Genius Scan review

Genius Scan splits cleanly into a free scanner and a paid OCR tier. The Basic plan is free with unlimited, full-resolution scans and no watermark, plus perspective correction, hands-free auto capture and batch mode. OCR sits in Ultra at $39.99 a year: The Grizzly Labs says its on-device text recognition adds a text layer to PDFs so you can search and index them, and Ultra also turns business cards into contacts. Ultra adds unlimited Genius Cloud backups, sync between devices, web access at geniuscloud.com and exports to Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, OneDrive, OneNote and WebDAV servers. Privacy is the main selling point: the company describes itself as European, cites GDPR and CCPA, and keeps documents on the phone unless you export them. Teams get volume pricing from $40 to $20 per license per year and a HIPAA BAA on the Team plan. The catch is that free users get no OCR at all. We compared documented features and published prices.

Who it is for

privacy-minded users who want OCR that runs on the phone

Price

Free Basic plan; Ultra with OCR $39.99 a year.

ULTRA $39.99 /year
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 13, 2026.

Key features

• On-device text recognition adds a text layer to PDFs for search and indexing
• Free Basic plan with unlimited scans and no watermark
• Batch mode for scanning dozens of pages in a row
• PDF/A support for long-term archiving
• Ultra adds unlimited Genius Cloud backups, sync and web access

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Documents are processed and stored on the phone unless you export them
• Strength: Free plan is fully functional for scanning, with no page limits
• Strength: Team licenses run from $40 down to $20 per license per year
• Weakness: OCR is not in the free Basic plan; it needs Ultra at $39.99 a year
• Weakness: No monthly option on the pricing page
• Weakness: Text extraction and business card scanning are premium features

Key facts

• Free plan: Yes, unlimited scans, no OCR
• OCR plan: Ultra, $39.99 a year
• Where OCR runs: On device
• App Store rating: 4.9 from 1.4M ratings

Where it ranks

Genius Scan is No. 2 in our Best OCR Apps verdict.