Your iPhone Is Hiding a Powerful Document Scanner

I regularly use my iPhone to scan physical documents like medical reports, identity cards, forms from my bank, etc. Since 2015 or so, I've used an app called Scanner Pro to get the job done. It works well enough, but the best features require a subscription and it is no longer as fast as I'd like it to be. I've long known about Apple's built-in scanner in the Notes app, but it isn't as convenient as the app I've been using, so I never made the switch.

That changed when I recently discovered another built-in scanner on the iPhone, hidden away in the Preview app, of all places. This one is fast, free, and well integrated with the Files app, which is a big plus. Here's why you should consider using it

Your iPhone's Preview app has a hidden document scanner

Your iPhone ships with an app called Preview, which was added with the release of iOS 26 in 2025. Now, when you open a document in the Files app, your iPhone will automatically switch to Preview and load the it. However, if you open the Preview app directly, you'll see a "Scan Documents" button front and center. I've been using iOS 26 since the developer betas released, but I only noticed this feature after the recent release of the iOS 27 betas.

When you tap Scan Documents in Preview, your iPhone will fire up the viewfinder, and you can point the device at the documents you want to scan. Like Scanner Pro, the Preview app's scanner automatically identifies document borders, takes a picture to scan, and reopens the viewfinder so you can point the camera at the next page; it'll scan that quickly too. Continue this process till you're done scanning, after which you can hit the checkmark button in the top-right corner. The scanned PDF will automatically be saved to your iCloud Drive folder, without the need to export it. I found this process to be really fast and intuitive enough to recommend to my family members, who resist any technology that requires them to install a new app or press more than two buttons.

When the scanner is open, you'll see four buttons near the bottom of the screen. The big shutter button lets you manually click pictures for the scan, and the other three let you toggle flash, set color filters, and toggle on the auto-shutter feature, respectively. Auto shutter is the best feature of this app, as it automatically scans a page the moment it detects borders, but it's not perfect. If you want more precise control over your scans, you can disable it, and control the shutter manually.

Why Preview's scanner is much better than the one in Apple Notes

I don't enjoy dealing with PDFs in Apple Notes, and that's the best argument for using the scanner in Preview, which immediately saves those documents to the Files app. First, Notes makes it much harder to find and use the scanner: You need to open a note, tap the paperclip icon, and select the document scanner from the menu. The output is saved in the same note, and I find it unwieldy to deal with PDFs from within in the Notes app, which is best suited to viewing text-only notes.

I now only use the Notes app to scan documents when I specifically want to store the file in the Notes app. But other than the odd recipe I might scan to keep there, I don't foresee myself using the Notes scanner again. In most cases, Preview's scanner does a much better job.

Another third-party scanning app to consider

If you want more features than Apple's document scanner, there are third-party apps that may suit you better. In addition to Scanner Pro, which I mentioned above, Adobe Scan does a great job with scanning, OCR (optical character recognition) and has a generous free tier. In the free tier, Adobe Scan lets you capture unlimited scans, provides 2GB of space in Adobe Document cloud, and offers OCR for documents up to 25 pages long.

The premium tier costs $10/month, and adds a bunch of PDF editing features such as combining PDFs, extracting specific pages from a scan, and editing text in PDFs. You also get to use OCR on scans up to 100 pages per document, up to 20 GB of cloud storage, and a tool called Magic Eraser, which can automatically remove your thumb or fingers from scanned pages. I think the free tier is good enough for most people, but the most annoying thing about Adobe Scan is that even the free tier requires you to sign up for an account. You can sign in with your Apple, Google, or Facebook accounts to make it quick, but it's still an unnecessary step for those who just want an app that'll let them start scanning the moment it's installed.

This M1 iPad Pro Is Still One of the Best Tablets for Creators on a Budget

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The 2021 iPad Pro may not sound especially exciting in 2026, but this is one of those devices that aged unusually well. On sale for $399.99 refurbished on StackSocial, the 11-inch iPad Pro still makes sense for people who want a fast tablet for work, school, or creative apps without spending flagship iPad prices.

The biggest reason for its longevity is the M1 chip. Apple originally brought the same processor from its MacBooks into this iPad, and even five years later, it still handles multitasking, gaming, video editing, drawing apps, and demanding workflows without feeling slow. For someone upgrading from an older base-model iPad or an aging Android tablet, the jump in responsiveness is noticeable immediately. And since this is a Grade-A refurbished unit, it should arrive with little to no cosmetic wear.

The hardware still holds up surprisingly well today—the 11-inch Liquid Retina display supports ProMotion with a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling, drawing, and animations feel much smoother than standard iPads. Colors look accurate, brightness reaches up to 600 nits, and the antireflective coating helps when using it outdoors or near windows. The quad-speaker setup is also better than what most tablets in this price range offer, especially for movies and gaming. Apple included a Thunderbolt and USB 4 port here too, which means the tablet works well with external drives, monitors, docks, and accessories in a way that cheaper iPads still don't. The front-facing 12MP camera remains solid for video calls, while the rear wide and ultra-wide cameras, along with the LiDAR scanner, are still useful for scanning documents, augmented reality apps, and creative projects. Battery life also remains dependable at around 10 hours for streaming, browsing, or general work (though your mileage may vary, depending on use).

This isn't the right iPad for everyone, though, as the 128GB of storage can fill up quickly for people editing large video files or storing massive game libraries, especially since there is no microSD expansion. And while Apple Intelligence support is included, newer iPads with M-series chips will likely receive software support longer. But for most people, the M1 iPad Pro is a great buy at this sale price.

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This Self-Emptying Shark Robot Vacuum With LiDAR Mapping Is on Sale for Just $135 Right Now

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Robot vacuums have become much better at navigation and obstacle avoidance over the past few years, but models with self-emptying docks and LiDAR mapping still tend to be pretty expensive. But this Shark Matrix UR2360S Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum is on sale on StackSocial for $134.99 as a refurbished unit. The refurbished unit comes with a Grade-A rating, meaning it should arrive in near-mint condition with little to no visible wear.

Suction performance is strong enough for everyday cleaning on hardwood floors and carpets, although, like most robot vacuums in this category, it's still better at maintenance cleaning than replacing a full upright vacuum for deep carpet jobs. Its biggest advantage is the combination of LiDAR mapping and Shark’s Matrix Clean system. Instead of bouncing around randomly, the UR2360S maps your home using 360-degree LiDAR and cleans in a more structured grid, making multiple passes over dirtier sections instead of rushing through them once. The self-cleaning brushroll is another useful addition for pet owners because it reduces hair tangles that can otherwise stop the vacuum mid-clean.

This model also leans heavily into convenience—its self-emptying base can hold up to 30 days of dust and debris before needing manual emptying, so you're not constantly dealing with the bin after every cleaning session. It also supports app controls along with Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, making it easy to schedule cleanings, target specific rooms, or run a quick spot clean without much setup. At just over four inches tall, it can also slide under couches, beds, and other low furniture that upright vacuums often struggle to reach. That said, battery life tops out at around 90 minutes, which should cover smaller homes and apartments comfortably, though larger spaces may require recharging between runs. Overall, this $134.99 sale is a great deal.

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How to Keep Android Backups From Filling Up Your Google Drive Storage

If you're an Android user, you may want to keep an eye on your Google storage space. As of July 7, all of the data included in your backups count toward your cap (whether you have 15GB for free or pay for more via Google One). However, Google is also giving users more granular control over what's backed up and what isn't, so you can prevent redundant or unnecessary data from pushing you over.

Google's updated storage policies

As Android Police describes, Android backups include app data, call history, contacts, device settings, and SMS and MMS data, among other things. Previously, only images and videos uploaded to Google Photos and MMS counted toward your Google storage quota, but all of the data in your Android backup settings will now apply.

This isn't the only recent update to Google's storage. In May, Google began testing a new policy that caps some new Gmail users at just 5GB of free cloud storage—compared to the 15GB that has been available since 2013—unless you link a phone number to your Google account. While the initial test appeared to affect sign-ups mostly in African countries, it is possible that users in the future may be required to be on paid tiers to access more storage. Google's own support page states that each Google account includes "up to 15 GB of storage" in describing what counts toward your quota.

Manage your Android backups to clear up storage space

According to Google, Android backups should only increase by 40MB under the new settings, so most users likely won't have to worry much about this pushing them over the limit if they weren't already close. But if you need to manage space, Google is also allowing users to exclude SMS/MMS messages, call history, device settings, and/or app data from backups.

On your Pixel, you'll find these toggles under Settings > Accounts and backup > Google backup > Other device data. Simply toggle off anything you don't want or need backed up. Alternatively, you can search "backup" in your device settings.

There are a few other considerations when it comes to Google storage limits. In February, Google announced that it would start copying and uploading local files from your Android Downloads folder to Google Drive and is now rolling out a Documents backup feature covering file types like .DOC, .PPT, .XLS, and .PDF. If you don't want this to eat up space, you can change your preferences in your device settings.

Finally, if you're close to running out of storage, Google has a support page for cleaning up space and troubleshooting storage issues. I also wrote a guide to creating a comprehensive backup plan that doesn't rely solely on a single storage method.

These 10 Apps Let You Watch YouTube Without Ads

YouTube is great—except for the annoying, unskippable ads. And after the introduction of YouTube Premium, it seems like the number of unskippable ads for free accounts keeps going up. If you don’t want to sit through three ads just so you can watch your video, it might be time to try a different approach.

There are several great third-party YouTube apps and tools that will give you a great ad-free YouTube experience—and they’ll do it for free.

YouTube Premium and Premium Lite

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. YouTube Premium is the best and only way to remove all ads from YouTube videos on all the platforms that you use (including smart TVs). No other tool will offer that.

But it does come at a cost, and that cost keeps rising. As of writing, you can snag a subscription for $15.99 per month. If your household would all benefit from a subscription, you could consider a YouTube Premium Family plan for $26.99 a month, which lets six users share the same ad-free experience. But, like Netflix, YouTube Premium also deters password sharing, and it only works if all the members live at the same residential address as the account manager.

YouTube also has a cheaper $7.99 per month plan now in the form of YouTube Premium Lite, which promises an ad-free viewing experience for most non-music YouTube videos.

You can also try subscribing to YouTube Premium from a country where the rates are low. In countries like Argentina, India, and Turkey, YouTube Premium costs less than $2 per month. Install a VPN, change the location, and try your luck subscribing to the cheaper plans.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is quickly becoming the anti-AI browser. Unlike Chrome, the privacy-focused browser lets you choose exactly how many AI features show up in DuckDuckGo Search and the browser (there's an option to disable all AI features as well).

Now, the company has integrated a YouTube ad blocker directly into the browser on the desktop and on mobile apps. DuckDuckGo is directly integrating community filters from uBlock Origin, making sure to cover a wide net of ads on the platform. And because there is no third-party extension, you don't need to worry about ad-blocking extensions being deprecated (as in Chrome). DuckDuckGo should be able to block most of the pre-roll and mid-roll ads on YouTube.

And the feature is enabled by default for the desktop and the iOS apps. If you're on Android, you'll need to enable it manually. Make sure that you're running the latest version of DuckDuckGo and then go to Settings > Ad Blocking, and enable the ad blocker.

NewPipe

NewPipe is perhaps the best way to watch YouTube ad-free on Android. This is not a modded YouTube app. Instead, it’s a separate, free, and open-source player for YouTube. NewPipe is lightweight, but offers the features you care most about: background playback; picture-in-picture; and, of course, no ads.

While the app isn’t available in the Play Store, you can directly download the APK installer from their website, or you can find the app on the F-Droid app store—an alternate to Google Play Store that hosts free and open-source apps.

The app has an option to import your subscriptions, but you can’t sign in using your YouTube account.

SkyTube

SkyTube is another free and open-source third-party YouTube app for Android, just like NewPipe. It also offers the basic features you’ll want, including ad-blocking and background payback.

The downside is that SkyTube is a view-only app; you can’t sign into your YouTube account, so there’s no sync feature. The app does have its own feature for channel subscriptions and bookmarks. On the other hand, there’s a version of SkyTube called SkyTube Extra, which is also free, and supports the official YouTube player and casting features.

LibreTube

You can think of LibreTube (also Android only) as a NewPipe app but with a modern interface. It has a bottom tab bar, updated icons, and an overall smooth operation. This level of fit and finish is something that’s usually lacking in other popular YouTube apps. It supports SponsorBlock, so sponsored sections can be skipped as well. Plus, it has extra features like chapter selection. This, too, is a free and open-source client.

Firefox Browser with uBlock Origin

Unlike Chrome on Android, Firefox actually supports extensions, and a single extension can change your entire YouTube experience. If you don’t mind using YouTube on the web (you can’t access it offline), you can install the popular ad-blocker uBlock Origin to automatically block all ads on YouTube.

Download the uBlock Origin add-on, then go to Menu > Add-ons > and enable uBlock Origin.

Brave Browser

If you don’t want to use an extension, you can use a browser that has a built-in ad-blocker. Now, you’ll find many browsers that do this on the Play Store and App Store, but it would be best to use a trusted browser here. Brave Browser is a highly regarded privacy browser that also comes with a great ad-block feature that works on Android, iPhone, and PC. As long as you have the Shields Up feature enabled for YouTube, you won’t see ads in your videos anymore.

AdGuard for iPhone

Thanks to the way iOS is set up, there’s no easy way to install an unofficial YouTube app like you can on Android. But if you’re okay using YouTube in Safari, you can remove ads using Safari extensions. Here too, you’ll find multiple trusted apps that do the job. AdGuard is a good option, as they have a specific feature built-in for removing all YouTube ads. After the extension is set up, go to YouTube.com, tap the Share button, and choose the Block YouTube Ads (by AdGuard) option.

SmartTube for Smart TVs

So you've blocked YouTube ads in your browser, and on your smartphone. But what's more annoying than sitting through long, unskippable ads when you're listening to lo-fi music? Thankfully, there is a workaround here. If you have an Android-based smart TV or streaming box (Amazon Fire TV devices sold after October 2025 aren't supported), you can simply install the SmartTube app (previously called SmartTubeNext) to act as a YouTube replacement. You will have to manually sideload the app, but once that’s done, you can say goodbye to all the ads.

SponsorBlock

SponsorBlock is both a browser extension and a service embedded in a couple of YouTube replacement apps we’ve covered above (like LibreTube). It does one thing, and one thing only: crowdsources data for sponsor segments in videos, and lets you automatically skip through those sections. Chances are, if you’re watching a remotely popular channel, SponsorBlock will recognize the sponsor segment. If you can’t stand watching another 45-second ad for Squarespace, this is the extension for you.

This Self-Cleaning iRobot Roomba Is 50% Off Right Now

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The iRobot Roomba 505X vacuum-and-mop combo is down to $499.99 on Amazon, half off its $999.99 list price and the lowest price tracked so far, according to price trackers. The main appeal is not just that it vacuums and mops in one pass, but that it takes care of much of the mess that comes after—its AutoWash Dock empties the dust bin, refills the robot with clean water, drains the dirty water, washes the mop pads, and heat-dries them once the run is done. For a household with pets, kids, or a kitchen floor that collects crumbs and paw prints no matter what, that cuts down on a lot of the upkeep that usually falls on you between cleanings.

iRobot Roomba 505X

$499.99 at Amazon

$999.99 Save $500.00

$499.99 at Amazon

$999.99 Save $500.00

The 505X should be a noticeable step up if you are coming from an older basic Roomba—iRobot says it has 70 times the suction of the Roomba 600 series, but the more useful difference is its PrecisionVision obstacle avoidance AI, which is designed to steer around the usual household hazards: cords, socks, and the occasional pet accident. From there, it handles the actual floor work with dual spinning mop pads for everyday grime, plus a multi-surface rubber brush and edge-sweeping brush for pet hair, crumbs, and dust along baseboards. The mop pads lift when the robot crosses carpet or rugs, so it can move from tile or hardwood to fabric without dragging wet pads across the wrong surface.

That mix of floor handling and room control is where the app becomes useful—you can schedule cleanings, set no-mop zones, choose vacuum-only or mop-only runs, and send the robot to specific rooms instead of cleaning the whole house every time. That said, this is not a full replacement for a stick vacuum or steam cleaner: Dried-on spills and stuck-on messes will still require a hand scrub. Also, the dock needs a permanent home near an outlet, and iRobot recommends enough clearance around it for the robot to park and empty properly, so this might not be the best fit for a cramped apartment or narrow hallway.

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I Tried ChatGPT's Improved Voice Mode, and It's More Natural Than Ever

The latest upgrade being pushed out to ChatGPT, heading to all users now, is GPT‑Live. OpenAI is describing it as a "new generation" of voice models for interacting with the AI chatbot, and you might find that it leads you to spend more time chatting than typing.

Voice mode for ChatGPT is nothing new, but previously it's been a relatively basic wrapper on top of the standard text input and output. It has been billed as a more natural way to engage with the AI, but GPT-Live promises to dial this fluidity up to an even higher level.

For the first time, the voice mode will be able to think in the background while continuing the conversation. It'll also give you extra space to pause when you need it, and indicate it's still listening with phrases like “mhmm” or “yeah."

You should find the upgrade on mobile and the web now (or very soon). Free users get access to GPT‑Live‑1 mini, while those on paid plans are able to access the even smarter GPT‑Live‑1 model.

How GPT-Live works

OpenAI's end goal is to make talking to ChatGPT feel like talking to a real person, and GPT-Live gets closer to that. Originally, interacting with the AI via voice required a specific model for speech-to-text, another for actually responding to the query, and another for text-to-speech.

The previous voice mode in ChatGPT combined all of that into a single AI model, but it was still turn-based: You spoke, the chatbot answered, then you spoke again. With GPT-Live, ChatGPT can be talking and listening at the same time. You can interrupt it as and when needed, and responses should be faster and more nuanced.

The new voice mode is supposedly smarter when it comes to recognizing the difference between you pausing mid-thought and actually finishing your query. The model now recalculates several times a second "whether to speak, continue listening, pause, interrupt, or invoke a tool."

Credit: OpenAI

An added benefit of the upgrade is that even complex work and deep thinking can be passed back to ChatGPT's servers in the background, while the conversation is continuing. You can also tell ChatGPT to take a beat or slow down; visual responses have been improved as well, so you might, for example, see pop-up cards for locations, weather forecasts, and sports scores.

You can also now ask GPT-Live to translate something into a foreign language as you speak. Thanks to the new capabilities, you'll hear a running translation in the other language as you talk, with no pauses or interruptions. Improvements have also been made in terms of ignoring background noise (like background traffic or conversations happening nearby).

Testing out GPT-Live

To get to voice mode in the mobile app, tap the soundwave-style icon to the right of the prompt box. The new mode looks a lot like the old one on the surface, but with this update, you should see Live at the top of the screen (for the time being, at least, you can tap this to switch back to the older models).

Right away, the upgraded voice mode feels more realistic and natural. ChatGPT will talk in a varied and expressive way, throwing in useful markers like "let me check" whenever it's looking something up. It'll lso hesitate and draw words out at times.

I chatted with GPT-Live for several minutes about upcoming movies, recent soccer matches, and tech news headlines, and got back answers that made sense and were respectfully brief (voice mode continues to be a refuge for those who don't want to see walls of text for every response).

There are three 'intelligence' levels to choose between. Credit: OpenAI

There were a couple of moments where the speech glitched and the conversation hung, but that was in about half an hour of chatting (presumably these bugs will get ironed out over time). Interruptions are handled well too, with the AI pausing to acknowledge what you've said and then continuing its train of thought.

You can tweak the level of thinking ChatGPT puts into the new voice mode: Tap the sliders icon (top right), then tap Intelligence. There are three modes to pick from—Instant, Medium, and High—with varying levels of trade-off between the speed of the response and how detailed and accurate it is.