NescannerHow to scan a book with your iPhone
Hold the phone over the book, turn the pages, and get a flat, searchable PDF. The curve near the spine is straightened, and nothing leaves your device.
Why book pages are hard
A book does not lie flat. Near the spine the paper bends away from the camera, so in a photo the lines of text curve and the letters next to the spine are squeezed. Most scanner apps only straighten the four corners of the page, which leaves the curve in.
How Nescanner flattens a page
Nescanner follows the lines of text, measures how they bend towards the spine and unrolls the page along them. Lines come out straight, and letters near the spine get back their normal width. This is automatic: a flat sheet is simply straightened, a curved page is unrolled.
The shot is resampled exactly once, and letters are never redrawn or guessed. What you see in the scan was on the paper.
Turn the pages, the app does the rest
In batch mode you do not touch the shutter. As soon as the page is in the frame and still, the photo is taken. Then the app waits for you to turn the page, so the same page is never captured twice.
Step by step
- Lay the open book on a table. Any light works: shadows from your hand and the phone are removed.
- Hold the phone over one page, parallel to it, with the spine near the edge of the frame. If the phone is tilted too much, the app asks you to level it.
- Tap the batch button next to the shutter. Turn the page and hold the phone still again.
- Tap the stack of pages to check them: reorder, delete or adjust corners.
- Tap export: all pages become one PDF with searchable text.
Tips
- Document mode for text, Picture for illustrated books and covers: it keeps the original colours.
- Photos, colour print and highlighted lines are kept, not bleached.
- For a long book, choose Medium quality in the ••• menu to keep the PDF small.
Questions
Can it scan both pages of a spread at once?
Not yet. Nescanner flattens one page per shot: the left page, then the right. Batch mode makes this quick.
Is my book uploaded anywhere?
No. Scanning, flattening and text recognition all run on your iPhone or iPad. There is no account and no server.
Can I search the text?
Yes. Text is recognised on the device and added to the PDF, so you can search and copy it in any PDF viewer.
How much does it cost?
Free for up to 30 exported pages a day, every feature at full quality. For longer books, Nescanner Pro removes the limit: US$1.99 a month or US$14.99 a year.