Scan an ID Card to PDF, Both Sides on One Page
Offices ask for a copy of the front and the back. What they mean is one page carrying both, not two separate files.
The two capture flow
- Tap the ID button in the top row of the library. It is the card shaped icon next to the sort control.
- Scan the front. The camera closes and reopens on its own, so there is nothing to tap in between.
- Scan the back. That second capture ends the sequence.
- Check the composed page. Both captures are placed on one portrait page, the front in the upper half and the back in the lower half. Each side is fitted to its half without stretching, so the proportions of the card stay correct.
- Pick a page mode and save. The result is a one page PDF with a searchable text layer, like any other scan.
This is part of the free tier. There is no cap on how many you make.
What it will not do
- It composes exactly two captures. A document with more sides needs a second page or a second scan.
- It places the sides top and bottom on a portrait page. There is no landscape or side by side variant.
- Merging that page with another document into one PDF is a Paperlane Pro feature.
Why it matters where this happens
An identity document is the single worst file to hand to a service you have not read the terms of. A passport page or a residence permit is enough to open accounts in your name, and a copy that sits on someone else's server is a copy you can no longer account for.
Paperlane has no servers and no account. The capture, the composition of the two sides, the text recognition and the PDF are all produced on the iPhone, and the file is written to a local library. Nothing is uploaded, so there is no transfer to audit and no retention policy to trust.
Two further controls are worth turning on for this kind of document. The Face ID or passcode lock in the settings puts the library behind the same gate as the phone itself. And before you email a copy, Paperlane Pro can set a password on that PDF, so the file is useless to anyone who intercepts the message or forwards it later by accident.
Before you send it
- Read both halves on the screen at full size. A licence number that you cannot read, an office cannot read either.
- Check the expiry date is inside the frame. It is the field most often cropped off.
- If the recipient set a size limit, compress the PDF rather than rescanning at a lower quality.
- Only copy documents you are entitled to copy, and send them only to the office that asked.
Get Paperlane
Free on the App Store, iOS 17.0 or later. Rated 5.0 out of 5 from 1 rating.