Comparison

HuggingSnap vs Private Scan

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

Head to head
About

HuggingSnap

This app uses on-device AI to understand your camera's view in real-time. It can identify objects, describe scenes, and read text without needing an internet connection or sending data to the cloud. It's a private and efficient visual assistant for everyday tasks.

Highlights
  • On-device AI processing for privacy
  • Real-time object and scene recognition
  • Offline functionality
  • Reads and translates text in images
  • Customizable object recognition
Features
Read full description

HuggingSnap brings smart vision AI to your iPhone. Using our smolvlm2 vision model, the app understands what your camera sees in real-time without sending any data to the cloud. Just point your camera, ask a question or request a description, and HuggingSnap will identify objects, explain scenes, read text, and make sense of what you're looking at. It's helpful when shopping, traveling, studying, or just exploring your surroundings. Key Features: - Processes everything on your phone - your data stays private - Works in real-time with no delay - No internet needed - works offline anywhere - Easy on your battery - Reads and translates text in images - Describes scenes for better accessibility - Search using your camera - Choose what types of objects to recognize HuggingSnap turns your iPhone into a helpful visual companion that sees the world with you! Terms of use & privacy policy: Terms of use: https://huggingface.co/terms-of-service Privacy policy: https://huggingface.co/privacy

About

Private Scan

Features
Read full description

Scan anything into a clean, searchable PDF without an account, a subscription, or your documents leaving your device. Everything runs on your iPhone and iPad: edge detection, filters, text recognition, even smart naming. Your documents go only where you send them, and the only report the app makes is an anonymous usage and crash report with nothing from them in it, which you can turn off in Settings. THE PRIVATE ONE PrivateScan never sends your documents to a server for processing. Scanning, filters, text recognition, and even smart naming all run on your device, using Apple frameworks and an optional downloadable model. The app keeps your documents, their names, and their text on your device unless you send them. It does send anonymous usage and crash reports so we can fix crashes and improve it; they never include your documents, their names, their text or their images, and you can turn them off in Settings > Privacy. SCAN ANYTHING Point the camera at a page and PrivateScan finds the edges, straightens the result, and cleans it up. Scan books as open spreads and split them into facing pages, capture whiteboards without glare, compose ID cards and passports onto a single page for free, and import photos or PDFs. Keep everything organized in folders with color labels. SIGN AND EDIT Draw a signature once and place it on any page. Reorder, split, and combine documents. Rescue bad lighting with enhance, black & white, grayscale, and whiteboard filters. FIND ANY DOCUMENT Search is free for everyone and reads every scanned word, so a receipt, a contract, or a letter is one search away, even offline. Premium unlocks the extracted text itself: view it, copy it, export it, and embed it in your PDFs so they are searchable in any reader. Premium also adds smart naming, which titles each scan for you, so receipts stop being called "Scan 47". On an iPhone or iPad with enough memory, a small model that runs on your device names receipts and invoices once its 1.8 GB download is in place. Apple's text recognition names every other scan, and every scan on other devices. Translate extracted text without it leaving your device. EXPORT ANY WAY YOU WORK PDF, JPG, PNG, Word, Excel, TXT, and RTF, with file size presets, your own watermark, and password protected PDFs. Word and Excel exports build real .docx and .xlsx files entirely on your device, so even your editable documents never touch a server. Excel export finds the tables in a scan and turns them into rows and columns you can edit. Excel export requires iOS 26. LOCK IT DOWN Turn on the app lock and PrivateScan asks for Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode when it opens. Files are protected with iOS data protection so they stay encrypted while your device is locked. A privacy shield hides your documents in the app switcher. YOUR DEVICES, YOUR CLOUD iCloud sync is off by default. Turn it on and your documents sync through your own private iCloud, protected by your Apple Account. We run no servers and could not read your documents if we wanted to. ONE PRICE, FOREVER Scanning is free. A single purchase unlocks premium: text extraction, smart naming, Word and Excel export, password protected PDFs, exports without watermarks, and no limits on pages or exports. No subscription. Buy it once, own it forever, share it with your family through Family Sharing. Your documents stay on your device. The privacy policy says exactly what the anonymous reports carry and how to turn them off: https://freedom-terminal.com/privatescan/privacy/

Screenshots

HuggingSnap3 screens
Private Scan4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HuggingSnap at none against Private Scan's 1. Private Scan's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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. Private Scan sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. HuggingSnap asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HuggingSnap ships an update every 4 days, Private Scan every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
HuggingSnap versus Private Scan: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHuggingSnapPrivate Scan
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (63 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews53.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings63 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHugging Face, Inc.Vishut Dhar

Bugs and requests

HuggingSnap

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when sending description or text
  • Stuck initializing model, downloads models repeatedly
  • Displays error message for no internet connection in offline mode

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add ability to copy/paste output text
  • Resizable text output box
  • Support for Chinese language

Private Scan

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

HuggingSnap

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Private Scan

One-time1
  • PrivateScan Premium$9.99

Questions

Is HuggingSnap free?
HuggingSnap is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Private Scan free?
Private Scan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do HuggingSnap or Private Scan have ads?
Neither HuggingSnap nor Private Scan shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HuggingSnap or Private Scan?
HuggingSnap ships an update every 4 days, and Private Scan every 3 days. Most recently, HuggingSnap was updated on November 4, 2026 and Private Scan on November 10, 2026.

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