Comparison

Whitelines vs Simple Scan

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Whitelines

Effortlessly digitize your handwritten notes and drawings. The app automatically captures and cleans up your content, making it easy to save, edit, and share across various platforms.

Highlights
  • Capture notes automatically
  • Save and organize notes
  • Share notes digitally
  • Edit captured notes
  • Remove background from scans
  • Scan manual notes
Features
Read full description

Use Whitelines App when you want to: ・Capture your notes. ・Save your notes. ・Share your notes on Social Media, email, etc. ・Continue to work and edit your notes digitally. The Whitelines App will capture your notes automatically when it detects all four corner codes on your Whitelines Paper and adjust the image to make it useful to you. When using Whitelines Paper the app removes the background, so all that remains is your writing or drawing over a white background. Whitelines App is perfect when you want to: ・ Review your notes on the go before an exam. ・ Share notes from a class with a friend. ・ Include a handmade drawing in a presentation. ・ Post an illustration or note to Instagram. CAPTURE YOUR NOTES WITH WHITELINES APP 1. Tap the camera icon to enter capture mode. Whitelines App will capture your note automatically when it detects the full page (including all four corner codes), with the logo at the bottom of the page. Or, if you use other than Whitelines Paper tap the button to scan the note manually. Before scanning, choose between “Auto” or “Manual” to tell Whitelines App to remove the background automatically or to edit the image yourself. 2. If you have several pages of notes that you’d like to save as a stack, simply stay in the capture mode and continue to capture pages one at a time. Of course, you can also save your notes to existing stacks in the app. 3. Save, Use, Edit and Share the Notes Choose if you’d like to save your note locally on your phone, or if you’d like to share it–with yourself or with somebody else. You can share your note with any app that processes image files, such as WhatsApp, Instagram, OneDrive, OneNote, Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, Line, Facebook installed on your phone. Tick the boxes on the Whitelines Paper to email the note or save it to Dropbox or Evernote. SUPPORT If you need help with anything or have any questions about the app, feel free to read our FAQ. Is something not working as expected? Get in touch with us! We’d love to know where we have room for improvement. Your feedback is important, as it helps guide our future efforts. FEEDBACK Please give us your thoughts on Whitelines App, and let us know what we could do to make it better. It helps us develop the features you want. We’re already thinking about what our next step should be in order to best support your ideas and help you set them free. This update of the app is a step in our efforts to create a digital/analog interface for note-taking that will help you grow, learn the things you want to know, pass exams, and collaborate creatively. Contact us at support@whitelines.se ////////////////////////////////////////// WHITELINES LOVES TO SEE YOU GROW! We’re so happy that you’re here with us, with all your knowledge, all the thoughts that pass through your mind, and all the things you want to learn and do. If you like, we’d love to join you on your journey, and help you in every way we can. We want our white lines to support you in your quest for new knowledge, as you challenge past truths and look for creative solutions to problems. We want that because we believe in the innate genius of every human being, and in the power of collaboration. When human beings help and challenge each other, it makes the world a better place! The note on page one among the images above was made by Juliette Croce (Instagram: @julestudy) from the USA. The note on page two among the images above was made by Karin Verdoes (Instagram: @evabrittakarin) from Sweden.

About

Simple Scan

Easily convert paper documents into searchable PDFs or images in seconds. This app offers a streamlined scanning experience without cluttering your existing notes, with options to share directly via email, messages, or other applications. Enjoy private, on-device processing with no ads.

Highlights
  • Scan documents to PDF or JPEG
  • Searchable PDFs with OCR
  • Share scans via email, messages, or system share sheet
  • Custom file destinations
  • File naming suggestions (Apple Intelligence required)
  • On-device processing
  • No ads
Features
Read full description

Simple Scan is the quick, easy way to scan paper documents to optimized, searchable PDF documents (or images) and send them almost anywhere. ## FEATURES ## * Same great scanning functionality as Notes, but no need to clutter your notes data with one-off scans * Create high-resolution multi-page PDFs from your paper documents * PDFs are searchable thanks to automatic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) * Built for simplicity. Just scan and send – no document library * Send scans via email or messages. Save to a file, or "Share" use to send to other apps via the system share sheet * Set up message destinations with pre-filled recipients for easy "Email to Myself" and other common uses * Custom file destinations save scans directly to a pre-selected folder without extra taps * File naming suggestions, such as names, dates, pulled from the scanned document (requires Apple Intelligence) * Save scans directly to Photos * Option to output as images (JPEG) instead of PDF * Quality option to control file size * Never any ads. Ever. * Private and on-device. All scan processing is done locally on your device. ## SIMPLE SCAN PRO ## Simple Scan is free to download and try! To continue using Simple Scan, unlock Simple Scan Pro--available as a low-cost, annual subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock purchase. ## SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS ## * Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase * Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is disabled at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period * Automatic renewals will be charged at the same price you were initially charged for the subscription * Subscriptions can be managed or canceled by going to Account Settings on the App Store after purchase Have questions? Email support@agiletortoise.com. Terms: https://agiletortoise.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://agiletortoise.com/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Whitelines4 screens
Simple Scan4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Simple Scan at 4.9 against Whitelines's 3.9. Simple Scan also leads on review sentiment (88% vs 59%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months). Whitelines's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.4). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Simple Scan sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Whitelines asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Simple Scan holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Simple Scan has 665 ratings behind it against 103, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 59% of Whitelines's written reviews are positive against 88% of Simple Scan's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Whitelines ships an update every 5 months, Simple Scan every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Whitelines versus Simple Scan: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWhitelinesSimple Scan
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (103 ratings)4.9 (665 ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.2% of reviews87.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings103665 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.4
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWhitelinesAgile Tortoise

Customer experience

Whitelines

All ratings103 ratings
Positive68.9%
Neutral6.8%
Negative24.3%
Written reviews184 reviews
Positive59.2%
Neutral10.9%
Negative29.9%

Simple Scan

All ratings665 ratings
Positive97.0%
Neutral1.1%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews64 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral4.7%
Negative7.8%

User reviews

Whitelines

From 103 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast scanning
  • 📁 Seamless integration with Evernote and Dropbox
  • 📝 Helps organize and digitize notes
  • 👍 User-friendly and intuitive app
  • ✨ Innovative concept of digital notebooks

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Scanning issues and app crashes
  • 🔧 Limited functionality compared to expectations
  • 💰 Expensive notebooks required
  • 🔍 Difficulty capturing pages with handwritten content near edges
  • 🌈 Poor handling of color and highlighting

Simple Scan

From 665 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great interface
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient
  • 🔒 No ads or privacy concerns
  • 💡 Customizable workflows
  • 👍 Simple and straightforward

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes
  • 🔧 Cropping could be improved
  • 🔧 Inability to name scans before saving

Bugs and requests

Whitelines

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inconsistent scanning performance
  • App crashes and freezes
  • Issues with detecting page corners and edges
  • Problems with syncing and uploading notes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Manual capture and editing options
  • Ability to combine multiple pages into a single document
  • Integration with more cloud storage services
  • Improved organization and sharing features
  • Support for more paper sizes and formats

Simple Scan

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashes on multi-page scans for some users
  • Issues with importing files from other apps

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to tag scans
  • Favorite file/app destination options
  • More image adjustment tools

In-app purchases

None

Whitelines

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Simple Scan

Subscriptions1
  • Pro - Annual$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro - Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Whitelines free?
Whitelines is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Simple Scan free?
Simple Scan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Whitelines or Simple Scan?
Simple Scan is rated higher. Whitelines averages 3.9 out of 5 from 103 ratings, while Simple Scan averages 4.9 from 665 ratings.
Do Whitelines or Simple Scan have ads?
Neither Whitelines nor Simple Scan shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Whitelines or Simple Scan?
Whitelines ships an update every 5 months, and Simple Scan every 3 weeks. Most recently, Whitelines was updated on October 8, 2026 and Simple Scan on October 10, 2026.

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