Support for Siri Shortcuts has arrived in the app’s latest major update
Developer: doo GmbH
Price: Free (+ $7/£7 IAP)
Size: 235.8 MB
Version: 8.0.1
Platform: iPhone & iPad
Update! Scanbot is a top-notch document-scanning app – there’s no doubt about that. But is it still king of the App Store scanners?
So what’s new? Surprisingly, the team behind Scanbot has continued to find ways to improve this impressive app. Most of the improvements came in Scanbot 9, which launched in June 2019. First amongst these changes are redesigned folders, which make scanned PDFs easier to navigate. There’s also a grid view for iPad users, and the ability to pin documents which you regularly access in the app. Along with a refreshed look and feel, Scanbot uses can also customize how documents are sorted – options now include by date, name, or size. All of this sounds great – but there is, sadly, a catch (albeit it an understandable one). To continue to support the app’s development, Scanbot’s new features are reserved for subscribers to the service – this will set you back $21/£20.50 per year. The good news is that folks will be able to keep the features they’ve already got, right up to Scanbot 8. But for the glory of Scanbot 9, an annual fee is required.
Revised rating: Scanbot remains an App Store legend, and we continue to love it. Some users may lament the annual fee, and it does feel a little steep (working out at just under $2 per month), but its worth will depend entirely on how much you use the app. And if you’re someone who picks up Scanbot every now and then for the occasional snap, don’t forget that the subscription is entirely optional. For that reason, Scanbot holds onto its perfect score. ★★★★★
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Our original review, written in September 2018, is presented in its entirety below.
We’ve loved Scanbot for a long time. But now, thanks to the recent release of version 8.0, the app is smarter than ever before. Best of all, Scanbot 8 is a free update for folks who are already using the app. But what does the latest release bring? Let’s find out.
If you don’t know Scanbot, the app is hands-down the best iOS scanner out there. It uses the iOS camera to turn snaps of documents into searchable PDFs, performing on-board OCR (that’s optical character recognition) at a lightning-fast speed. Scanbot offers on-board workflows which allow users to automate how the app processes PDFs, but support for Siri Shortcuts takes this level of automation to the next level.
Scanbot 8 makes some nice changes to the much-loved app, but Siri Shortcuts is by far the best
In Scanbot 8, users can create shortcuts which incorporate Scanbot’s functionality using the Shortcuts app in iOS 12 (which is a separate free download). When building a new shorcut, you’ll be able to add a step which allows you to scan a document using Scanbot. The PDF will then be passed into the next step in your shortcut.
Scanbot is hands-down the best scanner app out there.
There are loads of possible uses for Scanbot’s new support for Shortcuts. In the below workflow, the shortcut asks Scanbot to snap a document before adding the file to an outgoing message. The Shortcuts app lets users add layers to their personal workflows in order to achieve multiple actions with a single tap. Really handy if you have a lot of documents to file and don’t want to manually edit and archive them one by one – a shortcut can help you with the heavy lifting.
You can create simple workflows using Apple’s free Shortcuts app.
As with other Siri Shortcuts, you can also add your Scanbot shortcuts to Siri in order to activate them with your voice.
However, support for Siri Shortcuts isn’t all that’s new in Scanbot 8. The updated app includes support for Password Auto-Fill when connecting new services and you can now set the page size for documents within the app. There’s also a fun built-in game which teaches users good scanning technique using ARKit’s augmented reality (can you beat the high score in the challenge mode?).
By layering additional actions, you can accomplish a lot with a single tap.
But of course, Siri Shortcuts is what Scanbot 8 is all about. While Scanbot is a free download, Scanbot Pro (which offers OCR, automatic uploads, and more) is a $7/£7) IAP. And Apple’s own Shortcuts app is, of course, available free of charge.
Go forth, and start creating scan-tastic Siri Shortcuts!