Best OCR Apps for Whole Pages, Offline Use and Handwriting
Live Text on iPhone and Google Lens on Android copy text from a photo for free. Apps are for whole pages and handwriting. Microsoft Lens has been retired.
OCR, short for optical character recognition, turns a picture of words into text you can copy, search or edit. For a line or a paragraph your phone already does it, with nothing to install. The apps are for whole pages you want as a searchable PDF or a Word file, for working with no connection, and for writing done by hand: Text Fairy is the offline pick on Android, vFlat Scan suits books and Pen to Print handwriting.
Copying a few lines from a photo
Live Text on iPhone
Live Text is part of iOS. Apple’s support page says it recognises text in your photos, in videos and in images you find online. In the Camera app you point at the words and tap the Live Text button. From there you can copy the text, translate it, call a number or look up directions. It also works when you use the camera inside Notes or Reminders.
You need an iPhone XS, XR or later with iOS 15 or later, and the switch is under Settings, General, Language & Region. Apple’s feature list gives about two dozen languages for Live Text, among them English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese. Hindi and Arabic are not on it.
Google Lens on Android
Open the Google app, tap the Lens icon in the search bar, then take a photo or pick a screenshot. Tap the text and choose Select text. The menu offers Copy, Listen, Translate and Search, and if you selected a phone number or an address it offers to call it or open it in Maps.
In Google Photos, open a picture, tap More, then Google Lens, and select the words you want. Lens is also a free app of its own on Google Play, with no ads label and nothing to buy. Its listing says some features need an internet connection. On an iPhone, Google’s help page puts Lens inside the Google app.
Google Keep is still on both stores, but Google’s help pages for Keep no longer describe pulling the text out of a picture.
The yellow T in Samsung’s Gallery
Open a photo that has writing in it and tap the yellow T at the bottom right. The text is highlighted and you can copy all or part of it. Samsung’s support site says this is on most recent Galaxy phones, and names the Galaxy S24, S25 and S26, the Z Fold and Z Flip, and the A series.
Where your scans go, app by app
The pages people scan are often the private ones, such as an ID card or a bank statement. Some apps recognise the text on the phone, and others send the page to a server to do it. The table says what each listing or maker states. Check where an app sends your pages before you give it anything sensitive.
| App | Phones | On the stores | Where recognition happens | Languages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text Fairy | Android | Free with ads, in-app purchases | On the phone. The listing says it works offline | More than 110, printed text only |
| MakeACopy | Android | Free, no ads, no purchases | On the phone. The listing says fully offline | Not given in the listing |
| Genius Scan | Android, iPhone | Free scanner; text recognition is in the paid plans | On the phone, says the listing | Over 100, says the maker |
| vFlat Scan | Android, iPhone | Free with a monthly limit, no ads, in-app purchases | On vFlat’s servers, says the maker | Over 100, says the maker |
| Adobe Scan | Android, iPhone | Free, in-app purchases | Not stated. Scans are saved to Adobe’s cloud | About 20 in Adobe’s user guide |
| CamScanner | Android, iPhone; not listed in India | Free with ads, in-app purchases | Not stated in the listing | 41, says the maker |
| Text Scanner [OCR] | Android | Free with ads, in-app purchases | Not stated in the listing | More than 50; the listing says it reads handwriting |
| Pen to Print | Android, iPhone | Free to download, in-app purchases | On the maker’s servers, says its FAQ | Handwriting in Latin-script languages |
OCR with no connection
Text Fairy is the Android app for whole printed pages. It works offline to protect your privacy, its listing says, and recognises printed text in more than 110 languages. It straightens the lines, corrects the angle of the shot, detects columns, reads the result aloud and exports it as a PDF. Google Play shows a “Contains ads” label on it.
MakeACopy is the choice if you want no ads at all, a small open-source scanner whose listing promises no ads, no tracking and no cloud. Edge detection, text recognition and export to a searchable PDF or plain text all happen on the phone. The listing does not say which languages it reads, so try it on your own language before you rely on it.
Genius Scan is the offline option that also runs on iPhone. The scanner itself is free with no limit on scans, and both its listings say documents are processed on the device. The catch is that text recognition and searchable PDFs belong to the paid plans, as the maker’s help pages and price list both say. Its App Store page is under The Grizzly Labs.
Books and documents to PDF or Word
vFlat Scan is built for books. It flattens curved pages, hides the fingers holding the book open and splits a two-page spread into two scans. There are no ads and no sign-in. The maker’s website is clear about the rest: text recognition covers over 100 languages, the image is sent to vFlat’s servers over an encrypted connection and deleted within 24 hours, and the free plan includes 10 pages of text recognition a month. It is also on the App Store.
Adobe Scan suits anyone who wants the scan as a Word file and already has an Adobe account. It makes scans searchable and editable, and can export to Word, Excel or PowerPoint. Scans are saved automatically to Adobe’s cloud storage, which means an Adobe account. A subscription raises the OCR limit from 5 pages to 100. Adobe’s user guide names about 20 languages for text recognition, including Japanese and Russian, and mentions language packs you download inside the app. The iPhone version is on the App Store.
CamScanner scans to PDF, JPG, Word or TXT, and its OCR lets you search your scans by the words inside them. Its website gives 41 languages. The free version carries ads, and there is a subscription. One thing matters for readers in India: CamScanner is not listed on Google Play or the App Store there. Elsewhere it is on the App Store too.
The Google Drive app on Android has a scanner of its own behind its Camera button. Google’s help page says it saves documents such as receipts and letters as searchable PDFs in your Drive.
Reading handwriting
Not every OCR app accepts it. Text Fairy’s listing says plainly that it cannot read handwriting.
Pen to Print is made for it. You photograph a handwritten page, including cursive and messy writing, then edit the result and export it to Word or plain text. The maker’s FAQ says it handles Latin-script languages such as English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese. The same FAQ says files are sent to its servers for conversion and deleted as soon as that is done. Subscriptions unlock unlimited exports. It is on the App Store as well.
Text Scanner [OCR] from Peace lists more than 50 languages and says it supports handwriting. The result can be copied, emailed or saved to Google Drive. It is free with ads. The listing still mentions sharing to Google+ and Google Hangouts, so do not expect the description to be current. Adobe Scan’s listing says its Edit in text tool works on handwritten words too.
Hindi, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa
Google Drive can turn a photo or a PDF into an editable document, but only on a computer. At drive.google.com you right-click the file and choose Open with Google Docs. Google’s help page asks for a file of 2 MB or less with text at least 10 pixels high. Its list of supported languages runs past 200 and includes Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Urdu, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and Swahili.
Microsoft Lens has been retired
Office Lens, later renamed Microsoft Lens, is gone. Microsoft’s support page says the app was retired in early 2026 and removed from Google Play and the App Store, and that copies already installed can no longer create new scans. Microsoft points people to the scanner inside its OneDrive app, with the warning that OneDrive does not save scans to the phone itself.
If you only want to read small print and not copy it, a magnifier does that with less fuss. See our guide to magnifying glass apps.
