ID card and passport scanner

Visa forms, rental applications and new-job paperwork often ask for a copy of your ID with both sides on a single page. A regular scanner gives you two pages. Scanpaper’s ID card mode gives you one.

How ID card mode works

1. Tap ID card on the home screen or ID Card on the Tools tab (“Both sides on one page”). Start here rather than from the camera’s mode strip: this is the route that asks for both sides and builds the one-page layout.
2. Fit the card into the frame on screen. With Auto on, it captures when the card holds still.
3. When the screen says “Now scan the back side”, flip the card and let it capture again.
4. Scanpaper places the front and back on one portrait page, centered, with a gap between them. The document is named “ID Card” with the date, so you can find it later.

Portrait captures are turned the right way automatically, since cards are landscape. Keep the Original or Auto filter so the photo on the card stays in color.

Passport mode

Passport mode shows a frame shaped like the passport photo page. Line the page up inside it and shoot, and you get a straight, cropped copy. Stay in the session to add more pages, such as a visa or the signature page, so they all land in one document.

Keeping copies private

An ID copy is useful to anyone who has it, so Scanpaper keeps it on the phone. There’s no account and nothing syncs to a cloud. You decide when it leaves, through the share sheet.

A few tools help when you do send it:

• Hide (free markup) puts a solid block over a field the recipient doesn’t need. Check the form first; some need the full number.
• Watermark (Pro) repeats a line of text across the page, such as “For apartment application only”.
• PDF password (Pro) locks the exported file, and app lock (Pro) keeps the whole library behind a PIN and Face ID.

When you’re done with the application, delete the document. There’s no recycle bin, so it’s gone straight away.

The step-by-step guide to scanning a passport or ID on iPhone covers the free built-in method too, plus how to keep the copy legible for forms.

ID card, Passport and Book modes are part of Scanpaper Pro, which has a free trial.