Show HN: Open Scanner, an open-source document scanning app for iPhone

nesk_

Not sure how this compares to the scanner in the native Files app? https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/scan-documents-ios-files-ap...

miles

Thanks so much for crafting and sharing this app. Was just chatting with a friend about scanning via Notes[1], which is a little clunky for quickly and seamlessly sharing a scan.

A few feature suggestions:

* Allow setting default color mode (having to switch manually to B&W every time adds another step)

* Allow setting setting type (PDF, JPG, TXT) and size (Original, Medium, Small) in Sharing Options à la Scanner Pro[2]

* Allow sharing immediately after scanning rather than first having to tap Save then opening the image again

[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/108963

[2] https://readdle.com/scannerpro

theogravity

Congrats on the release. Open Scanner looks like a good alternative to the paid TurboScan (it's what I've been using for over 5+ years):

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/turboscan-pro-pdf-scanner/id34...

bbor

Looks incredible! As someone preparing a large iPhone-based scanning project, this couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m a longtime CamScanner user, but will happily move to something open source if it delivers on its promises. Will try it out asap!

Re:the common “why not just use the native functionality” questions, I think the simple answer is scale. If I want to scan a random receipt I’d use Apple, but as we all know well, Apple rarely caters to power users — someone scanning multiple times a day or for hours at a time will almost definitely be better served by a dedicated app.

Side note: these (two!!) devs are killing it. Great communication (their privacy policy is top-notch), great styling, and they have a whole roster of neat apps lined up, including an Apple Vision release. Thanks for putting them on my radar, OP! https://pencilresearch.com/

darknavi

I am partial to QuickScan[1] as it is free and has no ads. It does not seem to be open source though.

[1] https://www.quickscanapp.com/

sandreas

Does it support page dewarping[1] and 1bit color Palette PNG in PDF so shrink filesize[2]? I would love to See these features...

1: https://github.com/LittleTrickster/PDF-Doc-Scan/issues/17#is...

2: https://github.com/LittleTrickster/PDF-Doc-Scan/issues/7#iss...

dmd

This functionality is already built into the iPhone - in the Notes app, and also in the Files app. What does your software add?

andrei-akopian

For Android I recommend "OSS Document Scanner" it is just as good as MS Lens and CamScanner in my experience.

- https://github.com/Akylas/OSS-DocumentScanner

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38848423

ryankrage77

Awesome that it's free, open-source, and ad-free. My understanding is you have to pay to publish even free apps on the App store - are the devs providing this at their own expense?

dxbednarczyk

What benefit does Open Scanner have over using the "Scan Document" iPhone shortcut? For sync/sharing I usually just AirDrop the scan to my Mac.

yosito

iOS has built in document scanning. I never understood why I should install a third party app for that.

nashashmi

“Hey siri, scan document”.

I guess you can provide an alt for people who didn’t activate siri.

weinzierl

I will certainly give it a try, because I am not 100% happy with SwiftScan anymore.

The biggest threat to these kinds of apps is getting bought by one of the big app boutique shops and being neglected.

SwiftScan started as an ambitious project by a small shop of dedicated people, but since it has been sold it started to show some cracks.

chrisweekly

Related tangent: IF you already use Dropbox, FYI the Dropbox iOS app's scan feature is excellent.

tmaly

When it says it saves it to its own library, does this mean scans will not appear in Photos? Is there a way to clean up older files in the library?

zeagle

I don't have an iPhone but thinking of switching from Android and my work flows. Can this sync saving to a SMB network folder so paperless-ngx imports it?

teeray

I would love paperless-ngx export support for this

october8140

Document scanning is built into Files and Notes.

dangsux

[dead]

wincent

1.3 MB download.