Need to turn your paper worksheet into a PDF? Tired of using your printer to create one? Want an even quicker and easier way to do so? Then this app’s for you. 

Genius Scan is a free instant PDF creator. All you have to do to make one is go into the app and press the “+” button. After allowing the app to access your camera, you will then have the ability to take a picture of any paper you need to. There’s even an orange outliner to help you focus in on your worksheet! Once you finish this process, press “Done”. You will then be able to upload your newly created PDF to different places. Unfortunately, you can’t access certain features without Genius Scan+ (which costs $7.99), but you can attach the PDF to Google Classroom, which I assume will be enough for most students. You can also upload to Drive if you have the app on your phone.

There are some cool organizational features as well. Of course you can name the PDF, but you can also put a “tag” on it. For example, if you’re creating a Modern World History PDF, you can name it based on what the assignment is or however you want to, and then you can hit “add tag” and write “Modern World History”. Now you have this PDF classified by a subject, and you can do this for future ones as well. This is not a very useful feature, but it is something nice for organizational people like myself.

When my geometry teacher told our class that we would have to make a PDF to submit an at-home quiz, I internally groaned. I didn’t know why we couldn’t just send in a picture, and I had never made a PDF previously. I thought that making one would be a frustrating process and would take my valuable time of doing nothing at all away. Then, she introduced us to this app, and it was so easy! I was able to produce a clean, nice looking PDF. And, thinking about it, isn’t there something much more professional about submitting one of these instead of a picture that most likely includes your floor or your desk?

While this app is great, it has its flaws. I found out when I was trying to submit a Chinese assignment that the writing sometimes tends to appear disconnected and fades out. This is especially annoying when you have a multiple page packet and some of the pages turn out fine while others may not look as good. Then, you end up either having to use half a PDF and some pictures or just pictures. Another thing is that the app scans shadows over the paper, and I suppose that could be somewhat problematic, but it hasn’t affected me at all. The writing should still be visible.

Overall, Genius Scan is a great app for students who want to make their work look a little more professional, or for students whose teachers want them to turn in an assignment in the form of a PDF. It is particularly useful for those who don’t have a printer at home but do have a phone. I would highly recommend installing this app in the near future.