Google Drive's document scanning is now available on iPhone

It got better, too.
 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
Google Drive
Google Drive just got a lot better if you scan documents often. Credit: Thomas Trutschel / Getty Images

If you're an iPhone user, you probably didn't know that Google Drive has a fairly usable, built-in document scanning feature.

Now, the feature's got even better. According to Google, the scanner now has a dedicated button in the lower right corner. It also has an automatic capture feature, helping you get the best scan faster. The camera viewfinder will help you to position your document for the best possible scan, and there's an option to import documents from your camera roll.

What does this have to do with the iPhone, you may ask? Well, Google finally made the scanner available on iOS, with all the new bells and whistles included.

Via Giphy

There are two ways to access the feature. Either open the Drive app on your iOS device, and tap the new camera button, or tap the "+" icon, and hit Scan. You can scan several pages in one session if needed, as well as apply filters or crop the document after scanning it.

I've updated Google Drive to the latest version on my iPhone, and I still don't see the feature, but Google says it should become available to all users within three days, starting Nov. 28.

Apple has a similar feature built into Notes. To access it, open Notes on your iPhone, tap the camera button, and start scanning. It works fairly well though it's somewhat unnecessarily tied to Notes — I'd prefer if you could just scan documents directly into your Photos storage. If you prefer to keep your scanned document in Google Drive, then Google's new scanning option might be better for you.

Topics Google

Stan Schroeder
Stan Schroeder
Senior Editor

Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.

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