Your iPhone's camera is the best scanner you own. The Notes app turns it into a multi-page document scanner — auto-detects edges, deskews, builds a PDF. Most people don't realise.
The scan itself is great. What comes next — compressing, signing, sharing — is where Flint earns its keep.
Scanning with Notes
Open Notes. Create a new note. Tap the camera icon, then Scan Documents. Point the phone at the page. The viewfinder detects edges automatically and snaps when it's stable — or tap to capture manually. Flip the page, repeat. Tap Save.
You've got a multi-page scanned PDF. Tap the share button to export to Files, Mail, or any other app.
Why scans need post-processing
iPhone scans come out big — often 5 MB per page or more. They look fantastic and email like dial-up. Run them through compress PDF and they drop to 200–500 KB per page without visible quality loss.
If the scanner missed an edge or you scanned a blank page by accident, delete the page in Flint before sending.
Signing the scan
Most scans are forms or contracts to sign. After scanning, drop the PDF into Flint's signer and add your signature with finger or Pencil. The combination — iPhone scan, browser signature — is faster than any scanner-and-Acrobat workflow on a desktop.
Alternative: Files app scanner
Files also has a scan option (long-press in a folder, Scan Documents). Same underlying tech as Notes. Useful if you want the scan to land directly in iCloud Drive without going through a note first.
FAQ
Are iPhone scans OCR-searchable?
iOS adds basic text recognition to scans automatically — you can search for text within saved Notes. The exported PDF may or may not include a searchable text layer depending on iOS version. For guaranteed OCR, run the PDF through a dedicated tool after scanning.
How big are iPhone scans?
Typically 3–8 MB per page at full quality. A 20-page contract can easily hit 80 MB raw. Compress before sharing — Flint can usually drop that to under 10 MB without visible quality loss.
Can I scan colour documents?
Yes. The scanner offers Colour, Greyscale, Black & White, and Photo modes. Colour preserves originals; Black & White makes the file much smaller for text-heavy documents.
Scanned with the iPhone, now too big to email? Compress in Flint and send.