It depends on how you feel about tracking: ScanMe declares data used to track you. The sensitive items are location. In total the label lists 3 data types; 64% of document scanners we checked declare tracking.
ScanMe privacy in one look
- 1Collects nothing
- 2Not linked
- 3Linked
- 4Tracks you
Built only from the developer's App Store label. It describes disclosure, not tested behaviour.
ScanMe's developer reports using location, identifiers, usage data to track you across other companies' apps and websites.
Did ScanMe ask for something?
Pick the permission prompt you saw. We compare it with what ScanMe's developer declared.
ScanMe lists Location on its label, including for tracking. Choose While Using and turn off Precise Location if the feature works without it.
User Content is not on ScanMe's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
Contacts is not on ScanMe's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
ScanMe declares data used to track you, so expect the “Allow to track?” prompt. Tap Ask App Not to Track; the app must keep working without it.
Health & Fitness is not on ScanMe's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
A permission is what the app can reach on your iPhone; the label is what the developer says leaves it. They answer different questions.
What ScanMe collects, explained
| Data type | What it covers | Where to limit it |
|---|---|---|
| LocationSensitiveUsed to track youLinked to you | Where your phone is, either precisely (street level) or approximately (city or area). | Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services: choose Never or While Using, and turn off Precise Location if the app does not need it. |
| IdentifiersUsed to track youLinked to you | An account ID, screen name, customer number or a device-level ID such as the advertising identifier. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking: turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track, or tap Ask App Not to Track when prompted. |
| Usage DataUsed to track youLinked to youNot linked to you | What you tap, open and view inside the app, plus which ads you have seen. | There is no single iOS switch. Look for an analytics or personalised-ads toggle in the app's own settings. |
What ScanMe's label means for you
ScanMe's label has 3 types under “Data Used to Track You”, 3 types under “Data Linked to You”, 1 type under “Data Not Linked to You”. A data type can appear in more than one section when it is used for different purposes — for example, identifiers used for both analytics and advertising.
Tracking is the declaration that most separates apps. It means location, identifiers, usage data from ScanMe can be combined with data from other companies to target or measure ads, or shared with data brokers. On iOS 14.5 and later, the app must ask your permission before tracking you through the advertising identifier; answering “Ask App Not to Track” blocks that identifier and tells the developer you have declined.
The items that deserve the most attention are location. Location history reveals home, work and routines. Precise location deserves the most scrutiny.
Scanners handle IDs, contracts, receipts and medical letters. Many offer cloud OCR, which means your document images leave the phone. Prefer on-device text recognition where offered, and check whether scans sync to the developer's cloud by default.
Among the 173 document scanners in our snapshot with a label, 64% declare tracking, 68% collect data linked to you and 20% say they collect nothing. ScanMe lists 3 data types, about the same as the average of 2.8 for this group.
Productivity apps tend to collect the work you do in them — documents, notes and files — so User Content is common. The question is whether it syncs to the developer's servers and how it is protected there.
Settings to check for ScanMe
- 1
Tracking
Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. If “Allow Apps to Request to Track” is off, apps cannot ask, and they are told to treat you as having declined. You can also turn it off for this app alone.
- 2
Location
Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › ScanMe. Choose While Using or Never, and switch off Precise Location if a city-level answer is enough.
- 3
Photos
Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos. Limited Access lets you pick exactly which pictures the app can see; Add Photos Only lets it save without reading your library.
- 4
Lock the app
On iOS 18 and later, touch and hold the icon and choose Require Face ID. Anyone who picks up your unlocked phone then needs your face, fingerprint or passcode to open it.
- 5
Notifications
Settings › Notifications › ScanMe › Show Previews: When Unlocked keeps message and account details off the Lock Screen.
Does ScanMe track you?
Location, identifiers and usage data. Apple defines tracking as linking data from this app with data from other companies' apps, websites or offline sources for targeted advertising or ad measurement, or sharing it with a data broker.
Lock ScanMe behind Face ID
- Find ScanMe on your Home Screen or in App Library.
- Touch and hold the icon until the quick-actions menu opens.
- Tap Require Face ID (or Require Touch ID / Require Passcode, depending on your iPhone).
- Tap Require Face ID again to confirm. ScanMe now asks for authentication every time it opens.
The lock is an iPhone feature, so it works whether or not ScanMe has a passcode of its own. It does not change what the app sends to its developer.
About ScanMe
| Developer | Synergy Digital LLC |
| App Store category | Productivity (also Utilities) |
| Latest version | 1.2, released May 2024 |
| First released | February 2023 |
| Requires | iOS 15.0 or later |
| Size | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ |
| Languages | 20 (AR, CA, CS, NL, EN, FI, FR, DE…) |
| Bundle ID | mn.synergy.scanme |
The current version shipped in May 2024, 2 years before our snapshot. Apps that are not updated may not support newer iOS privacy controls, and an abandoned app will not get security fixes.
What the label cannot tell you
- A label is self-reported. Apple publishes the developer's answers and can reject apps that misrepresent them, but it does not independently verify what ScanMe sends.
- It does not say where data is stored, how long it is kept, whether it is encrypted, or which companies receive it. The privacy policy covers those points.
- Optional data counts: if a feature lets you add something (a profile photo, a phone number), the type is listed even if you never use the feature.
- Data handled only on your iPhone is not 'collected', so a no-collection label is compatible with an app that reads your files locally.
- Third-party sign-in, payment processors and SDKs are supposed to be included, but a label can lag behind a new version.
The question to ask ScanMe's developer: Are my scans processed on the phone or uploaded for OCR?
ScanMe vs similar document scanners
- PDF Reader & Document Scanner
- ScanMe (this app)
- PDF Document Scanner Editor
- Filo
- PDF Scanner - Document Scanner
- Scanner PDF Document Scanner
- Scan PDF－Convert Document
Fewer types is not automatically safer: a cloud backup app has to collect your files to work. Compare like with like.
Look up any of our apps in seconds, or put two labels side by side.
Apps similar to ScanMe
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Your ScanMe privacy checklist
Done. You have applied every control the label points to.
True or false?
- Right.Not quite.
True: it lists location, identifiers and usage data under Data Used to Track You.
- Right.Not quite.
Labels are self-reported by developers. Apple can reject or remove apps that misrepresent practices, but it does not audit each label.
- Right.Not quite.
True: Location appears on its label.
- Right.Not quite.
It is collected and sent; the developer says it is de-identified rather than tied to your account or device.
- Right.Not quite.
Apple's rules require apps to work the same whether or not you allow tracking.