# A free PDF scanner app for Android that keeps your documents on your phone

> Scanly is a free PDF scanner app for Android. You photograph a paper document, crop and filter it, and export a PDF, then use the built-in tools to merge, compress, sign or password-protect PDFs, with no watermark, no ads and no account.

Most people who search for a PDF scanner app want something simple: point the camera at a page, get a clean and readable PDF, and send it on. The hard part is rarely the photo itself. It is everything around it, such as straightening the page, making the text readable, combining several pages, and shrinking the file so an email attachment goes through.

Scanly handles that whole workflow on the phone. Scanning, editing, storage and text recognition all run on the device, and a file only leaves your phone when you export or share it. The app is open source under AGPL-3.0, so the code behind those claims is public for anyone to read.

## From camera to PDF in one flow

- Live edge detection finds the page and can capture automatically once the phone is steady, or you can press the shutter yourself.
- Quality hints warn you about a page that is too dark, blurry, or has a covered lens before you save it.
- Crop with four handles, correct the perspective, rotate, then apply one of 10 filter presets with adjustable intensity.
- Add as many pages as you need in one session, and retake a single page without starting the whole document again.
- Export with page numbers, a chosen page size or auto-fit, margins, and portrait or landscape orientation, and optionally set an open password.

## PDF tools for the files you already have

The same app opens any PDF you receive. Choose "Open in Scanly" from Files, Gmail, WhatsApp or Google Drive, then read it in the Reader. The offline PDF tools cover the jobs people often send to an online converter:

- Merge several PDFs or scans into one file.
- Compress with High, Balanced or Smallest settings, and see the size before and after.
- Add or remove a password using AES-256 encryption, and restrict editing if you need to.
- Convert PDF pages to JPG or PNG, at 1240 or 2480 pixels wide.
- Sign a document with a drawn or imported signature, and place a date, text or checkbox next to it.

## What happens to your documents

Scanning, storage and text recognition run on your phone, using a text recognition model bundled in the app, so the text on your pages is not uploaded to read it. Scanly has no ad SDK and no analytics SDK, and it does not ask for an account. Scans are excluded from Android automatic cloud backup, so they are not copied to Google Drive. The internet permission is used only for optional update checks and links.

Original files are never changed. Scanly keeps the photo you captured, so a crop or filter can be redone later without scanning the page again.

## What Scanly does not do

- It runs on Android 10 and later only. There is no iPhone, web or desktop version.
- It has no cloud sync, so a PDF made on one phone stays on that phone unless you share it.
- Its signatures are visual, handwritten-style images, not certificate-based digital signatures.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there a free PDF scanner app with no watermark?

Yes. Scanly is free and does not add a watermark to the PDFs it exports. A watermark only appears if you add one yourself with the Watermark tool.

### Can a PDF scanner app work without an internet connection?

Scanly does. Scanning, editing, text recognition and the PDF tools all run on the phone, so everyday use needs no connection. The app uses the internet only for optional update checks and links.

### How do I turn a photo into a PDF on Android?

Open Scanly, capture the page, adjust the crop and filter, then export it as a PDF. You can also import up to 50 images from your gallery, Google Photos, Files or Drive and export them the same way.

### Can Scanly merge and compress PDFs?

Yes. The Merge tool combines PDFs into one file. The Compress tool offers High, Balanced and Smallest levels and shows the before and after size, so you can choose the smallest file that still reads well.

### Is a PDF scanner app safe for sensitive documents?

Scanly keeps scanning and storage on your device and sends files only when you export or share them. You can also password-protect exported PDFs. If you want to verify how the app behaves, the source code is public on GitHub.

Get Scanly free on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.c1ph3rj.scanly

Last checked: 2026-10-22. Canonical: https://www.usescanly.co.in/pdf-scanner-app