Scanning with Genius Scan

I have to scan a lot of documents for my job. This wouldn't be such a huge deal if my office actually had a scanner...

I do, however, have an iPhone 4!

I seriously would not be able to do my job without this nifty app: Genius Scan by The Grizzly Labs.


Genius Scan allows me to use my phone's camera to capture any documents or receipts, correct the perspective, and make the image appear as if it had been scanned by increasing the contrast and turning it black and white (though you can choose color enhancement, as well).

You can then email the jpeg or PDF, or add other images to it and create a multi-page PDF document. This PDF document can be emailed in multiple sizes, added to iBooks, or opened in other apps that allow importing PDFs. You can also share over Wi-fi to your computer.

I know I mentioned it earlier, but my favorite part is the perspective correction. It allows me to take a photo without worry that my camera is not square with the document I'm photographing, because I can adjust the borders and correct it. Take a look at these two photos to see what I mean:

Original, crooked photo:



Fixed perspective photo, cropped with Genius Scan:



And here's a couple screen shots to show what it looks like:




You can see how nicely the app straightens and corrects the receipt.

Genius Scan has a free version, with ads, and works on iPhone/iPod touch/iPad running iOS 4 and later, but be aware that it doesn't have an HD version for iPad and the camera function won't work for the original iPad, for obvious reasons (no camera).

There's also a paid version with no ads, plus the ability to upload to Dropbox, Evernote, or Google Docs for $2.99.

I think the user interface could be improved a bit, but it definitely gets the job done. And because of that, I'll let the UI slide. Like I said, I can't do my job without it! 5 forks!

Bon appetit!