Coming soon to theApp Store

Scan with iPhone on iPad

Pro

On this page

Your iPhone is easier to hold over a page than an iPad. Scan with iPhone is how you scan on the iPhone and find the result on your iPad a few seconds later.

What it is

On iPad, the Add sheet has an extra tile under Capture: Scan with iPhone. It isn’t a remote camera. iPadOS doesn’t offer apps the “Scan documents from iPhone” option that Macs have, so Paperwise uses its own sync instead:

  1. You scan with Paperwise on your iPhone, as usual.
  2. Sync carries the scan to your iPad.

Tapping the tile shows a short reminder, Scan with your iPhone: “Open Paperwise on your iPhone and tap Scan. With both devices signed in to your Paperwise account and sync on, the scan appears here in a few seconds, end-to-end encrypted.” Tap Account to check your sync settings, or OK to close it.

When to use it

  • You work on the iPad but the paper is easier to scan with a phone.
  • Several pages to scan quickly, with the iPhone’s camera.
  • Anything you’d then annotate or sign with Apple Pencil on the iPad.

You can also scan with the iPad itself: tap Scan in the navigation bar. It uses the iPad’s camera and works the same way as on iPhone.

Step by step

Set up once

  1. On your iPhone, sign in to Paperwise: Account → Sign in with Apple. See Sign in with Apple.
  2. Add the iPad to your account with Account → Add a device by code. See Add a device by code.
  3. Make sure Sync across devices is on in Account on both devices. See Sync across iPhone and iPad.

Scan

  1. On the iPhone, open Paperwise and tap Scan.
  2. Scan your pages and tap Save. See Scan a document.
  3. On the iPad, the new document appears in your vault, usually within a few seconds.

You can tap + → Scan with iPhone on the iPad any time for a reminder of these steps.

Free and Pro

The Scan with iPhone tile is on every iPad, but getting the scan across needs sync, which is Pro. See Free and Pro.

Without Pro, scan with the iPad’s own camera, or move the PDF yourself (for example with AirDrop, then Save to Paperwise on the iPad).

Privacy

  • The scan is made on your iPhone: edges, clean-up and text recognition all happen there.
  • Sync encrypts the scan on your iPhone before it’s uploaded, with keys we don’t have. Our server stores and passes on only encrypted data, plus the metadata listed in the security whitepaper.
  • A scan saved to Hidden on the iPhone stays in Hidden on the iPad, under its own Hidden encryption. On the iPad, Hidden is opened with that space’s recovery key the first time.

Tips

  • Leave Paperwise open on the iPad; the scan appears there without you doing anything. If it’s slow, tap Account → Sync now.
  • Use the reminder’s Account button to jump straight to your sync settings.

What if…

What if I don’t see Scan with iPhone?

That tile is on iPad only. On the iPhone, just tap Scan.

What if the scan doesn’t show up on the iPad?

Check that both devices are signed in to the same account, that sync is on, and that both are online. On the iPad, tap Account → Sync now. See Sync, backup and email problems.

What if I expected the iPad to open my iPhone’s camera?

Paperwise doesn’t control the iPhone’s camera from the iPad; iPadOS doesn’t allow it. Scan in Paperwise on the iPhone and sync brings the result over.

Still stuck? Write to support@paperwise.app.