Comparison

ScanWave Pro vs Scanly

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

Head to head
About

ScanWave Pro

Features
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Scanwave Pro is a scanner you buy once and own forever — no subscriptions, no monthly fees, no "unlock pro" pop-ups. Built for the Japanese practice of copying ID cards onto A4 paper. Capture an ID and lay it onto a page in Actual Size or Fill Page layout — the standard formats for Residence Card, Driver's License, and Health Insurance Card copies that landlords, banks, and city halls ask for every day. ONE-TIME PAYMENT • Pay once, use forever • No subscription, no in-app purchases • All updates included for life • No "free trial that auto-renews" tricks DOCUMENT MODE • Multi-page capture with automatic edge detection • Manual corner adjustment with magnifier loupe • Filters: Original, Grayscale, Black & White, Enhance • Drag-to-reorder pages, retake, swipe-to-delete • Multi-page PDF export with 1-up, 2-up, or 4-up layouts ID MODE • Front-only or front + back capture • Composed onto A4 in actual size or fill-page layout EXPORT • Save as JPEG or PNG to Photos • Save as PDF to Files (visible under On My iPhone → ScanWave) • Share to AirDrop, Mail, Messages, or any installed app • Multi-select on the Home screen for bulk share or delete PRIVACY • All processing on device • No cloud, no account, no analytics, no tracking • No third-party SDKs • Photos and documents stay on your iPhone or iPad LANGUAGES English, ę—„ęœ¬čŖž, ą¤Øą„‡ą¤Ŗą¤¾ą¤²ą„€. Switch any time from the globe button on the Home screen.

About

Scanly

Features
Read full description

Turn any paper document, receipt, ID card, or whiteboard into a clean, searchable PDF - right on your iPhone. Scanly scans, sharpens, signs, organizes, and recognizes text entirely on-device. Nothing is ever uploaded. FAST, SHARP SCANS - Capture pages with the camera, or import existing photos and PDFs. - Automatic edge detection and perspective correction straighten every page. - Manual crop editor with draggable corners, loupe magnifier, and pinch-to-zoom for pixel-perfect framing. - Enhancement filters clean up lighting and boost contrast for crisp, readable results. - Multi-page documents in one tap - reorder, retake, or delete pages before saving. - ID & card mode scans both sides of a card onto a single page. SEARCHABLE TEXT WITH ON-DEVICE OCR Scanly reads the text in your scans using Apple's on-device Vision engine - in multiple languages - and adds a searchable text layer to every PDF. Find any document later by the words inside it. QR codes in your scans are detected and ready to open or copy. SIGN & ANNOTATE Draw your signature once and place it on any page. Highlight, draw, and mark up scans with built-in annotation tools - everything stays in the PDF. ORGANIZED, PROTECTED, YOURS - Folders and tags keep hundreds of scans tidy; search finds them instantly. - Lock the app with Face ID so only you can open your documents. - Password-protect sensitive PDFs, compress large ones, or split a document into parts. - Print with AirPrint or save straight to the Files app. SMART EXTRAS - Scan a business card and add it to Contacts in one tap. - Turn a stack of receipts into a CSV you can open in Numbers or Excel. - Scanly works with Shortcuts, home-screen widgets, and the share sheet - send images or PDFs from any app straight into your library. NO WATERMARK. EVER. Your exported PDFs are clean and professional, with no stamps or watermarks - even on the free tier. Share to Mail, Messages, Files, or any app. 100% PRIVATE - BY DESIGN Everything runs locally. There is no account, no sign-in, no analytics, and no tracking. Scanly contains zero networking code - your documents and their contents stay on your device, always. HONEST, ONE-TIME PRICING Scanly is free to use and genuinely useful on its own. The free tier lets you keep up to 5 saved documents. Want unlimited documents and the full toolkit? Unlock Scanly Pro with a single one-time purchase - yours forever. No weekly subscriptions, no recurring charges. So many "scanner" apps charge every single week for the same on-device work. We think that's wrong. Pay once, scan forever. DESIGNED FOR EVERYONE - Full Dark Mode and Dynamic Type support - VoiceOver labels throughout - Reduce Motion support and gentle haptics - Works without a camera via Photos and Files import Scan it. Sign it. Search it. Keep it private. That's Scanly.

Screenshots

ScanWave Pro4 screens
Scanly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ScanWave Pro at none against Scanly's 1. Scanly's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Scanly sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ScanWave Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ScanWave Pro ships an update every 2 weeks, Scanly daily. The most recent releases landed on September 8, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
ScanWave Pro versus Scanly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScanWave ProScanly
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBhupesh GurungSahil Jain

In-app purchases

None

ScanWave Pro

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Scanly

One-time1
  • Scanly Pro$2.99

Questions

Is ScanWave Pro free?
ScanWave Pro is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Scanly free?
Scanly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ScanWave Pro or Scanly have ads?
Neither ScanWave Pro nor Scanly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ScanWave Pro or Scanly?
ScanWave Pro ships an update every 2 weeks, and Scanly daily. Most recently, ScanWave Pro was updated on September 8, 2026 and Scanly on September 20, 2026.

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