// COMPARISON

A Microsoft Lens alternative that stays on your phone

Updated: 2026-09-02

If you came here looking for a replacement rather than a comparison, you already know why: Microsoft has retired Lens. Its own support page says the app was removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store on 9 February 2026, and that scanning stopped working on 9 March 2026. Requesting the Play listing on 2 September 2026 returns Google Play’s "Not Found" page in the India, United States, United Kingdom and Singapore stores.

So this page is less "which app is better" and more "what you lose and what you gain by moving". Microsoft recommends the OneDrive app, which has a scanner built in — and which, by Microsoft’s own account, does not save scans to the phone. If that is the part that matters to you, an on-device scanner is the other direction to go.

Every Microsoft fact here was read off Microsoft’s own support pages on the date given, with the URL recorded on the page. ScanCrypt is made by Crypton Studio and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Microsoft.

Microsoft Lens and ScanCrypt, point by point

Checked on 2 September 2026.

Lens is written in the past tense below where its own support pages put it there. Where a Lens fact could not be checked because the Play listing no longer exists, this page says so rather than filling the gap from memory.

  • Account: Lens — you could save to your device without signing in, but Microsoft’s Android page says that saving to OneNote, OneDrive, Word or PowerPoint "may" prompt you to sign in with a Microsoft Account or a work or school account, and the retirement notice says you must be signed into your last active account to reach past scans at all; ScanCrypt — no account of any kind, and nothing you have scanned is ever behind a sign-in.
  • Where documents go: Lens — Microsoft’s Android page lists the gallery on the device, PDF, and Microsoft OneNote, OneDrive, Word or PowerPoint; ScanCrypt — the app’s own library on the phone, and the only server it can send a document to is a WebDAV server you configure yourself.
  • Ads: Lens — we could not verify this on 2 September 2026, because the Play listing that would carry an ads badge has been removed, and Microsoft’s support pages do not mention advertising; ScanCrypt — ads on the free tier only, and Pro removes every one of them.
  • Price: Lens — Microsoft’s Android page said to "download the latest version of Microsoft Lens for free from the Google Play Store", with no purchase named anywhere on it; ScanCrypt — free to install with ads on the free tier, and Pro Lifetime ₹649 / $7.99 once, or Pro Annual ₹249 / $2.99 per year. Prices vary by region.
  • Available today: Lens — no. It was removed from both app stores on 9 February 2026, and new scans stopped working on 9 March 2026, though previous scans stay reachable while the app is still installed and you are signed in; ScanCrypt — on Google Play now, at version 1.1.2.

Where Microsoft Lens is better

Retired does not mean it was worse. These are things Lens did that ScanCrypt does not, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest.

  • It cost nothing at all. Microsoft’s page describes downloading it for free, and names no purchase anywhere. ScanCrypt’s free tier shows ads, and removing them means buying Pro.
  • It saved straight into Office. Microsoft’s page lists OneNote, OneDrive, Word and PowerPoint as save destinations. ScanCrypt has no integration with any of them — you share or export a file and put it where you want it yourself.
  • It had a Whiteboard mode. Microsoft’s page lists five capture modes: Whiteboard, Document, Actions, Business Card and Photo. ScanCrypt has nothing equivalent to Whiteboard — the word does not appear anywhere in the app.
  • It ran on iPhone and iPad too. Microsoft published a Lens page for Android, one for iPhone and one for iPad. ScanCrypt is Android only.
  • It came from Microsoft. For anyone already inside a work or school Microsoft tenant, an app that signs in with the same account and lands files in the same OneDrive is a real advantage that a small independent app cannot match.

Where ScanCrypt is better

It still exists, and it still scans. That is the flat difference, and for anyone whose Lens install has stopped making new scans it is the only one that matters today.

Scans are saved to the phone by default. This is worth spelling out because Microsoft’s recommended replacement does not do it: its own retirement page says OneDrive does not support saving scans locally on your device. In ScanCrypt, local is the only place a scan goes unless you send it somewhere.

There is no account. No sign-up, no email, no login, and no risk of losing access to your own past scans because you cannot remember which account you were signed into.

Nothing leaves the phone unless you send it. Scanning, text recognition and every PDF and image tool run on the device. Turn on airplane mode and use the app — every document tool behaves exactly the same.

And the list of what the app does send is short enough to print: on the free tier, ads through Google AdMob, including the advertising ID. Crash reports and anonymous usage analytics through Firebase, and analytics can be switched off in Settings → Privacy & Data. Feature flags and pricing through Firebase Remote Config. No document content is included in any of it.

  • It is still on the store and still makes new scans.
  • Scans land on the phone, not in a cloud account.
  • No account, so no sign-in between you and old scans.
  • A one-time purchase option rather than only a subscription.

What we could not verify

Two gaps, both caused by the same thing: the listing that would answer them is gone.

Whether Microsoft Lens carried ads. The Play listing that would show a "Contains ads" badge returns a 404, and Microsoft’s support pages do not discuss advertising, so this page makes no claim either way.

What Lens did without a network connection. Nothing on the support pages we could read describes its offline behaviour, so the comparison above states only what ScanCrypt does.

How to do it in ScanCrypt

  1. Get your old scans out of Lens while you still can. Microsoft’s retirement notice says previous scans stay reachable if the app is still installed and you are signed into your last active account. Open it, sign in if asked, and save each document you care about to the phone’s storage — Downloads is fine. Do not uninstall Lens until that is done.
  2. Check OneDrive too. If Lens was saving to OneDrive, OneNote, Word or PowerPoint, the files are in those accounts rather than on the phone. Download the ones you want back onto the device before you move on.
  3. Install ScanCrypt and open it. It runs on Android 6.0 (API 23) and up. There is no sign-in step and no account to create — the Home screen is the first thing you see.
  4. Tap IMPORT PDF for anything you downloaded from OneDrive. The Home screen has IMPORT IMAGE and IMPORT PDF next to the scan button. Picking a file copies it into the ScanCrypt library and opens it in the viewer, with no conversion step.
  5. Use Gallery Import for scans Lens saved to the device. Lens could save straight to the gallery, so a lot of old scans are probably JPEGs. Gallery Import takes a batch of images, lets you order them, and writes them out as a single PDF.
  6. Organise into folders on the phone. There is no OneDrive folder structure to bring across, so create a folder on the Folders tab instead, then use Move to Folder on a document. Folders can be nested, and a folder can be locked with a PIN.

Questions

Is ScanCrypt free like Lens was?

Not in the same way, and it is worth being plain about it. Lens cost nothing at all. ScanCrypt has a free tier — 20 tools with no time limit, no watermark and no page-count trial — but that tier shows ads, and the rest of the catalogue plus removing the ads is a paid upgrade: Pro Lifetime ₹649 / $7.99 once, or Pro Annual ₹249 / $2.99 per year. Prices vary by region. If "free with no ads and no purchase" is the requirement, ScanCrypt does not meet it.

Can ScanCrypt export to Word?

Yes. The PDF to Word tool extracts the text from a PDF and writes a real .docx file next to it, on the device, with no upload and no page cap. In version 1.1.2 it is a Pro tool rather than a free one. There is also Word to PDF in the other direction.

Do I need a Microsoft account, or any account?

No. ScanCrypt has no account system at all — no sign-up, no email field, no login screen. The only account involved anywhere is the Google Play account you already used to install the app, and that is only for buying Pro.

Will my scans be saved on the phone?

Yes, and that is the only place they go. Each scan is written as a PDF into the ScanCrypt library in your device storage. It leaves the phone when you share or export it yourself, and not before.