Google Drive finally has a scanner worthy of the name on Android

The quality of document scanning using the Google Drive application on Android will experience a serious boost. An automatic enhancement function will make the scanned images much more usable.

Google Drive is very useful for scanning documents quickly, without having to install a third-party application on your smartphone. But it is true that until now, the results obtained were not always of the best quality. The situation should change with a new update, which makes the Google Drive scanner much more efficient on Android.

In a blog post, Google announces that “Mobile scans are now sharper and clearer with automatic Google Drive scanner enhancements”. Without the need for the user to intervene, the application will scan paper documents into better quality images, and much more quickly, the American firm reports.

Google Drive scanner gets better

Depending on the needs, auto-enhancement will perform actions such as “white balance correction, shadow removal, contrast enhancement, auto sharpening, light enhancement”we learn. Sometimes it felt like scanning Google Drive was more of a photo than a real scan, this should no longer be the case. You can see the difference in quality between the old and new versions via the screenshots below.

The update will be published to all Google Workspace users, whether you are subscribed to an offer or simply have a personal Google account. The deployment has already started for users who are registered in the rapid release program and will end on January 2, 2025. For the others, the start of the deployment is scheduled for January 6, 2025. For now, the update is announced for Android only, so the iOS application is not affected.

A little over a year ago, Google Drive was already making improvements to its scanner. It then had a new interface, based on the Material You design, and several new features, including some to manually modify the image obtained. Black and white filters as well as the ability to choose the file format of the scanned document have also been added recently.