Scanly turns any document, receipt, ID, or whiteboard into a sharp, searchable PDF, right on your iPhone. Auto edge-detection, on-device OCR, signing, Face ID lock, even receipts to CSV, with nothing ever uploaded. Free to use; one-time Pro unlock, no subscription.
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Maker
📌
Hey hunters 👋 I'm Sahil, founder of Ashvara.
A document scanner is one of those apps that really shouldn't phone home with your private paperwork - contracts, IDs, receipts, medical forms. So I built Scanly to do everything on the device. Edge detection and perspective correction give you sharp scans, on-device text recognition (Apple's Vision) makes them searchable, and you can sign, lock, and organize a document end to end - without a single byte leaving your iPhone.
A few decisions I'm happy with:
🔒 Fully on-device - scanning, OCR, and everything else happen locally; nothing is uploaded.
⚡ Sharp auto-scans - edge detection + perspective correction built in.
🔎 Searchable PDFs via on-device OCR - and receipts export straight to CSV.
🪪 Face ID lock on sensitive docs.
💜 Pay-once Pro ($2.99) - own it, no subscription.
It's free to use, with a one-time unlock for the power features. I'd genuinely love your feedback on scan quality and OCR accuracy on tricky documents (faded receipts, handwriting, glossy IDs).
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How well does the on-device OCR handle handwritten notes, like from a meeting whiteboard? Curious if it actually picks up messy cursive reliably.
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Maker
@laydat2tm Honest answer: printed text is where it's strongest. Neat, print-style writing on a whiteboard usually comes through well, but messy cursive is genuinely hard for any on-device OCR, so Scanly will be hit-or-miss there rather than reliable. It runs on Apple's on-device Vision engine, so accuracy tracks what that can read - excellent for typed docs and receipts, variable for freeform cursive.
Two things that help a lot: even lighting and filling the frame with the text. If you have a whiteboard shot that trips it up, send it my way - those hard cases are exactly what I'm tuning against. Great question, thanks!
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Scanned a crumpled receipt last night and it nailed the edge detection, then exported clean CSV without anything leaving my phone. The no subscription angle is genuinely refreshing these days.
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Maker
@diyaruluda33157 Thank you 🙏 The crumpled-receipt-to-CSV path is one I sweated over, so it's great to hear it held up in the wild. And the no-subscription thing isn't a gimmick for us: a scanner sees your most private paperwork, so it felt wrong to keep it on your device and then charge rent for it. Pay once, it's yours. If you ever hit a receipt or edge-detection case that stumbles, send it over - always tuning. Appreciate you giving it a real run.
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How does the OCR handle handwriting vs printed text, and does it keep the formatting when you export the searchable PDF?
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Maker
@nurifxnx Two good questions. On OCR: printed text is where it shines - it's Apple's on-device Vision engine, so typed docs and receipts come through cleanly. Handwriting is variable: neat printing usually works, messy cursive is genuinely hit-or-miss (true of any on-device OCR).
On the searchable PDF: yes, formatting is preserved. The PDF keeps your original scan as the visible page, with an invisible text layer underneath - so it looks exactly like the document, and the recognized text sits behind it, fully searchable and selectable. You get the real layout plus searchability, not a reflowed text dump. Thanks.
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The on-device OCR actually works offline on my phone, and the edge detection handled a crumpled receipt without me retaking the shot. Really refreshing to see a scanner that doesn't push a subscription.
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Maker
@hmeyrapazc Love this, thank you 🙏 Offline was a hard requirement for me - a scanner sees your most private paperwork, so it should never need to phone home. And the crumpled-receipt case is exactly what I tuned the edge detection for, so great to hear it held up without a retake. No subscription is here to stay: pay once, it's yours. Appreciate you giving it a run!
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The on-device OCR is surprisingly quick and the receipt to CSV actually pulled the totals right. Signing a doc with Face ID felt slick, definitely better than the clunky scanner apps I have used.
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Maker
@asiyekfie Thank you, this is great to hear! Receipt-to-CSV pulling the totals right and Face ID signing are two things I really wanted to feel effortless rather than bolted-on, so I'm glad they landed. If you ever hit a receipt that trips up the totals, send it my way - those edge cases are exactly what I keep tuning. Thanks for the kind words 🙌
How well does the on-device OCR handle handwritten notes, like from a meeting whiteboard? Curious if it actually picks up messy cursive reliably.
@laydat2tm Honest answer: printed text is where it's strongest. Neat, print-style writing on a whiteboard usually comes through well, but messy cursive is genuinely hard for any on-device OCR, so Scanly will be hit-or-miss there rather than reliable. It runs on Apple's on-device Vision engine, so accuracy tracks what that can read - excellent for typed docs and receipts, variable for freeform cursive.
Two things that help a lot: even lighting and filling the frame with the text. If you have a whiteboard shot that trips it up, send it my way - those hard cases are exactly what I'm tuning against. Great question, thanks!
Scanned a crumpled receipt last night and it nailed the edge detection, then exported clean CSV without anything leaving my phone. The no subscription angle is genuinely refreshing these days.
@diyaruluda33157 Thank you 🙏 The crumpled-receipt-to-CSV path is one I sweated over, so it's great to hear it held up in the wild. And the no-subscription thing isn't a gimmick for us: a scanner sees your most private paperwork, so it felt wrong to keep it on your device and then charge rent for it. Pay once, it's yours. If you ever hit a receipt or edge-detection case that stumbles, send it over - always tuning. Appreciate you giving it a real run.
How does the OCR handle handwriting vs printed text, and does it keep the formatting when you export the searchable PDF?
@nurifxnx Two good questions. On OCR: printed text is where it shines - it's Apple's on-device Vision engine, so typed docs and receipts come through cleanly. Handwriting is variable: neat printing usually works, messy cursive is genuinely hit-or-miss (true of any on-device OCR).
On the searchable PDF: yes, formatting is preserved. The PDF keeps your original scan as the visible page, with an invisible text layer underneath - so it looks exactly like the document, and the recognized text sits behind it, fully searchable and selectable. You get the real layout plus searchability, not a reflowed text dump. Thanks.
The on-device OCR actually works offline on my phone, and the edge detection handled a crumpled receipt without me retaking the shot. Really refreshing to see a scanner that doesn't push a subscription.
@hmeyrapazc Love this, thank you 🙏 Offline was a hard requirement for me - a scanner sees your most private paperwork, so it should never need to phone home. And the crumpled-receipt case is exactly what I tuned the edge detection for, so great to hear it held up without a retake. No subscription is here to stay: pay once, it's yours. Appreciate you giving it a run!
The on-device OCR is surprisingly quick and the receipt to CSV actually pulled the totals right. Signing a doc with Face ID felt slick, definitely better than the clunky scanner apps I have used.
@asiyekfie Thank you, this is great to hear! Receipt-to-CSV pulling the totals right and Face ID signing are two things I really wanted to feel effortless rather than bolted-on, so I'm glad they landed. If you ever hit a receipt that trips up the totals, send it my way - those edge cases are exactly what I keep tuning. Thanks for the kind words 🙌