PageVoWhat actually happens when you scan with many apps
In a good share of the popular scanner apps, capturing a page means the image is sent to the maker's servers: cropping, filtering, OCR and a stored copy tied to your account all happen there. That's why many require signing up before you can scan, and ship with "sync" enabled by default.
The consequences are concrete: your document sits on someone else's infrastructure, subject to the provider's policies (and breaches), and is sometimes retained even after you delete it from the app.
How to spot an app that uploads your documents
- Mandatory account before you can scan anything.
- "Cloud", "sync" or "backup" on by default.
- OCR that fails offline. If recognizing text needs a connection, the image is traveling.
- The store privacy label: both the App Store and Google Play require apps to declare what data they collect. Check it before installing.
On-device scanning exists, and gives up nothing
Today's phones — even mid-range ones — can do the whole job locally: real-time edge detection, perspective correction, filters, OCR and PDF generation. iOS solves it with the Vision framework and Android with ML Kit, both designed to work offline.
This is how PageVo works: scanning, filters, OCR, organizing and exporting all happen on your phone. There is no account, no document server, and the app works the same in airplane mode. The privacy labels on both stores reflect it: the content of your documents is not collected — ever.
When it matters most
- IDs and passports — identity theft's favorite material.
- Contracts and payslips — your information, and other people's.
- Medical records — sensitive by definition.
- Work documents — which may not even be yours to share.