The iPhone as a document scanner? No way!

It’s nigh impossible to hold an iPhone still enough and at just the right distance from a document to take a clear picture of said document for digital safe-keeping. That is, unless you’re rocking this DIY (do-it-yourself) homemade iPhone document scanner. Digital warrior and University of Cincinnati’s school of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) industrial design student, Kyle A. Koch, crafted the home-brewed iPhone document scanner that you see above out of corrugated cardboard.


Says Kyle: When I got my iPhone last year I loved having everything important in one place, and the ability to get rid of unnecessary devices, documents and information I kept with me. I would frequently snap photos of class assignments printed on copy paper so I wouldn’t have to worry about losing them. The documents normally came out pretty clear, but it was tough to keep still while taking the pictures. I set out to make something that would ensure clean, consistent pictures of documents taken with the iPhone that would be free and easy to make on your own. And so, here you will find pictures of and a template to make your own iPhone document scanner.

The cardboard rig isn’t a document scanner, per se. It’s more like a copy-stand for your iPhone. Regardless, with an iPhone resting perfectly still on top of his iPhone document scanner/copystand, Kyle can now go about his document scanning ways with ease.