How to Scan an ID Card with Your iPhone
Switch to ID Card mode, capture the front, then flip the card and capture the back as a second page — both sides usually need to be in the same file. Keep the card on a plain dark surface with indirect light so the laminate does not flare, then export a single PDF. All capture and text recognition happens on your iPhone, so the card image is not uploaded to a server.
Tools used: Crop & perspective fixRotateBrightness & contrastOCR text recognitionPDF conversion
Step by step
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Choose ID Card mode
ID Card mode expects a small credit-card-shaped subject rather than a full sheet of paper. That matters because a card fills only a fraction of the viewfinder, and document mode tends to hunt for larger rectangles and lock onto the table edge instead.
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Put the card on a contrasting surface
Edge detection works by finding the boundary between the card and what is behind it. A pale ID on a white desk is the classic failure case — move it onto a dark tabletop, a closed notebook, or a sheet of dark paper and the outline snaps into place immediately.
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Kill the glare before you capture
Laminate and holographic overlays bounce light straight back at the lens. Instead of moving the phone, tilt the card a few degrees or step away from the overhead light. Side light from a window is the most reliable setup, and a blown-out patch over the photo or the ID number cannot be recovered afterward.
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Capture the back as a second page
Almost every organisation that asks for an ID wants both sides — the back carries the issue and expiry dates, the barcode, and often the address. Flip the card and shoot again in the same session so the two captures stay together as pages one and two.
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Crop tight and export one PDF
Use Crop & perspective fix to trim the surrounding desk out of each page, and Rotate if the back was shot sideways. Export both pages as a single PDF rather than two loose JPGs, which is what most upload forms expect.
Frequently asked
- Do I need to scan both sides of an ID card?
- Usually yes, and if you are unsure, send both. Verification staff often check the expiry date or a control number that only appears on the reverse, and a resubmission costs more time than the extra ten seconds. If the recipient explicitly asks for the front only, send only the front.
- How do I stop the hologram from washing out the scan?
- Angle the card rather than the phone, and use diffuse light — near a window on an overcast day, or in a room lit from the side rather than directly overhead. Some holographic shimmer is normal and does not make the scan invalid, but a solid white patch covering printed text does.
- Can the app read the text off my ID?
- OCR can pull the printed name, number, and dates into selectable text, with auto-detect plus Latin, Korean, Chinese (Simplified), and Japanese scripts available. Always check the result against the card — small stylised fonts and text sitting on a security pattern are where recognition slips.
- Is the ID image sent anywhere?
- No. Capture and text recognition run on the device using Apple's built-in frameworks, and document images are not uploaded to a server. What happens after you share the PDF is up to you and whoever receives it.
- Do I have to pay to save the scan?
- No. Saving and exporting to PDF or JPG is free with no watermark, and no account is required to start. The paid upgrade adds extras such as additional OCR language packs — it never locks a file you have already made.
Last updated 2026-07-28