Scan photos? But scanning is such a pain!

So you found a box of old family photos, and everyone wants copies? Or your basement is full of shoe boxes and picture albums with photographs accumulated over several decades? Or you need to make a slideshow for a wedding or a family reunion, but all old time photos are in old-fashioned, not digital albums?

Most of us have hundreds, if not thousands, of printed photos lying about. Most of us would love to have them in digital form – in an iPhone or iPad. Portable, shareable, backed up in “the cloud”, safe from the elements. But most of us never get down to doing it, because the conventional methods are either too tedious, or too expensive.

Enter iPhone, iPad. And Pic Scanner app

scan photos with iPhone iPad

Pic Scanner is an app for iOS that lets you scan photos – up to four at a time. It then intelligently detects, automatically crops and enhances, and individually saves all the photos. All with just one tap on your iPhone or iPad. That’s a lot easier, faster than scanning one by one on a desk scanner, then transferring to computer and painstakingly cropping and organizing them.

Like having a photo scanner in your pocket

iPhone 6S and 6S Plus have 12 megapixel cameras. Older iPhones and most iPads have 8 MP cameras. Pic Scanner app turns this great camera into a powerful pocket scanner that’s always there when you need it. In your pocket (uh, in your palm if it’s an iPad:)

As BBC’s flagship personal tech program Click noted back in 2013, Pic Scanner is “packed with great tools…that should save you a lot of time”. Well, the app has come a long way since then. It’s been given a beautiful, minimalist design and lots of new features.

Here’s what Pic Scanner offers:

* Scan multiple photos with one tap
* Fully automatic, accurate cropping
* Quick-editing, no-fuss toolkit
* Automatic perspective correction
* Retro filters. B&W, sepia and more
* Add captions to save the stories
* In-app albums to organize photos
* Ability to scan albums, a page at a time

The screenshots below show some of these features:

scan photos app iPhone iPad

Batch scan photos

automatic cropping photos pic scanner

Auto-crop photos

scan photos editing toolbar pic scanner app

Quick edit tools

photo editing tools filters pic scanner app

Apply filters

 

 

 

 

 

 

A major advantage of Pic Scanner is that your photos remain yours. All processing and saving occurs on your iPhone or iPad, and you aren’t obliged to upload photos on some remote third-server – So privacy is assured. Also, you aren’t forced to keep scanned photos within the app: you can freely share them via email, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google+ or iMessage. Or save to Photos / Camera roll on your iPhone/iPad – from where you can transfer them to a computer and iCloud. All of these gateways are built into Pic Scanner.

Pic Scanner also gives you the freedom to bulk save photos to computer and (via Photos app) to other cloud services e.g. Google Photos, Box, Flickr etc. So you can archive any number of photos without paying recurring cloud fees or filling up your iPhone/iPad’s storage.

The app comes with great customer service, too. Troubleshooting help can be found here, and if you can’t find the answer to your question here, email support.

Scan photos any time, anywhere

Pic Scanner needs no Internet to scan photos. So if you find yourself visiting an aged relative who has a treasure trove of old photos but no scanner and no internet, you can still scan. It’s the perfect tool for breathing life back into legacy memories. You can bring your past into the present, literally in a snap!

Great! Er, how much does it cost?

You can download the full-featured version of Pic Scanner free from Apple’s App Store. This trial version allows 12 free scans and 12 opportunities to share photos. Once you have tried it out and practiced a bit, you can buy the unlimited version with a one-time $2.99 in-app purchase. That’s it. No hidden charges, no recurring costs.

Go on, download it now. If you know someone who might benefit from this app, share this post with them. Memories are priceless. Pic Scanner is great value.

How to transfer photos from old iPhone to new

Got yourself a new iPhone or iPad, but have lots of prized old photos scanned with Pic Scanner on your old device? Want to transfer photos from old iPhone to new one? Also albums and captions? Piece of cake!

Here’s How

The directions below say iPhone, but they also apply to iPad.

A) Ensure that you have the latest version of Pic Scanner on the old phone. Also the latest version of iTunes on your Mac or PC. If not, update.

B) Create a folder named Pic Scanner Temp on your computer’s desktop.

C) Connect old iPhone to computer via USB cable. Launch iTunes on computer, and select your iPhone [See (1) below]. Check that Summary pane is selected in left column. In Backups on right side, select This Computer, then Back up now [See (2) and (3)]. When done, Latest backup time below Backup Now button will be updated to current time.

transfer-to-new-iPhone1

D) With the old iPhone still connected to computer, click Apps in iTunes sidebar on the left [(4) below]. Then in the right pane, scroll all the way down to File Sharing section (5). Locate and click Pic Scanner (6). The right side will show some folders and files e.g. original_images, splitted_images, etc. Select all, and drag them into Pic Scanner Temp folder on desktop.

transfer-to-new-iPhone2

E) In Pic Scanner Temp, click on splitted_images folder. Check that your photos are in it, then return to iTunes and click Eject near top left to disconnect the old iPhone from the computer.

F) On the new iPhone, download Pic Scanner (free) from the App Store. Launch Pic Scanner, tap Menu > Buy unlimited > Restore purchase. You will be upgraded to the unlimited version. It won’t yet have the old photos, so let us now restore them.

G) Connect new iPhone to the computer with USB cable. In iTunes, select your new phone, click Apps in left sidebar, then scroll down the right pane to File Sharing. Click Pic Scanner. The right side will show some folders, but they will all be empty (zero KB)

H) Select all folders and files in Pic Scanner Temp folder on the computer. Drag and drop them alongside the empty folders in iTunes File Sharing window (Care: Don’t drag Pic Scanner Temp folder into iTunes: only the files and folders within it.) In the warning pop-up box [See (7) below], check mark the Apply to all box, and click Replace.

transfer-to-new-iPhone3

I) Click the Sync button (8).

Voila! You are done. Go into Pic Scanner on your new iPhone and tap the lighthouse thumbnail on top left. Enjoy your photos!

Any problems, drop us a line.

Introduction to Photo Scanning

If you have an iPhone or iPad, photo scanning is super easy with Pic Scanner app. To scan with your smartphone or a digital camera, remember a few things and you’ll do just fine:

  • Lighting: Ensure good ambient lighting. If you can, scan in natural daylight. You don’t want the sun shining directly on the photos, but indirect or reflected light; so scan near a window. It’s harder to avoid glare and reflections under artificial (electric) light. Colors will also not be reproduced faithfully, especially if scanning under fluorescent light. Can you guess which of the following scans was done by daylight and which under a table lamp?

2      2a

  • No flash: Never use flash while scanning, for precisely the reasons mentioned above regarding electric and fluorescent lighting. Turn OFF flash before you scan. See the reflections and flash glare in the photos below:

glare reflections scanned photo      scanned pic with flash glare

  • No zoom: Using the digital zoom on your smartphone will reduce image resolution. Bring the camera closer to the photo being scanned, instead of holding it further away and zooming in. As photozxels.com explains, “Digital zoom….takes a central portion of the image and enlarges it, thus ‘simulating’ optical zoom. In other words, the camera crops a portion of the image and then enlarges it back to size. In so doing, you lose image quality.”
  • Steady hands: Since the photos being scanned are close to the camera, you must hold the iPhone or iPad very steady while scanning. Can be difficult, especially with iPad. An easy solution is to place the iPhone or iPad on a locker stand, and position the photos below it.

Ready to start photo scanning? Get Pic Scanner app. It helps you take care of some of the above things, and also automatically crops the photos for you – a big time and effort-saver. Below is a short tutorial video of this critically acclaimed app:

 

Yes, There Were Pics Before Pixels

ensignposter

Life Before Digital Cameras

Remember life before digital cameras? It wasn’t so long ago that:

  • Before boarding the plane for an exotic vacation, packing enough rolls of film was as important as packing the passport.
  • You worried endlessly whether those X-Ray scanners at airports were really film-safe.
  • There were no instant previews. If a photo was overexposed or underexposed, or your eyes were half-closed, it was just too bad.
  • Reloading film outdoors involved either a changing bag, or cupped hands in a shaded place.
  • It was days, often weeks before you got to see your photos.
  • Sharing photos meant putting them in an envelope and posting them.
  • You fussed about ASA and DIN as you now do about megapixels.
  • Editing, cropping and applying filters was only for professionals.

And be honest: How many times did you mix up exposed rolls of film with unused ones?

Bringing Old Photos into the Digital Era

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Digital photography has made things simpler and made the finer nuances of photography (such as editing, filters, using meta data etc.) accessible to everyone. But a lot of our old memories now languish, unseen and forgotten, in shoe boxes and picture albums.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have all your photos – old and new – in one place? Like in the palm of your hand? Well, you could if your old photographs were all scanned and catalogued. Are they? Chances are they’re not. How many times have you thought about sorting and scanning them, but never got round to it because it’s too tedious?

Preserving and organizing those forgotten, fading memories is now easy. No, it doesn’t involve bulky desktop scanners or complicated photo editing software. Nor will it take weeks of work. Now you can just do it with an iPhone or iPad! And an app.

Pic Scanner App For iPhone and iPad
Pic Scanner Blog
Pic Scanner is an easy-to-use app that lets you digitize up to four photo prints at a time. It then automatically separates and saves them as individual images.

The app also includes tools for basic editing tasks, as well as options for enhancing, captioning, organizing and sharing pictures.

Pic Scanner has won accolades from Cult of Mac, The Guardian, iPad Insight, Gizmodo and many other highly-regarded reviewers. BBC’s flagship technology program ‘Click’ also showcased it.

The full-featured trial version of Pic Scanner can be downloaded here. This free evaluation version allows 12 scans and 12 opportunities to share photos. And if you decide to upgrade, unlimited scanning and sharing only costs $2.99.

Digitizing gives old photographs a new life. It is the best way to preserve those rare, one-of-a-kind moments of your personal history. And there’s a lot you can do with digital photos. But let’s save that for another post.

Pic Scanner Camera Screen Explained

Camera screen is the first screen you see on launching Pic Scanner. Here is an illustrated guide to everything on this screen.

Camera screen   2-viewfinder   5viewfinder

Viewfinder window (marked in red) is the entire area through which you can see the objects lying on the other side.

Just within the edges of the viewfinder window, you will see a translucent frame. This is the scanning area. The photos that you scan must lie fully within this area.

6Leveling   7thumbnail   9Menu

The leveling tool above works just like a spirit level. It helps you make your device horizontal (or parallel to the photos being scanned), which minimizes perspective distortion.

The little square window on top left displays a thumbnail of your last scan. Tapping it takes you to the Cropped gallery, which contains thumbnails of all of your cropped photos.

The three horizontal bars on top right are the Menu button. Tap it when you want to upgrade to the unlimited version of Pic Scanner, access Help (5-Minute Guide and troubleshooting help), watch a slideshow of your scans, modify settings, or contact us.

10counter   11shutter

The free version of Pic Scanner has a counter below the Menu button. As you know, the free version allows 12 trial scans. The counter show how many free scans you’ve got left, e.g. 4/12 means you can scan 4 more times. This counter disappears once you purchase the unlimited version.

And finally, the big shutter button at bottom center is what you press to scan photos.

Do check out the other posts on our blog, and if you have any questions or suggestions, email us (As mentioned above, by tapping Menu > Contact us)

 

How to view scanned photos on HDTV

photos on HDTV

Scanned old family photographs? How to view photos on HDTV

Scanned those precious old photos and put them in your iPhone, iPad or computer? Now supersize the experience of enjoying the memories by viewing those photos on HDTV.

Once you have scanned and edited the pictures to perfection, transfer them to Photos app on your iPhone or iPad as follows:

Cropped > Select > (tap photos to be transferred; they’ll get check marked) > Action (bottom center) > Sharing options (Select Photos). This saves the selected photos in Pic Scanner album in Photos app (iPhoto).

There are many ways to project them on to your TV:

Method 1: If you have a smart TV, then it’s straightforward to beam photos to it from your mobile device. Open the TV’s app center (That’s what Samsung calls it; other makers may call it something else).  Then select Photos app, open Pic Scanner folder within it, and view the photos – either as a slide show, or individually.

Method 2: Transfer the photos from your iPhone or iPad to Mac or PC (See how: go to tip #T6). Now connect your computer to the TV with an HDMI cable to view the photos.

Method 3: You can also stream photos to HDTV through Apple TV, or Android or Roku set-top boxes:

的照片扫描到您的iPhone或者iPad上: Pic Scanner 應用程式

扫描照片，珍藏您的回忆

Pic Scanner: 扫描照片，珍藏您的回忆

现在，您可以扫描照片，您的iPhone或iPad应用Pic Scanner。


珍藏您的珍贵回忆：有了这款应用程式，您就能动动小手将旧照片打印的照片扫描到您的iPhone或者iPad上。您可以同时扫描4张照片，图片浏览器会自动识别剪辑并且保存您的照片。与一张一张地扫描相比，不知道轻松多少。

Pic Scanner: 扫描照片，珍藏您的回忆: 打开 iTunes 以购买和下载 App。

功能繁多，操作却极其简单：

• 轻轻一按，同时扫描多张图片
• 照片魔术般自动裁剪
• 轻松编辑照片：让优秀的照片更出众
• 复古滤镜和，B&W, 棕褐色等等
• 添加图片说明：保存更多带图照片
• 传输到相机胶卷或电脑
• 通过社交媒体，电子邮件，iMessage共享
• 还有更多的功能：现在就来探索吧

随时随地进行扫描。扫描照片无需网络。将旧日的美好时光收藏起来。将过去的美好融合在今天的生活中。
客户推荐理由:

• 节省大量的时间(BBC Click)
• 应得如潮好评(Cult of Mac)
• 最佳40应用(The Guardian)
• 震撼您的大脑(Gould Genealogy)
• 收起桌面扫描仪吧（AppAdvice）

客户的爱:

• 五星: 非常有用，省时
• 6-66岁都能简单上手
• 比单独扫描高效的多
• 有了它，谁还要扫描仪呀?

PicScanner专为iphone，ipad， iPod Touch iOS 8.4及以上版本设计。不推荐iPhone 4s以及更早的版本使用。

Pic Scanner: 扫描照片，珍藏您的回忆: 打开 iTunes 以购买和下载 App。

***

珍藏您的珍貴回憶：有了這款應用程式，您就能非常容易地將舊照片打印的照片掃描到您的iPhone或者iPad上。您可以壹次掃描4張照片，圖片瀏覽器會自動識別剪輯並且保存您的照片。您可以免費掃描12次：您只需壹次性購買即可享受無限掃描分享機會。

功能繁多，操作卻極其簡單：

* 同時掃描多達4張照片
* 照片自動裁剪
* 輕鬆編輯照片
* 添加濾鏡和字幕
* 即時分享照片到：Facebook, Instagram, email, Messages, Google+
* 創建漂亮的數位像片簿
* 瀏覽掃描幻登照片
* 在Dropbox，iPhoto，icloud中將照片存檔

珍藏回憶：不要讓您寶貴的回憶，懷舊的情懷，被遺忘在舊日的影集和抽屜裏。將它們掃描到您的iphone或者ipad的上，這樣您就可以隨時瀏覽分享它們了。

隨時隨地，想掃就掃：掃描時無需聯網。快速簡單。就像袋裏有壹個照片掃描儀一樣。

漢語用戶使用手冊

用戶評論：圖片掃描網已經受到了BBC，南方早報，衛報和許多優秀媒體的稱贊。

該應用專為iphone或ipad iOS9以上用戶設計。不建議iPhone 4S和更舊版本的用戶使用。扫描照片与iPhone iPad 应用程序 扫描照片与iPhone应用程序 扫描照片与iPhone应用程序 扫描照片与iPhone iPad 应用程序

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pic Scanner: 扫描照片，珍藏您的回忆: 打开 iTunes 以购买和下载 App。

Pic Scanner – App for scanning photos with iPhone or iPad

(For English readers)

SCAN PHOTOS WITH iPHONE OR iPAD. Scan 4 photos together. Pic Scanner detects, crops and saves them individually. So much easier, faster than scanning photos one by one.

A PHOTO SCANNER IN YOUR POCKET. So many features, yet so easy to use:

* Scan multiple photos with just one tap
* Fully automatic cropping. Like magic
* Photo editing: Easily enhance your pics
* Automatic perspective correction
* Image filters. B&W, sepia and more
* Captions: Save stories about the photos
* Organize photos in digital picture albums
* Scan albums: Without taking photos out
* Share & save photos freely, conveniently:
– Transfer to computer via Camera Roll
– Post to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google+
– Share via email, iMessage
– Back-up / archive to Dropbox, iPhoto, iCloud
– Upload to other social media sites via Photos
* View scanned pictures as a slideshow
* Watch on TV: via AppleTV or Roku

Pic Scanner – Download at the App Store

How to scan photos with iPhone or iPad to make photo books or high resolution prints? Easy. Digitize 1-2 pictures at a time. This will give high PPI (pixels per inch) scans. For sharing photos on social media, it’s OK to scan 3-4 at a time.

SCAN ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. Pic Scanner needs no Internet to scan photos. Breathe life back into legacy memories. Bring your past into the present, in a snap!

How to Share & Save Originals

“How to share & save photos from Originals to Cropped screen?”

“Is there any way to export the Originals that I scanned?”

“Why can’t I send the originals?”

“There is no button to transfer Original photos.”

1

Ever since we created Pic Scanner in 2013, users have been clamoring for this feature.

Well, we heard ya!!

In version 4.0 of Pic Scanner, we have added the ability for you to move one, multiple or all un-cropped photos from Originals to Cropped gallery. Once you do this, you can share & save them to Photos (Camera Roll), upload to Dropbox, Facebook etc., or add to Albums. In other words, do pretty much whatever you can with Cropped photos.

Go to Originals screen, tap Select button on top left, then touch the thumbnails of all the photos you’d like to move. They’ll get check marked. Now tap the ‘Move’ button on bottom left, and select ‘Move to Cropped Photos”. Done! It’s as easy as that.

We should, however, mention, that if you are having to move a lot of photos from originals to Cropped screen, you are not scanning the right way. You are probably holding the camera too close to the pictures being scanned. The correct way to scan is to make sure that not only are the photos fully visible, a bit of the background is also visible all round. This will ensure that the photos are auto-cropped correctly, and saved on Cropped screen – eliminating the need to move photos from Originals to Cropped screen.

 

How to archive scanned photos in iCloud

1

Why archive scanned photos?

Scanning makes photos portable and shareable, but it’s only the first step in preserving them. The next, and very important step, is to back them up. iCloud is a great place to archive scanned photos. It will keep your photos safe if your iPhone or iPad is lost or damaged, or you accidentally delete the photos from your device.

It is also important to note that photos saved on Pic Scanner’s Cropped and Originals screens, and in the app’s albums, are stored within the app and on the device. They are not transferred to an external computer or Dropbox, until you yourself do it. While this gives you full control over your photos and privacy, it also means that making a backup – whether on your computer, an external hard drive, or your preferred cloud service – is vital.

Clean up

Once you’ve archived the photos, keep only your extra-special photos on your device (whether in Pic Scanner’s albums or in Photos), and delete the rest. You should also periodically delete the unneeded “Originals”. This will free up space on your iPhone or iPad.

1. Saving photos on your computer or in iCloud

The most convenient way to export photos from Pic Scanner is to save to Photos app. Since this is a “local” transfer (i.e. on your device itself), it’s fast. And if you have Photostream/iCloud set up, the photos will also automatically sync to your computer and iCloud. For an orderly transfer, limit the batch size to 15-20 photos at a time. Mobile devices such as iPhone and iPad have limited processing power and RAM, and trying to transfer 30-40 full resolution photos at a time may cause your device to stop responding, or abort the transfer.

You can also archive photos in Dropbox, but since this involves uploading over the internet, it can time time. Also, to avoid getting stuck, you should only upload small batches of 6-8 photos at a time. This can be inconvenient if you need to save a very large number of pictures.

2. Backing up Pic Scanner Data

This is different from the above manual method, in that (a) it happens automatically when you back-up your iPhone or iPad to iTunes or iCloud (b) it backs up cropped and original photos, their thumbnails, albums details as well as captions – in other words, everything you need to restore Pic Scanner on your device if the need arises. However, this will only save data as of the last time you backed up the data to iTunes or iCloud. Any photos that had been deleted from Pic Scanner before the last backup time will not be available for restoring.

To restore photos from backup, first download Pic Scanner (free) from the App Store. This will be the trial version, so first you need to restore your unlimited scanning privileges (Assuming you had the unlimited version of Pic Scanner before). Launch Pic Scanner, tap Menu > Buy unlimited > Restore purchase. You will be upgraded to the unlimited version. It won’t yet have the old photos, so the next step is to restore them.

Connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer with USB cable. In iTunes, select your device, and click on Summary tab underneath. In the right pane, look for Backups, and click Restore backup. You may be prompted to turn off Find My iPhone/iPad, then just follow the on-screen commands to restore your device.

Have questions? Email us!

New Year’s Resolution? Scanning photos.

Time for scanning photos?

Will this be the year when you get down to scanning photos in those old picture albums? Well, it’s resolution time, so why not take the leap?

Oh, wait! We know why you are hesitating. It’s the thought of rigging up the bulky old scanner, scanning photos one by one, saving them on the computer, then manually cropping each photo flashing through your head? Then there’s the other option – to send everything to a scanning service. But that would mean taking the photos out of albums, flat packing and shipping off those one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable photos to some far-away factory for a couple of weeks, then putting them all back in the albums when they come back. Tedious, and not exactly cheap.

Well, there’s another way to do it. As Apple says, there’s an app for it.

Use iPhone or iPad – and Pic Scanner app

With an iPhone or iPad, and Pic Scanner app, you can get the job of scanning photos done real quick. Without the hassles of scanners, computers, cropping software and scanning services.

iPhone and iPad have pretty awesome, high resolution cameras. Pic Scanner turns this high quality camera into a high performance photo scanner.

The real effort-saving part is that you can scan up to four photos simultaneously. Pic Scanner will automatically (and accurately) crop and save them as individual images. It also has built-in (and easy to use) editing tools, filters, and the ability to add captions. Scan loose photos or albums – a page at a time, without having to take photos out. An entire album in just minutes.

You can try the app free. Download the full-featured version from the App Store, view 3-4 tips, then try a dozen scans. If you like what you see, get the unlimited version (unlimited scanning and sharing) with one one-time $2.99 in-app purchase. Costs less than a cup of coffee! The app has got great reviews from the BBC, Cult of Mac, iPad Insight and lots of happy users.

Done scanning photos? What next?

Once you are done scanning photos, you can have lots of fun with them. Post a few Throwback Thursdays pics on Facebook or Twitter for ‘likes’ and laughs. Create a “Then and now” set of photos. Here are a couple of examples:

Scanning photos: then and now

Scanning old photos: Then and now

Find lots more photo crafts inspiration on our Facebook and Pinterest pages. Make that New Year’s (or birthday, or Thanksgiving) resolution, download Pic Scanner, and get started NOW!