CamScanner
CamScanner is a highly-rated document scanning app that many users find convenient and effective for organizing files, but recent reviews highlight significant issues with aggressive monetization, numerous ads, unexpected subscription charges, and some functional bugs.
CamScanner is a popular mobile scanning application with a strong lifetime rating, praised for its ease of use and ability to convert documents to PDF. However, a recent surge in negative feedback points to problems with intrusive advertisements, confusing subscription practices leading to unwanted charges, and some users experiencing lost files or difficulty with core features like syncing and emailing documents.
What users like
What users complain about
- Aggressive and deceptive subscription practices, including unannounced renewals and charges after free trialsR8R32R73R142
- Excessive and intrusive advertisements, even for paying subscribersR118R137R274R585
- Many core features, like removing watermarks or sending multiple PDFs, are paywalled or require expensive upgradesR25R83R91R150
- Users report issues with document syncing, sharing, and emailingR177R20R129R546
- Some users experienced lost files or difficulty accessing previously scanned documents after updatesR11R28
Latest update · v7.21.0
What the developer says changed (the verdict above weighs this against what reviewers report):
· Various improvements for a better experience. · We'll keep refining the app to bring you clearer scans and a smoother editing experience.
Recurring themes
Who it's for
CamScanner is for users who need a reliable tool for scanning and organizing documents digitally, especially those in professions like real estate or trucking R1R9. It is not for users who are unwilling to pay for a premium subscription to avoid ads and watermarks, or those who are wary of aggressive monetization tactics and potential unexpected charges R8R32R83.
Evidence note: The recent reviews skew heavily negative, particularly concerning monetization and subscription practices, which contrasts with the high lifetime rating. The developer's release notes are too vague to address specific user complaints.
Frequently asked
Does CamScanner have a free version?
Are there issues with CamScanner subscriptions?
What reviewers actually said
Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.
- [R1] Great convenience: I have been working in real estate sales for many many years. This tool has been instrumental and keeping all of my files organized. I highly recommend.
- [R5] Love this app: This is my go to app for sending docs. It’s SO easy and convenient.
- [R6] So many apps to choose from! Don’t stress yourself out use Camscanner!!: It seems like anymore you have to use multiple apps for this attribute or instrument-tool. But there’s no need to stress if you just start using CamScanner-your life will be made easier whether it’s converting or documents to PDF or sharpening up the pixelation. Camscanner is my go to.
- [R17] Easy to use: App works great! Easy to take pictures for time tickets. Send it via email, professional!
- [R52] Easy @ Fast: This handy scanner is so easy to use. Just point the camera on iPhone & click scan. Scanned documents are saved as PDFs & can be accessed via email or Messages. Great app!
- [R9] Truck driver: A great tool to have.
- [R12] Trucking: Great app.
- [R8] Scamcanner: These jerks renewed my annual subscription without letting me know in advance that I would not receive all or most of the benefits included in the subscription last year when I signed up for it. Though the service in general is helpful, I cannot at all recommend the subscription because the developers are obviously not trustworthy.
- [R32] CamScammer: I signed up for the free trial. I used it once. After 2 months to my surprise I was charged $6.99/week. I wasn’t aware of signing up for any subscription. I requested for a refund and was declined. Be aware! This is how they will get you
- [R73] Scammed me out of $60: I signed up for a free trial, was told I’d be sent a reminder of when it ended, and was sent no reminder and was instead hit with a $60 charge. Scummy practice and I will be trying to get a refund.
- [R142] False Subscription: App works fine and does what it needs to do, but it decided to sign me up for a 1yr subscription of $65 with no notice, no confirmation, no nothing. I never wanted the subscription and never went through any steps to acquire it yet here I am
- [R118] To many advertisement: To many advertisement
- [R137] Annoying: Every time we access, a Temu propaganda pops in, if we are paying for the app, there should be no problem accessing it
- [R274] Paid app and still too many adverts: Very bad experience as too many adverts & looks like spam messages popping up even though I have subscribed for the premium. It’s happening recently & must be fixed
- [R585] Adds Adds Adds……: This app used to be the best scanning app for me… Now there are just so many stupid adds in every click.. Whether it’s a scan, import process and sometimes even opening CamScanner itself! It slows me down so bad to a point where I get annoyed using the app..So inconvenient getting interrupted by tons of adds👎👎👎
- [R25] Tricked me: I’ve had can scanner before. Recently paid for yearly subscription and now to send multiple pdf’s you have to upgrade to a ridiculous price. I already paid for the year, so I guess I can email only one page at a time. I wouldn’t have even bought the year
- [R83] Absolute garbage.: It isn’t possible to compress the images from the app into a pdf file without purchasing the premium subscription. You can barely do anything without buying the stupid subscription. It also prompts you to buy it with almost every click you make. Do not purchase the stupid subscription ever. Do not support the creators of this app. They don’t deserve it. The only positive thing a
- [R91] bad: cannot remove the watermark unless you paid. notice this before you download it
- [R150] Free? Not necessarily….: Everything was good, until you need to remove the watermarks that this program loads into your images. THAT - my friends - cost $60 a year to remove. Deleting.
- [R177] Feedback on 10 issues: (1) After logging in with an Apple ID, it's impossible to bind the same email; binding always fails. (2) Upon first download and login, after logging in with a phone number and trying to bind WeChat, it always shows that the WeChat account already exists, even when it doesn't. (3) Documents are synced on the phone, but the same account on the web version shows empty, with no documents. (4) Cloud sync for documents often automatically turns off after being enabled, and the entire cloud sync option frequently disappears. (5) Sharing folders always fails; others cannot accept invitations. (6) Document compression only offers "medium" and "low" options, lacking an option to "retain original clarity, only delete outside cropped areas"; image quality degrades with each compression. (7) OmniFix Smart Clarity and Black and White Binarization cannot be selected simultaneously; selecting OmniFix Smart Clarity causes colored noise to appear at the edges of black and white text. (8) After uploading to Baidu Cloud Drive, many duplicate files appear and are not automatically deleted; renaming a file results in another upload. (9) All Baidu Cloud Drive files are in a single directory, completely failing to preserve the folder structure from within the CamScanner app. (10) The web version i.camscanne · translated
- [R20] PDF to email: Paid for the subscription tried four times to email a picture converted to PDF to my email and haven’t seen it yet. Not a good start.
- [R129] Syncing not working!!: Syncing not working!!
- [R546] Review: Tried using and sending scan to myself. Never sent
- [R11] Sketchy Upgrade Stealing Information: There’s been a new upgrade and all the files that I’ve had scanned in the past which were important documents suddenly have disappeared. I’m super frustrated and will escalate this case because this is completely unethical.
- [R28] now missing last 3 months: no help support - be aware :-(
- [R143] Scam: They were supposed to notify me when my 3 day trial was up and never did. So I got charged….. Other than that the app itself works great.
- [R24] Dog water app: 500 popups
- [R36] Too much ads: In the past it was a good app, but not now. it runs too much ads, ads pops up not only before opening the app but also pops up multiple times when you are middle of the work, making it the worst possible app now.
- [R950] Could be better: I quite enjoy the user interface of this app, however the free version is utterly polluted with ads. Also frustrating is that sometimes, it takes a great deal of time for emailed docs to come through. This makes this app quite frustrating when working towards deadlines.
- [R642] Publicité mal présentée pour iPhone 13: La publicité prend trop de place et je suis incapable d’accéder à l’application en appuyant sur x. Quand ça marche, l’application est pratique.
- [R61] Not Free: Not Free - there is a paywall
Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store