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How to Scan a Document on iPhone and iPad

Scanners had their moment, but nowadays it’s not as necessary to own one. However, that does not mean you never need to scan a document or photo. Thankfully, you probably have some tools to do it without a scanner.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
September 5, 2023

This is for the iPhones and Tablets. Screenshots are from iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 16+

If you find yourself scanning a lot of documents and photos, it’s a good idea to invest in an actual scanner. Most people only need to scan a few things a year, so we will show you some good alternatives.

Scan Photos and Documents

A scanner is essentially just a camera that takes a photo of your document in a specific way. Well, you carry a camera with you every day, so why not use that as a scanner?

A smartphone camera is usually perfectly fine for getting the job done as a scanner. The results will not be as crisp and clear as an actual scanner, but it will get the point across. Here are some suggestions for taking photos of a document.

Lighting: Place the document on a flat surface with good lighting. Try to avoid casting a shadow on the document with your hand and phone.
Placement: Take the photo straight on to avoid any weird angles. This can be done directly above or at a right angle by propping up the document. Do whichever results in the best lighting with the fewest shadows.
Framing: Make sure to take the photo from far enough away so the entire document is in view. After you take the photo, crop it to the document so you do not see any of the surroundings.

The camera on your phone will suffice in many situations, but sometimes a more professional-looking scan is necessary. For that, you will want to turn to a document scanner app. You already have one installed on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone.

Scan Using the Files App on iPhone

Phones and iPads have a built-in Document Scanner feature. This tool is not its own app, but you will find it both in Apple’s Files app and the Apple Notes app. Many websites suggest using the Notes app to scan a document, and that works fine; but you can also use the Files app, which is convenient if you just want to scan the document to a file.

To scan a document on an iPhone or iPad with the Files app, first, open the Files app and go to the location you want to save your scanned document to. For example, to keep it in your iCloud Drive, open the iCloud Drive location. To save it in your iPhone’s Downloads folder, open Downloads.

Next, tap the Menu button (it looks like a “…”) at the top-right corner of the screen and tap Scan Documents to get started. Refer to the below image:

iPhone Scan 1 — Selecting to scan from the Files app into the Downloads folder

Now, position the document in view of your iPhone or iPad’s camera and hold it still. Your device will automatically capture an image of the document, and you will see it flash on the screen. See the below image:

iPhone Scan 2 — The scanned document in Files

Next, to scan a multi-page document, position the second page in view of your iPhone or iPad’s camera. Continue this process to capture as many pages as you like. When you are done, tap Save, and you will get a combined PDF file containing each page. See the following image:

iPhone Scan 3 — The scanned document is in the Downloads folder

Scan Using the Notes App on iPhone

You can also use the Notes app to scan documents. First, open the Notes app on your iPhone or iPad, open an existing note or create a new note, tap the camera icon, and tap Scan Documents. The Notes app will then save your scanned documents as notes rather than files Refer to the below image:

iPhone Scan 4 — Selecting to scan from the Notes app

Next, your saved document is in the Notes app. See the below image:

iPhone Scan 5 — The scanned document in Notes

Disclaimer

Technology is always changing and rarely is there static tech for smartphones and desktops. Thus, the contents of this post are only valid at the time of writing. Blog posts older than six months may have directions incompatible with your device or OS. Hopefully, older post content will continue to work as advertised. Thank you for reading TechSavvy.Life for Technology at Work For You.

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How to Check Your Battery Charge Time for iPhone or iPad

Have you ever wanted to check how long it would take for your iPhone or iPad to charge completely? Maybe, you do not like to frequently check how much your device has charged? Well, this particular iOS shortcut intends to do just that. It’s pretty simple to set up and use on your device.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
August 29, 2023

This is for iPhone and iPad. Screenshots are from iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 16+

Anyone could estimate that your iPhone can fully charge from 0 to 100% in roughly about 2-3 hours. But, this is a very rough estimation. The actual time it takes could vary anywhere between two and three hours, or sometimes even lower depending on whether you have enabled Airplane mode or not. The Charge Time iOS shortcut can make a far more approximate guess from the current battery percentage and tell you how long it’d take to fully charge if you plug it in.

Check Your Charging Time

For those unaware, the Shortcuts app is one of the stock apps for devices running iOS 13/iPadOS 13 or later. We will be using the Shortcuts app to determine the charging time for your device.

First, head to this Charge Time link and tap Get Shortcut to download the shortcut on your iPhone or iPad. This shortcut is not available on the App Store nor is it pre-loaded on your device. You can use the link above or perform a Google search to locate the shortcut.

There are other charging time shortcuts from various sources. This post is only for the Charge Time shortcut as mentioned above.

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Refer to the below image:

Next, the Shortcuts app will launch on your device and display the Charge Time shortcut. At the bottom, tap on Add Shortcut to proceed. See the below image:

Now, this will install the shortcut and add it to the All Shortcuts and My Shortcuts gallery. See the following image:

Next, tap on the Charge Time shortcut to reveal its menu. From here, tap the Details option. Refer to the below image:

Charge Time 4 — Accessing shortcut options

Now, tap the Add to Home Screen link. See the below image:

Charge Time 5 — Add the shortcut to your Home screen

Next, a preview screen will display the Charge Time shortcut. At the top of this screen, tap Add. See the following image:

Now, the Charge Time shortcut will be added to your Home screen (the first empty space it finds). Refer to the below image:

Charge Time 7 — Shortcut added to your Home screen

Next, simply tap on the Charge Time icon. You will get a pop-up message at the top of your screen stating how long it will take for your device to charge to 100%. Tap Done or Cancel (depending on if you have made any changes) to close the pop-up. See the below image:

Charge Time 8 — Results of running your shortcut

Before closing the pop-up message, you have more options. Long press on the pop-up message. At the top of the screen, you will notice a down arrow next to the message.

If you say, “Hey Siri, Charge Time”; the shortcut will run but you are unable to use a long press on the pop-up message to view options.

See the following image:

Charge Time 9 — Accessing the drop-down arrow

Now, tap on this down arrow to upload as a text document, save to Files or Print. Finally, to exit, tap Done. Refer to the following image:

Charge Time 10 — Options for the shortcut

That’s pretty much all you have to do.

Charge Time Is An Estimate

It’s important to note the result you get is just an approximate value and not completely accurate to the minute.

As useful as this shortcut is, we would like to point out that there’s one major downside to it. This might be a dealbreaker for a lot of users. The Charge Time shortcut only takes into account the standard charger that comes in the box with your iPhone. Nowadays, people use fast chargers, wireless chargers, or even MagSafe to charge their iPhones, and if you are one of them, this shortcut will not be helpful.

Having said that, there are still plenty of iPhone owners who did not purchase the optional fast charger and instead use the one that came in the box, so it’s not like the shortcut is useless at all. Hopefully, this shortcut was useful for you.