Free document scanners compared: where does your photo go?

You need to send a copy of your ID card, a bank statement or a lease, and there is no scanner at home. Any scanner on this list turns a photo into a PDF. The differences are elsewhere: where the photo ends up, what you give in return, and whether the file suits a form that expects an A4 page.

I compared twelve free options. One of them is mine — a4norm, which is why it comes first and is highlighted in the tables. For the same reason, every claim about someone else's service comes from that service's own pages — its product page, help centre or privacy policy — and the table links to it. Where a service says nothing, the table says "not stated". The weak spots of a4norm are listed below, in a section of their own.

In short

• The photo stays on the phone with scanners that process it on the spot: Genius Scan, SwiftScan, FairScan, and among websites a4norm and scandocument.app.
• It goes to someone else's server with the PDF24 and iLovePDF websites: the photo is uploaded and deleted after one or two hours.
• It lands in a cloud account with Google Drive, OneDrive and Adobe Scan: the scan is saved there straight away. The iPhone puts the scan in a note — on the phone or in iCloud, depending on how Notes is set up.
• Both sides of an ID card on one page is described by Adobe Scan, CamScanner (the collage is Premium) and a4norm.
• Open source: only FairScan (Android) and a4norm.

Where the photo goes

Three models stand out. On the device: the phone or the browser processes the photo, and it goes nowhere until you send it yourself. On the service's server: the file is uploaded, processed and deleted after a while — one hour at PDF24, two at iLovePDF. In a cloud account: the scan is saved to Google Drive, OneDrive or Adobe's cloud and stays there until you delete it.

None of these models is "dangerous" in itself. PDF24 runs its servers in Germany and deletes files after an hour; for Google and Microsoft the cloud is the whole point of the app. The question is whether you need it for this particular document.

What you get for free

"Exact A4" matters where the file gets printed or where a form expects an ordinary sheet: government portals, applications, a caseworker's printout. Otherwise the PDF page can come out the size of the photo — iLovePDF, for example, offers that next to A4. Many services say nothing about page size at all. That does not mean they have no A4 — only that their own pages do not let you check.

When a phone app is the better choice

To be fair, in many situations an app is more convenient than a4norm.

• You are scanning right now, and there are many pages. Many apps find the edges of the sheet in the viewfinder and take the shot themselves once the sheet is in frame. a4norm cannot do that: it works on a finished photo.
• You need text, not an image. Genius Scan (paid), Adobe Scan and CamScanner recognise text, so the PDF is searchable. a4norm only produces an image of the page.
• An old phone. a4norm processes the page in the browser, and on an old phone that is noticeably slower than in an app — up to half a minute per page or more.
• The first visit. On its first run, a4norm downloads its processor — several megabytes. After that it comes from the browser's storage and works without a network.

If documents are part of your daily work, install Genius Scan or FairScan: both work on the phone without an account, and FairScan is open source.

When a website is the better choice

• The photo already exists. The paper is gone, the photo is in your gallery. A website works with any finished photo — more in the guide on existing photos.
• You need it once. Installing an app and creating an account for a single bank statement is not worth it.
• You are at a computer. The photos came from your phone, but the PDF is needed on the laptop to upload to a portal.
• You would rather not send the document anywhere. Then pick a website that processes the photo in the browser — a4norm or scandocument.app — not one that uploads it to a server.

What a4norm does: it gathers all the photos first, then makes one PDF in exact A4; it puts both sides of an ID card on one page at true size; it keeps a blue signature blue; it opens HEIC photos from an iPhone. No ads, no account, open source, and it installs as an app straight from the browser.

Why it matters for ID copies

Landlords, employers and authorities ask for a copy of your ID card. You would still rather not hand it out more than necessary: it carries your photo, the document number and your signature.

In Germany, an ID card may only be copied by its holder or with the holder's consent, and the copy must be "eindeutig und dauerhaft als Kopie erkennbar" — clearly and permanently recognisable as a copy (§ 20 (2) PAuswG). That is why people write "KOPIE" across such a copy, often with the recipient and the date. With a4norm that happens before the photo — on a strip of paper over the card or on a printout; how, and what to cover, is in the ID card guide.

Every upload to someone else's server is one more copy of your ID, even if only for an hour. For a bank statement that may not matter; for an ID card it is better when a copy exists only where you send it.

How I checked

• Date: every claim was checked on 24 September 2026. Services change their terms, so each table carries its date.
• Sources: only the services' own pages — product page, help centre, pricing, privacy policy, the App Store or Google Play listing. No reviews, no forums. The number in square brackets leads to the source under the table.
• "Not stated" means the service does not say. The feature may exist, but its own pages do not confirm it.
• I did not install the apps or make scans in them: the tables compare what the services themselves promise.
• For a4norm — its code, which is open on GitHub, and the scanner page.
• Microsoft Lens is not in the tables: according to Microsoft, new scans were possible only until 9 March 2026, and Microsoft points to OneDrive instead.