Comparison

PDF Scanner vs ZipScan

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

Head to head
About

PDF Scanner

Features
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The honest scanner. Scan, search, and sign your documents on your iPhone or iPad. Nothing ever leaves the device. Most scanner apps hide useful tools behind weekly subscriptions and upload pages to servers. PrivaScan keeps scanning, naming, search, and PDF export on-device, with a clear Pro upgrade for longer files and document workflows. SCAN IN SECONDS Open the app and the camera is already up. Point it at any page — edges are found, perspective is fixed, and multi-page documents batch automatically. Import photos and PDFs you already have, too. IT NAMES AND FILES ITSELF On-device intelligence reads each scan and names it like a person would — “Verizon Bill — Jul 2026” — so your library organizes itself. No typing, no “Scan 47”. FIND ANY WORD IN ANY DOCUMENT Every scan becomes searchable text, on your phone. Search “late fee” and jump straight to the line in the lease where it appears — indexed on-device in a blink. INCLUDED WITH THE APP • Unlimited scanning and saving • Auto edge detection, crop, filters, rotate and reorder • Automatic naming and filing • Folders, favorites and full-text search • Face ID / passcode lock • Unchanged PDF exports up to 10 pages, with no watermarks • Print and save to Files through the system share sheet — all offline PRIVASCAN PRO • Export PDFs of any length • Sign documents: draw your signature once, stamp it on any page • Merge documents into a single PDF • iCloud sync across your devices — coming in 1.1 No weekly subscriptions. No monthly subscriptions. Ever. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts. No servers. No analytics. No tracking SDKs. Our App Store privacy label reads “Data Not Collected” — because we can’t collect what never leaves your phone. Scanning, text recognition, naming and search all run on-device, and the whole app works in Airplane Mode. If weekly charges and cloud uploads have made scanner apps hard to trust, this one’s for you. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

ZipScan

Instantly scan documents into searchable PDFs with automatic cleanup and smart naming. Import from photos, reorder pages, and export in various formats. Your data stays private on your device.

Highlights
  • Instant camera opening
  • Import from Photos
  • Copy recognized text
  • On-device OCR
  • Smart document naming
  • Small file sizes
  • Multi-page scanning
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The 3-second scanner. Open ZipScan and the camera is already pointing at your document. It captures automatically, cleans up the page, and hands you a searchable PDF ready to share — before other apps finish loading. WHY ZIPSCAN • Instant by design — the app opens straight into the camera, so scanning starts before you've tapped anything. • Import from Photos — a photo of a page becomes a searchable PDF, same pipeline as the camera. Share to ZipScan straight from the Photos share sheet. • Your text is yours — Copy Text hands you the recognized words; export as PDF or JPEG; reorder, remove, or add pages anytime. • Sign and mark up — the system Markup tools, with your saved signatures, right on the PDF. • Searchable PDFs, always — on-device OCR embeds real text in every scan, so you can search inside your documents in Files, Mail, or any PDF reader. • Smart names — scans name themselves after what's on the page ("Hashi Market – Aug 13"), not "Scan_0142.pdf". • Small files — a full page is usually a few hundred KB, not several MB. Email-friendly, always. • Multi-page in one pass — keep pointing at pages; they stack into one PDF. PRIVATE BY ARCHITECTURE Everything happens on your iPhone. No account. No cloud. No tracking. Your documents never leave your device unless YOU share them. Scan in airplane mode if you like — it all works. HONEST PRICING 10 free scans every month — full quality, full OCR, no watermark, forever. Need more? One purchase unlocks unlimited scans for life. Prefer monthly? There's a small monthly plan, cancel anytime. No forced trials, no bait-and-switch, no features held hostage. BUILT INTO iOS • Lock Screen widget — scan without unlocking • Control Center button — swap your flashlight for a scanner • Action Button support (iPhone 15 Pro and later) • Siri & Shortcuts — "Scan a document with ZipScan" • Back Tap — double-tap your phone to scan WHAT ZIPSCAN DOESN'T DO No ads. No accounts. No cloud lock-in. No AI chatbots. No 47 features you'll never use. One thing, done fast: paper in, searchable PDF out. Questions? support@swiftlynx.co — a real person answers. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://swiftlynx.co/zipscan/privacy

Screenshots

PDF Scanner4 screens
ZipScan4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: PDF Scanner at every 2 days against ZipScan's every 2 weeks. 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. PDF Scanner sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year and ZipScan sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Scanner ships an update every 2 days, ZipScan every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
PDF Scanner versus ZipScan: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF ScannerZipScan
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCharnpreet SinghXU ZHENG

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PDF Scanner

Subscriptions1
  • PrivaScan Pro Annual$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • PrivaScan Pro Lifetime$24.99
2 purchases

ZipScan

Subscriptions1
  • ZipScan Pro — Monthly$1.991 Month
One-time1
  • ZipScan Pro — Lifetime$9.99

Questions

Is PDF Scanner free?
PDF Scanner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ZipScan free?
ZipScan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do PDF Scanner or ZipScan have ads?
Neither PDF Scanner nor ZipScan shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Scanner or ZipScan?
PDF Scanner ships an update every 2 days, and ZipScan every 2 weeks. Most recently, PDF Scanner was updated on October 16, 2026 and ZipScan on October 23, 2026.

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