR, searchable PDF. Everything runs on the device — there is no Privascan server for a scan to be sent to.

Try the beta on TestFlight

Free beta. Privascan is in App Store review; the beta is the current build.

Replacing Microsoft Lens? Lens stopped scanning in March 2026, and Microsoft’s own replacement cannot save scans to your device. What to use instead.

  • No account
  • No Privascan cloud
  • No tracking
  • No ads
  • No watermark

Free, and actually free

Unlimited scans. On-device OCR with searchable PDF export. No watermark on anything, ever.

Nothing to upload to

Scanning, OCR and PDF processing make no network requests and contact no Privascan server — there is none. StoreKit reaches Apple for the purchase only. See how to verify it.

OCR that costs nothing

Every page is read on your iPhone, so your PDFs are searchable and selectable. The app even suggests a file name from the text it finds.

Password-protected PDFs

Encrypt a PDF before you send it. The password never leaves your device — which also means we cannot recover it for you.

One payment, not a subscription

Pro unlocks the PDF toolkit for $9.99, once. No renewal, no tier you get downgraded into.

Import a documentAutomatic edge detectionEnhance filtersReview before exportExport optionsFoldersPrivacy settings

What Pro adds

The free app is a complete scanner. Pro is for people who work with PDFs all day:

  • Assemble PDFs — merge, import, reorder, extract, split and compress
  • Password-protect and encrypt exports
  • Export presets and file-naming rules
  • Folders, with on-device filing suggestions you accept or dismiss

One purchase of $9.99. It unlocks everything above, permanently.

Before launch

Used Microsoft Lens? Help decide what replaces it.

Lens stopped scanning in March 2026. I am looking for 15 people who used it on an iPhone, to watch them scan something, run OCR and export it — and to hear what is worse than what they had.

  • About 20 minutes, whenever suits you.
  • One real document of your choosing. The app uploads nothing — though Apple's TestFlight does share crash and usage data with developers.
  • A free Pro code for the App Store version, so you keep the paid features after the beta ends.

Email me — I used LensOr install the beta first

During the beta, Apple's TestFlight shares crash and usage data with developers. What that means.