Comparison

Scan Things vs Context Panel

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

Head to head
About

Scan Things

Extract objects, people, pets, and artwork from images, URLs, or PDFs. Capture books and documents with searchable, selectable text embedded in PDFs. All processing is done on-device for maximum privacy.

Highlights
  • Extract objects from images
  • Extract text from images and PDFs
  • Save as searchable PDF
  • On-device processing
  • No account required
  • Offline functionality
Read full description

With Scan Things, you can extract objects, people, pets, artwork and just about anything else from any image, image URL, or PDF document.  Scan Things can also capture books and documents with the original images intact and the text extracted and embedded. You can save your scan as a single- or multi-page PDF with all its text fully searchable and selectable. You don't need an account to use Scan Things. You don't need internet access. Your scans never leave your iPhone or iPad as Scan Things does all of its processing on-device. Because your privacy is important (not to mention none of our business), we collect no data whatsoever and we don't use any third-party code. Your privacy is yours, and we think it should stay that way. You can get Scan Things for a one-time purchase and share it with your family at no extra cost. No subscriptions. No adds. No shenanigans. Privacy Policy: https://scanthing.app/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://scanthing.app/terms-of-use/

About

Context Panel

Features
Read full description

Context Panel companion lets you view AI usage limits synced from your Mac on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro. It shows remaining capacity, provider/account status, reset timing, and stale or unavailable sync states from the same local-first Context Panel setup on your Mac. Use the companion app and widgets as glanceable surfaces while setup, diagnostics, provider credentials, and detailed history stay on the Mac app.

Screenshots

Scan Things1 screens
Context Panel4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Context Panel at none against Scan Things's 1. Context Panel also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 6 weeks) and device support (6 vs 3). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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. Scan Things sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Context Panel asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Scan Things ships an update every 6 weeks, Context Panel every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Scan Things versus Context Panel: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScan ThingsContext Panel
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews37.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size222 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOperates Spaceships LLCShiny Computers

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Scan Things

One-time1
  • Unlimited Scans$6.99
None

Context Panel

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Scan Things free?
Scan Things is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Context Panel free?
Context Panel is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Scan Things or Context Panel have ads?
Neither Scan Things nor Context Panel shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Scan Things or Context Panel?
Scan Things ships an update every 6 weeks, and Context Panel every 5 days. Most recently, Scan Things was updated on October 24, 2026 and Context Panel on October 28, 2026.

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