The Indian government’s decision to ban 59 Chinese apps, citing threat to the country’s national security, has paved the path for many Indian apps. A scanning and storing documents app called CamScanner, was among the 59 banned apps. Kaagaz Scanner is an Indian App, alternative to CamScanner. People behind this app are IIT alumni Gaurav Shrishrimal, Snehanshu Gandhi, and Tamanjit Singh Bindra. It debuted on Google Play on June 15. Kaagaz Scanner got over 100K downloads within one day of CamScanner being banned (last week of June). It has gained 500K+ downloads, till date. Earlier it had only 495 downloads.
Gaurav Shrishrimal, the Co-Founder of Kaagaz Scanner, said in a LinkedIn Post that the team “built Kaagaz Scanner as a side project after the call of our Prime Minister for Vocal for Local and Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
They incubated at Nasscom’s 10000 Startups which provides support for Startup business ideas in India. Also, raised some funding by participating in the Winter 2019 batch of the Axilor accelerator programme. As for now, the app is free to download. But in future, the start-up has plans to introduce a freemium model with premium features that would be paid.
The aim of Kaagaz Scanner is to fill the space left by CamScanner. Similar to CamScanner, this app can be used for scanning documents. Although, it has no feature for file management. The team is working on integrating an artificial intelligence (AI) engine that would let users manage the scanned documents for future use. They also have plans to bring cloud storage access. Then the app will do the job of both scanning and document management.
Kaagaz Scanner has ratings of four or more on Google’s App Store. But reviews suggest that the app needs more editing options. Some reviews also suggest that the app is full of bugs, has an intuitive user interface, and is quite slow in scanning. It is just a start; the start-up still has a long way to go. The team needs to make the app more user friendly and bugs should be fixed.
Currently, it is available only on Android devices for download. But the team will bring its iOS version as well. Although Kaagaz Scanner is not the only alternative to CamScanner. Some IIT Delhi Students developed an app named KeepScan, for iPhone users, in the month of July. There are existing alternatives too like Adobe Scan, and Microsoft Office Lens.
Vidhi Banka
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