Comparison

ScanMate vs PaperGuard

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

Head to head
About

ScanMate

Transform your device into a powerful document scanner. Capture, enhance, and organize your papers with advanced features like OCR and AI classification. Keep your documents private and accessible.

Highlights
  • Unlimited scans
  • No watermark
  • Automatic edge detection
  • Multi-page scanning
  • Offline OCR
  • AI document classification
  • Face ID app lock
Features
Read full description

ScanMate turns your iPhone into a fast, private document scanner — without the ads, watermarks, and subscription traps you're tired of. FREE, AND STAYING FREE • Unlimited scans — no daily limits • No watermark on any export • No ads, anywhere • Automatic edge detection, manual crop with a magnifier • Multi-page and batch scanning • Enhancement filters: Auto, Grayscale, B&W, Color • Sign pages, reuse saved signatures, drop in a date stamp • Expiry reminders for passports, IDs, insurance, and contracts • Export to PDF, JPG, or PNG; share or save to Files • Folders, tags, search, favorites, and Trash • Face ID app lock • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, Control Center button, Siri and Shortcuts • Find any scan straight from Spotlight SCANMATE PRO • Offline OCR in more than 15 languages • Search inside your documents • AI naming and document classification • Receipt, invoice, and business-card extraction — save cards to Contacts • Receipt ledger with monthly totals and CSV export • Smart cleanup and background removal • PDF tools: merge, split, reorder, compress • Export to Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive • Unlimited private folders PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything runs on your iPhone. Scans and text recognition never touch our servers. Documents sync through your own iCloud account — we never see them. Locked documents and private folders never appear in widgets or Spotlight. HONEST PRICING A genuinely useful free tier that stays free. One fair yearly plan, or buy Pro once with Lifetime. No fake countdowns, no surprise trial charges, no dark patterns. Cancel anytime in Settings. Built for students, small businesses, freelancers, accountants, lawyers, real estate agents, teachers, and parents. Scan a receipt, a contract, a whiteboard, or a stack of notes — and get a clean, professional PDF in seconds. — Questions? support@scanmate.app — a real person answers. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://jigsawlab.com/scanmate/privacy.html

About

PaperGuard

Features
Read full description

Most scanner apps upload your ID, your lease and your payslips to someone else's server. PaperGuard has no server to upload them to — scanning, OCR and document intelligence all run on your iPhone. Free forever for unlimited scans, with no watermark and no ads. TURN PAPER INTO CLEAN PDFs Point the camera and PaperGuard finds the page edges, straightens the perspective and cleans up the result. Scan a single page, a whole contract, or use Batch Scan to shoot page after page without stopping. Reorder, crop and retake before you save, then export a sharp multi-page PDF. IT READS WHAT IT SCANS On-device text recognition turns every scan into searchable text. PaperGuard also recognizes what kind of document it is looking at — invoice, receipt, contract, ID — and pulls out the amounts and dates that matter. Ask a plain question about a document and get the answer straight from the page. No cloud AI is involved at any point. SIGN WITHOUT PRINTING Draw your signature once, then place it on any document with a tap. Annotate, highlight and fill in what you need, then send a finished PDF. The printer stays in the closet. LOCKED BEHIND FACE ID Turn on the Vault and PaperGuard asks for Face ID before showing anything — after a restart, after switching apps, every time. Content blurs the moment you leave the app. Face ID is handled by iOS itself; if it fails, your device passcode gets you in. FINDS THINGS AGAIN Folders, tags and full-text search across everything you have scanned, right inside the app. Documents show up in iPhone search by their title as well, and you can optionally have their text appear as a preview in the result. Identity cards and passports never leave the title, whatever you choose. PRIVACY THAT IS ARCHITECTURE, NOT A PROMISE There is no account, no login and no server. Your documents, images, recognized text and settings never leave your device, because there is nowhere for them to go. No analytics, no advertising, no tracking SDKs. Put your iPhone in airplane mode and every feature above still works — that is the test we would like you to run. FREE Unlimited scanning, no watermark, no ads. PDF export, one folder, one saved signature, three tags and a preview of recognized text. PAPERGUARD PRO Full recognized text and search inside your scans, Document Intelligence, Quick Answers, unlimited folders, signatures and tags, and batch export. Yearly at USD 14.99 with a 7-day free trial, or monthly at USD 2.99. Prices in your local currency are shown in the app. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation. A subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the current period ends; manage or cancel it in iOS Settings, Apple Account, Subscriptions. Any unused part of a free trial is forfeited when a subscription is purchased. Privacy Policy: https://bytechimera.com/apps/paperguard/privacy Support: https://bytechimera.com/apps/paperguard/support

Screenshots

ScanMate4 screens
PaperGuard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ScanMate at every 3 weeks against PaperGuard's every 2 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. ScanMate sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and PaperGuard sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ScanMate ships an update every 3 weeks, PaperGuard every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
ScanMate versus PaperGuard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScanMatePaperGuard
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperiCometPrzemyslaw Bocer

In-app purchases

3 purchases

ScanMate

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Scan Mate Membership$4.991 Month
  • Yearly Scan Mate Membership$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Membership Scan Mate$59.99
2 purchases

PaperGuard

Subscriptions2
  • PaperGuard Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • PaperGuard Pro Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year

Questions

Is ScanMate free?
ScanMate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PaperGuard free?
PaperGuard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ScanMate or PaperGuard have ads?
Neither ScanMate nor PaperGuard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ScanMate or PaperGuard?
ScanMate ships an update every 3 weeks, and PaperGuard every 2 months. Most recently, ScanMate was updated on October 25, 2026 and PaperGuard on October 18, 2026.

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