6 Best & Free Scanner Apps for Android Tablets | 2024 Edition

In our busy lives, there are times when we need to scan a document, but we don’t always have a regular scanner available, right? That’s where our smartphones and tablets can be helpful. They have scanner apps that use the camera to easily scan any document. While there are many scanner apps for Android tablets, finding the best one could be a hit and miss. Not all scanner apps on the Play Store are good enough, so it’s important to find one that gives you a reliable scan and has a user-friendly interface.

Having a reliable scanner app on your Android tablet can make a big difference. To help you find the best one, we put on our review hats and created a list of the top 6 free scanner apps for Android. We looked at their features, scan quality, how easy they are to use, and what unique things they offer such as built-in editing tools. 

6 Best & Free Scanner Apps for Android

Adobe Scan

If you’re looking for a reliable app to scan your important documents without worrying about privacy and security, then don’t look further than Adobe Scan. The app is a part of the Adobe family, ensuring high-quality scanning. Adobe Scan does more than just basic scanning. It has a feature called OCR (Optical Character Recognition) that seamlessly extracts text from scanned documents. The app is easy to use with a simple and clear design. With Adobe Scan, you not only get a reliable scanner but also powerful tools to manage documents on the go.

The best thing about this app is its OCR feature. It successfully took the text from the document we scanned. However, the downside is that Adobe Scan placed the text it extracted on the tablet’s clipboard instead of letting us edit the text directly on the scanned file. The OCR feature can still be a handy tool if your purpose is just to extract the text out of an image or document instead of editing it. 

Pros of Adobe Scan:

OCR Feature: Adobe Scan can turn scanned documents into editable text with its OCR feature.

Built-in Editing Tools: The app comes preloaded with tools for editing, giving you handy solutions to manage your documents like adjusting color, sharpness, color mark, etc. 

Cons of Adobe Scan:

Subscription for Some Features: Some pro features like “export to PDF” require a subscription, and that could be a downside if you’re looking for a free option.

Play Store: Adobe Scan

Microsoft Office Lens

Microsoft Office Lens is a great tool for turning your paper documents into digital ones. It’s part of the Office suite and works seamlessly with other Microsoft services. What makes it stand out as a scanner app is its focus on getting things right. The app smartly crops and enhances your scans, making sure they look just like the original. People who use Microsoft services like OneNote find it especially handy as it fits right into their daily workflow. 

The app doesn’t have folders to keep your scanned images organized. You also can’t choose a few images and turn them into a PDF later – you can only do this right after scanning. I didn’t find the way the app manages scanned files very user-friendly. It’s not easy, especially when you’re scanning a lot of pages or several at once. 

The app is all about scanning documents and you will not get any additional features here. So if your basic requirement is just for accurately scanning your documents and not getting extra functionality like editing or watermarking the document or photo, the Office Lens is the best it could get!

Pros:

• Accurate Scanning: Office Lens is really good at making sure your scans look just like the original document.
• Works with Microsoft Services: It easily connects with Microsoft services, which is a plus for people who use them a lot.

Cons:

• Basic Features Only: While it’s great for basic scanning, it might not have all the fancy features some other apps do.

Play Store: MS Office Lens

Google Drive

For Android users, Google Drive has a built-in scanning feature. It’s not a separate scanning app, but it works well for many people. Being a built-in feature of Google Drive, you can quickly save your scanned documents in Drive and share them through Gmail or other Google apps seamlessly. People like using Google Drive for scanning because it’s simple and fits well into the Google ecosystem. It’s a great solution for basic scanning needs and you don’t even have to download any app for it. Since Google Suite including Drive comes pre-installed on almost all Android devices. 

Pros of Google Drive built-in scanning tool:

• Easy Solution: Google Drive offers a native scanning solution within the app, eliminating the need for an additional download.
• Integration with Google Services: The app smoothly integrates with other Google services, facilitating easy sharing and storage.

Cons of Google Drive built-in scanning tool:

• Basic Scanning Features: The scanning feature within Google Drive may lack some of the advanced features present in dedicated scanner apps for Android.

Play Store: Google Drive

Genius Scan

Genius Scan is a popular app for scanning documents on your phone. The app makers boast about turning more than half a billion papers into digital files. For those who regularly need to scan and convert the format of their scanned documents, GeniusScan can easily convert your paper documents into JPG and PDF files by scanning. 

It has cool features like smart page detection, fixing the way things look, and making images better. With patch scanning, you can make digital copies of lots of pages in just a few seconds. The app also allows users to organize their scanner documents with titles, tags, and a search function.

If you’re scanning private documents, the app lets you protect them with built-in encryption and passwords (or Touch ID on iPhones). It’s free to get on both Android and iPhones, but there are things you can buy within the app. It can also integrate with cloud storage services like Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, OneDrive, and more.

The basic app is free and has a lot of features. If you want more advanced tools to enhance your scan or want better security, there’s a one-time fee. If you also want unlimited space on the cloud, plus syncing and web access through Genius Cloud, there’s a monthly fee of It has a subscription plan of $2.99/month or $29.99/year. 

Pros of Genius Scan:

• Batch Scanning: The app supports batch scanning, enabling users to scan multiple pages at one go. 
• High Image Quality: Genius Scan uses image processing algorithms to fetch high-quality scans with better quality and readability of documents and images.
• Multiple Export Options: You get plenty of export options with Genius Scan. The app allows users to save scans as PDFs or images.

Cons of Genius Scan:

• Ads in Free Version: The free version of Genius Scan is good but ads make the experience a bit frustrating.
• Subscription for Advanced Features: Some advanced features like document encryption requires a subscription. This could be a deal breaker for users looking for a completely free scanning app with pro features.
• OCR Limitations: While Genius Scan supports Optical Character Recognition (OCR), the accuracy of text recognition is not the best at times. 

Play Store: Genius Scan

CamScanner

CamScanner is a popular scanning app with many useful features. CamScanner makes scanning easy with a simple user interface that anyone can use, even if they’re new to scanning. It helps create top-quality scans easily. The app can also enhance and make scanned images look better, keeping your documents in the right frame. We like how it easily connects with cloud storage, so you can see your scanned files from any device. With millions of downloads on the Play Store, CamScanner is considered one of the best scanner apps for Android.

But there’s one issue with this app that pushed it down in our list of best scanner apps for Android. No matter how good an app is, it must be safe and private to be recommended. Unfortunately, CamScanner had some security problems in the past, and some worries still exist today.

In 2019, experts from Kaspersky found harmful software in the Android version of CamScanner. It was called Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.Necro.n. This type of malware, called a Trojan dropper, downloads and sends other harmful programs to the person’s device.

This means that people who got CamScanner in 2019 might have gotten their devices infected with harmful software. This caused CamScanner to show annoying ads, suggest paid subscriptions for things not related to the app, and create issues for the person using it.

Because of this problem, CamScanner was taken off Google Play for a short time. Eventually, according to Kaspersky, the company took the harmful program out of its app, showing responsibility for user safety. So the app might be safe to use now, since Google re-listed it but we would still practice some caution while using CamScanner, such as avoiding scanning your confidential documents with it. Don’t get the APK version of this app. 

Also, it’s worth noting that countries like India have banned the app. It is still available via APK download or VPN but that’s not something we would recommend our readers from India.

Pros of CamScanner

• Easy to Use: CamScanner is known for being easy to use, so everyone, no matter their experience, can use it.
• Advanced Scanning: The app has cool features that can make scanned images look even better.
• Cloud Connection: People like that it connects well with cloud storage, making it simple to see your scanned documents from any device.

Cons of CamScanner

• Privacy Issues: In the past, some people were worried about CamScanner’s privacy because of ads and some questionable practices. Make sure you’re using a safe version.

Play Store: CamScanner

Tiny Scanner

If you are looking for a basic scanner app that has no advanced features to make it heavy, then look no further than Tiny Scanner. 

Tiny Scanner is a lightweight app for scanning documents on the go. However, being a lightweight app doesn’t compromise on functionality. We particularly loved the batch scanning feature for scanning multiple documents at once. The app can easily produce high-quality scans, which makes it one of the best scanner apps for Android tablets, especially for entry-level tablets. 

Pros of Tiny Scanner:

• Great for entry-level devices: Tiny Scanner lives up to its name by being a lightweight app that offers accurate scanning experience. 
• Batch Scanning: The app’s batch scanning feature is useful for scanning more than one document in one session.

Cons of Tiny Scanner:

• Basic Features: If you are looking for an app with smart features, then Tiny Scanner will come across quite standard with no AI or smart features. 

Play Store: Tiny Scanner