BoldSign Document Scanner vs Simple Pdf Utils
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
BoldSign Document Scanner
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The BoldSign Document Scanner is a free, privacy-first scanner app that works fully offline. Scan documents, receipts, notes, contracts, IDs, forms, and more from your phone or tablet, then save them as PDF, JPG, or PNG files. Your scanned files stay on your device, so you stay in control of your documents. You can create PDFs, save images, or convert existing images into PDF files without an account or ads. Free, offline, and private: ⢠Completely free to use. ⢠Works fully offline. ⢠No account setup required. ⢠Files stay on your device. ⢠No ads. Key features ⢠Scan documents, receipts, notes, forms, contracts, and IDs. ⢠Save scans as PDF, JPG, or PNG files. ⢠Convert images to PDF. ⢠Import images from your device. ⢠Use automatic edge detection or manual capture. ⢠Crop, rotate, adjust, and enhance scanned pages. ⢠Preview and zoom pages before exporting. ⢠Merge multiple pages into one PDF. ⢠Rename, sort, and reorder documents. ⢠Export files to your preferred folder. ⢠Export multiple images together as a ZIP file. ⢠Choose image format and quality. ⢠Print directly from your device. ⢠Use a light, dark, or system theme. Useful for: ⢠Professionals scanning contracts and agreements. ⢠Small businesses managing receipts, bills, and invoices. ⢠Students scanning notes, assignments, and certificates. ⢠Home users scanning IDs, forms, and personal documents. ⢠Anyone who needs a simple offline PDF scanner app. Need to collect signatures? After scanning a document, you can use BoldSign to send it for legally binding eSignatures, track signing progress, and manage signed documents online. BoldSign includes 25 free envelopes every month, so you can start sending documents for signatures at no cost. Why use the BoldSign Document Scanner? The BoldSign Document Scanner is built for users who want a simple, private, and reliable way to scan documents. It works offline, keeps scanned files on your device, and helps you save, print, share, or send documents for eSignature when needed. For product questions or feedback, contact us at: support@boldsign.com Learn more about BoldSign: https://boldsign.com/
Simple Pdf Utils
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Your documents never leave your iPhone or iPad. Simple Pdf Utils merges, edits, and compresses PDFs, photos, and Word files entirely on your device ā no uploads, no account, no ads, and literally no networking code. It even works fully in Airplane Mode. It's free, with no subscriptions and no "premium" tier. WHAT IT DOES ⢠Combine PDFs, photos, and Word documents (.docx) into one file ⢠Reorder pages by dragging, or swipe a row left/right to mark it for removal ⢠Add text to any page ā pick font, size, and color; drag to reposition ⢠Rotate any page 90° clockwise with one tap ⢠Preview any page full-screen with pinch to zoom ā swipe up or down to move between pages, and rotate right from the preview ⢠See each page's byte cost to find what's bloating your file ⢠Compress oversized pages instantly ā choose page-by-page ⢠Combine multiple photos onto a single page in a grid layout ⢠Save through the share sheet to wherever you want ā Files, Mail, iCloud Drive, Messages, or anywhere else PRIVATE BY DESIGN Built for the documents you'd never want sitting on someone else's server ā contracts, receipts, medical records, scans, and IDs. Most PDF tools online, and many on the App Store, upload your file to a server to do their work. Simple Pdf Utils never does: ⢠No accounts, no sign-up, nothing to log in to ⢠Does not collect, transmit, store, or share any data ⢠Contains no networking code at all ⢠A strict Content Security Policy blocks every outgoing connection from inside the app ⢠Asks for no special permissions ā the system file picker and share sheet handle everything You can verify all of this with Airplane Mode. The app works identically. GOOD FOR ⢠Combining receipts before submitting an expense report ⢠Tidying up scans of paperwork ⢠Stripping irrelevant pages from contracts before sharing ⢠Merging photos from your camera roll into a single PDF ⢠Adding a handwritten note or signature line to a document ⢠Shrinking image-heavy PDFs that are too big to email ⢠Converting a Word draft to PDF when you only have the file HOW IT WORKS ⢠The app uses the system document picker for input. ⢠Images you pick (including HEIC from your iPhone or iPad Photos) are converted to JPEG and wrapped as PDF pages, all on-device. ⢠Word documents are converted to HTML locally (via the open-source mammoth library) and rendered to PDF using the device's built-in print engine ā no third-party cloud involved. ⢠When you add multiple photos at once, you can choose to lay them out as a grid on a single page rather than one page per photo. ⢠Text annotations are baked into the page at export time using pdf-lib, a fully on-device PDF library. ⢠When you save, the result goes to the standard share sheet. You decide where it ends up. ⢠Per-page compression rasterizes the chosen page to a JPEG sized to fit the budget ā useful for image-heavy scans (compressed pages become image-only, so text is no longer selectable). NOTE ON WORD DOCUMENTS .docx conversion works best for straightforward documents (body text, simple tables, headings). Complex formatting ā multi-column layouts, text boxes, charts, headers/footers ā may look different or be omitted. The app shows a warning when a Word file is loaded. NO CATCHES Free. No upsells. No ads. No subscriptions. No "premium" tier. The app is what's on this page. Have a question or a bug to report? See the support page linked below.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: BoldSign Document Scanner at 13.0 against Simple Pdf Utils's 15.1. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BoldSign Document Scanner | Simple Pdf Utils |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 ā better | 15.1 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Syncfusion Inc. | Guy Hefetz |
In-app purchases
BoldSign Document Scanner
No in-app purchases
Simple Pdf Utils
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is BoldSign Document Scanner free?
Is Simple Pdf Utils free?
Do BoldSign Document Scanner or Simple Pdf Utils have ads?
Which is updated more often, BoldSign Document Scanner or Simple Pdf Utils?
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