October 11, 2015

GREEN APP REVIEW: SCANNER PRO 6 by READDLE

At Paperless Kitchen, we're always on the lookout for new ways to reduce how much paper we use, so I was pretty excited to learn about Scanner Pro 6 by Readdle, an app that lets you use your smartphone to scan a document on the go.

The app has the potential to be a great alternative to photocopying and faxing, especially for people who travel frequently for work. I gave it a try, and here's what I experienced:

- Scanning starts by taking a photo of the document with your camera. It took me a few tries to get the hang of how to line it up. It's best to stand back and capture more than just the document in the image.

- After you take the picture, an editor pops up that lets you select where the document is. The app is smart enough to try and auto detect the borders of the document. I found that as long as my picture was straight, it did this very well and it wasn't hard to focus in. The finished document can be saved as a PDF or as a JPEG.

- Once you're satisfied with the area you selected, you can preview your app. Then, you can add it to your photo library or share it by emailing it, printing it, faxing it, or exporting it to the cloud. Of course, printing and faxing it aren't the greenest of options.

Overall, I'd say that Scanner Pro is worth the $2.99 that it costs to download it; however, if you're going to use it for work, I would strongly suggest experimenting with it at home for awhile because there's a learning curve involved with getting good results. The latest version is only available for iOS 8.0 and later.

Have you guys used Scanner Pro before? What did you think? Do you have another scanner app that you like? Tell us about it in the Comments section.