How to Digitize Photos: 3 Best Tools [2025]

I had a lot of old pictures from my childhood that were in film, and stored in my dad's closet. I wanted those pictures on my phone, and it was not enough to just capture them by camera. I wanted to digitize them. I tried a lot of methods, and initially, i was not able to find a good tool to help me do that, but i eventually did and in this article, i’ll take you through these tools and how to use them so you can utilize them when you’re wondering how to digitize photos.

Top 3 Ways to Digitize Photos

Google PhotoScan

Google PhotoScan is a really great option if you want something quick and lightweight to help you scan your pictures. It works completely on your mobile phone, and does not have any additional or confusing things you need to do to scan a picture. It would definitely be one of my recommendations to anyone that wants help in scanning old photos.

Pros

• Super convenient and quick for on-the-go scanning

• Automatically crops, corrects perspective, and removes glare

• Syncs with Google Photos for storage and sharing

Cons

• Some scans may lack sharpness

• Not the fastest app to work with if you have a large batch

It’s very easy and straightforward to use, so let’s quickly look at how to use it:

Step 1: Open the Google PhotoScan app, and you’ll be directly taken to the camera screen. Take a picture of the object that you want to scan.

Step 2: Then, follow the on-screen dots shown by the app to capture the object from multiple angles.

Step 3: Wait a moment for the app to process the image, and then it will be saved to your Google Photos and your device as well. You can view it by clicking on the gallery icon that will appear after taking your first picture.

Google PhotoScan is a really good application that lets you scan pictures. It works completely on your phone without any confusing steps, and is a really good option if you have no experience and want to scan old photos.

VueScan

VueScan is a very professional tool if you want help with scanning old photos. It’s a software that works on your computer, and provides a lot of different options in terms of the quality of the image. For example, the DPI of the image, the format of the image, etc. If you have a scanner, this is going to work exceptionally for you.

Pros

• Advanced controls for color correction and image resolution

• Great for handling large-scale digitization

• Keeps legacy scanners running flawlessly

Cons

• Learning curve is steeper than basic apps

• Some features locked behind a paywall

VueScan can be a little complicated and overwhelming when you start using it, so let’s look at how you can use it to scan pictures:

Step 1: Download and install VueScan from their website, and then open it on your computer.

Step 2: Choose your scanner by clicking on “Scanner” in the toolbar at the top

Step 3: Crop the image if you want and adjust the settings how you like.

Step 4: Then, preview the photo scan. If it looks good, hit ‘Scan’ and choose your preferred file format and save location.

VueScan is a very good and professional photo scanner that works on your computer and gives you a lot of options to scan photos, alongside supporting batch scanning. The only drawback of this is that you need a scanner for it to work, and it is quite confusing to learn and get used to.

Adobe Scan

Adobe Scan is another really amazing tool, and it works completely on your mobile phone. It intelligently recognizes a document by itself, crops it accordingly and also adjusts the brightness and contrast of the image after applying a suitable filter. It also lets you tweak a bunch of settings, so it’s a really good tool that is very reliable as well.

Pros

• Produces sharp, professional-looking digital files

• Automatic contrast enhancement

• Trusted software from Adobe, with cloud integration

Cons

• Slight learning curve for beginners

• Some features may require an Adobe subscription

While it is very easy to use and has a very simple interface, some users have trouble using it, so let’s look at how you can use it:

Step 1: Open the ‘Adobe Scan’ app on your mobile device and switch to the “Document” tab if you want to scan a document. The app will automatically start to recognize the document and take a picture.

Step 2: Once the picture is taken, adjust the crop if you want.

Step 3: Click on the “Adjust” tab if you want to adjust the brightness or the contrast of the picture.

Step 4: Click on “Filters” if you want to change the filter on the picture

Step 5: Once everything is done, click on the “Save PDF” button and the PDF will be saved to your device.

Adobe Scan is brilliant. Like Google PhotoScan, it works completely on your phone and it’s very straightforward to use, and the only difference between Adobe Scan and Google PhotoScan is that Adobe offers more editing versatility and gives you more control over how the image looks.

Comparison of the Tools Mentioned Above

All of these three tools are really good and they work brilliantly, but it might be hard to choose which tool is going to be the best for you. To help you choose, I’ve created a table below highlighting each tool’s strengths, weaknesses alongside other features to make it easier for you to choose a tool to help with scanning old photos.

VueScan is perfect for batch scanning and getting your desired format, but it's quite hard to get used to, and you need a printer for it. Google PhotoScan and Adobe Scan on the other hand, work directly on your mobile, and are very easy to use. In my opinion, Adobe Scan is the best photo scanner for old photos. To take your scans one step further, let me tell you about a photo restoration tool and how to use it to make your scanned photos look perfect.

Complementary Tools: Toolsmart’s Photo Restoration

Scanning is just the first step when you’re wondering how to digitize photos. You would still need to make it look better, and that is where I found Toolsmart’s Photo Restoration tool to work amazingly well. It uses GPT-4o, so it doesn’t just touch up your image, but it understands the picture and restores the parts that need fixing.

Key Features

• AI-powered restoration with ChatGPT-4o

• Recovers lost details, enhances edges, and boosts color tones

• Ideal for old photos, over-compressed images, or casual snapshots

• Side-by-side comparison slider for real-time results

• No sign-up required—completely free and quick

Step 1: In your browser, open Toolsmart’s Photo Restoration tool and click on “Upload Image” to upload the image that you want to restore.

Step 2: Wait a minute while the tool automatically restores your image.

Step 3: Once the tool is done processing, click on “Download Image” to download the restored image.

It’s as simple as that, no sign-ups, no ads and no complicated steps to restore an old picture. You just have to upload it, wait for the tool to do its magic, and download the image. It works amazingly, and is extremely reliable, giving top-notch quality results every single time.

FAQs

Q1: Can VueScan improve the color accuracy of scanned photos?

Yes, VueScan supports IT8 color calibration, which helps dramatically enhance the color accuracy of your scanned images.

Q2: Can I use Adobe Scan to scan multiple pages at once?

Absolutely. Adobe Scan allows continuous scanning and compiles the pages into a single multi-page PDF.

Q3: Which software is better for handling large-scale batch photo digitization, Adobe Scan or VueScan?

VueScan is better equipped for bulk digitization. It offers advanced batch features and customizable presets, making it ideal for large photo collections.

Q4: Is Toolsmart’s Photo Restoration safe to use?

Yes, Toolsmart is completely safe and secure. You can use it with confidence to restore your photos quickly and efficiently.

Q5: What else does Toolsmart offer besides photo restoration?

Toolsmart supports file format conversions, AI writing tools, and even free video/audio downloads from platforms like YouTube and TikTok—all without requiring registration.

Bringing Your Memories Back to Life

Learning how to digitize photos is a complicated task, but with the right tool, it becomes almost effortless. The tool you use does not matter that much, you just have to know which tool is the easiest for you to use, whether that is VueScan, Adobe Scan or Google PhotoScan, and use that. I personally use Adobe Scan the most as it is, to me, the best old photo scanner, and to get the best quality of the picture after scanning, Toolsmart’s Image Restorer works amazingly well as it’s powered by GPT-4o, and is very easy to use, with no ads, no sign-ups required, alongside being extremely quick.