ShadowClip vs DocShelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
ShadowClip
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You share screenshots with colleagues and paste them into AI tools every day. ShadowClip removes the personal data before you hit send. Email addresses in a complaint. Names and faces. API keys. They end up in screenshots constantly, and then in places they shouldn't ā AI assistants, emails to colleagues, or texts to friends. ShadowClip autodetects sensitive information in images, and lets you review and adjust before sharing. WHAT IT DETECTS ⢠Credentials: API keys and tokens in more than 20 formats ⢠Financial: credit card numbers and IBANs, each checked against its own check digit, so a number that merely looks like a card isn't flagged ⢠Identity: national ID numbers for 29 countries, each matched to its own format ⢠Contact: email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses ⢠Network: IPv4, IPv6 and MAC addresses ⢠Visual: faces, QR codes, barcodes ⢠Names, organisations and locations ⢠Dates of birth and handwritten signatures BUILT INTO YOUR WORKFLOW Pick a photo from your library and give ShadowClip a few seconds. Findings appear as a review list: accept, dismiss, or add your own. Then save the redacted copy back to Photos. You can also select words by hand, or draw a region over anything else you want hidden. Share Extension: from Photos, Safari, or any app with the system Share menu, choose ShadowClip. Redact and save without leaving what you're doing. BUILT FOR EVERY LANGUAGE Most redaction tools are built for English. ShadowClip's interface is available in 17 languages, and it checks text in 30 ā including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Russian and Thai. National ID numbers are matched country by country, not with one generic pattern. Arabic and Hebrew get a fully right-to-left interface. Apple's text recognition cannot read Hebrew, Greek or Hindi. Rather than pass over it silently, ShadowClip marks that text on the image so you can see exactly what went unchecked ā and numbers, email addresses and ID numbers inside it are still found. IRREVERSIBLE BY DESIGN Redactions are opaque fills composited into a new image. The original pixels are discarded, not covered: there is nothing underneath to recover. Location data and camera metadata are stripped when you save. PRIVACY BY DESIGN ShadowClip contains no networking code and makes no network requests. Your images are processed on your device and never leave it. No accounts, no cloud, no telemetry.
DocShelf
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DocShelf ā Documents Simplified Keep every document you own safe, searchable, and beautifully organized ā entirely on your device. No cloud upload. No subscription. No ads. Just your files, always with you. WHY DOCSHELF? Most document apps quietly upload your files to a cloud server. DocShelf is different. Everything stays 100% local on your iPhone. Your contracts, medical records, tax returns, and personal scans never leave your device unless you choose to share them. SCAN & CAPTURE Turn your iPhone into a powerful document scanner. Point your camera at any document ā receipts, contracts, handwritten notes, business cards, or multi-page reports ā and DocShelf captures it instantly. Smart edge detection automatically crops, straightens, and enhances each page so every scan looks sharp and professional. ⢠Multi-page scanning in a single session ⢠Auto edge detection and perspective correction ⢠Contrast enhancement for clear, readable results ⢠Save as PDF or high-resolution image ORGANIZE EVERYTHING No more hunting through a single giant folder. DocShelf gives you a clean, intuitive system to keep every document exactly where it belongs. ⢠Create unlimited folders and subfolders ⢠Tag documents across multiple categories ⢠Full-text search across all your files instantly ⢠Sort by name, date, size, or custom order ⢠Color-code folders for fast visual navigation EVERY FILE TYPE ā ONE APP Import from any app on your phone using the system Share Sheet. DocShelf handles them all: ⢠PDFs ā view, annotate, and share ⢠Images ā JPG, PNG, HEIC from your camera roll ⢠Documents ā Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more ⢠Audio and video files ⢠Any file your iPhone can receive PRIVATE BY DESIGN DocShelf was built from day one with privacy as a core principle ā not an afterthought. ⢠100% offline ā no internet connection required, ever ⢠No cloud sync, no remote storage, no server ⢠No analytics, no crash reporting that uploads your data ⢠No third-party advertising SDKs ⢠Full functionality on a plane, underground, or anywhere without signal VIEW & SHARE Read your documents beautifully inside DocShelf without opening another app. When you're ready to share, it's frictionless ā AirDrop, Mail, Messages, or any app on your phone. WHO IS DOCSHELF FOR? ā Students organizing lecture notes, assignments, and research papers ā Professionals managing contracts, invoices, and client documents ā Families storing medical records, insurance papers, and important IDs ā Freelancers tracking receipts, tax documents, and signed agreements ā Anyone who wants a private, always-available digital filing cabinet Download DocShelf and take back control of your documents today.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: DocShelf at Free against ShadowClip's $2.99. DocShelf also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
DocShelf is free to download; ShadowClip costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ShadowClip ships an update every 2 months, DocShelf every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ShadowClip | DocShelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free ā better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 days ā better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alexander Hepburn | Sunil Mulgund |
In-app purchases
ShadowClip
No in-app purchases
DocShelf
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ShadowClip free?
Is DocShelf free?
Do ShadowClip or DocShelf have ads?
Which is updated more often, ShadowClip or DocShelf?
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