Why are my document scans so large After iOS 18 update?

Not really the issue or solution. Yes scanning in grayscale helps BUT the file size is still massive compared with what it used to be and what other scanning software does (scannable). I believe the issue is that Apple is not really “scanning” the document, it is simply taking a photo of the document. This results in massive file sizes and of course the need to upgrade and spend more money on Apple iCloud services.

Fix it or I’m permanently leaving Apple.

Whoever is responsible for this needs to be fired!

The countdown has begun. You have 30 days (12/6/24) to comply or I’m gone from Apple and moving to Android.

I use these phones for work. I have 165 employees on iPhones. No one is able to scan and email anymore. No matter what we try 30 pages is 24 MB in black & white.

FIX IT!!!

I just tried this. Scanning in files is bad, but not as bad as scanning in Notes.

For me, prior to IOS 18, a 5-page document with color would take ~1-1.5 MB, and email easily.

Now, on same iPhone, scanning from Notes in default Color is >34MB, too large to email, and it takes several seconds to process.

Same scan from Files, in color, takes ~10MB.

So "Files" scan seems ~10 times bigger than previous Notes scanning, and "notes" scanning seems ~40 times larger.

I agree it's a big problem , it use to be nice to scam 24 pages and be able to email them with a 2 MB file size, now if I "scan" three or four documents, it's 40 MB sometimes??? they had a good product and they ruined it for some reason it is unusable hopefully they will fix it or at least put it back to the way it was

I spoke with a level 2 tech support at Apple. Apparently Apple tech folks are not monitoring the postings here. She was unaware of the issue (as she personally had an older iPhone and has not heard even internal discussion of this issue). I had asked her to document and escalate. Bottom line - rather than posting here, call apple tech support to register a complaint and ask to escalate !!!

Same issue. I was totally foxed when I faced this issue today. Thanks for the posts here on the subject. At least I can do the work around by changing to greyscale, was not even aware of this feature till I read it here...This large size file is really a big issue, I had been doing this document scanning very frequently through Notes. Apple must fix this issue.

Serious side the upgrade to 18 made pdf files too big for portal document submissions

I was in the process of applying for a visa in Greece all documents scanned before 18 were perfect

i was required to submit one final document . 10mb was the limit

mine went to 18 mb

i tried cutting corners

failed application due to scan

I now face a large lawyer fee and an early trip home to obtain more days under 90/180 day rule

Apple please fix scanning under ver 18 is not supported by Greek immigration Portal !!!! PDF uploads

Before the update scans used to be around 500-900kb quality great; after updating greyscale is now 2-5mb and quality is rubbish, so changing to greyscale doesn’t work.

Does anyone who can actually fix this problem read this user feedback or is this a waste of time?

Go to the App Store and download the Apple Support app.

So just off the phone with apple support. You’ll notice if you check old scans that notes have always scanned to very large files. What appears to be happening is when you share the scan from Notes it normally would’ve automatically compressed it, this compression doesn’t seem to be working right now. That said, when I was talking with their support he was able to view my phones screen and he saw the message in email saying that the Notes file was too large to send, he put me on hold and after about 5 mins of holding he came back and we tried again and without changing anything my email now automatically compressed the same file. We both were surprised.

He then explained that Apple are aware of this sharing between Notes to Email compression issue and will hopefully be fixed in the next update or two.

Perhaps you could try a different email platform.

ps make sure all documents are on the greyscale. One of my documents changed only partial went into the grey scale leaving some coloured ink and I had to go back to make sure all text was changed and pics as well. Make sure NO coloured ink is on any of the documents scanned. Hope this continues to help until apple fixes this issue. Have a great day

I agree

Email is not the problem

i know for a fact that Greek visa portal requires less than 10mb files and I am sure there are more tools like that out there

Email is the most common for sure

to help get through I use compression took Ilovepdf it’s free at leat and gets by the email size etc

Possibly something strange going on that’ll take some tech investigation. I checked scans in my notes from years ago and they’re much the same in size as now, which to me indicates it’s not a notes scanning problem but instead something to do with the algorithm that handles attaching said notes scan to the email in that it’s not compressing it. This is not to say that possibly there are other issues at play as well. I mean while I was on with tech support, one attempt wouldn’t allow me to send as the file was much too big, on a second attempt of the same scan it did compress and send. Something I had never noticed before was the difference in size of a notes scan and the file size once inside the email. It’s only now I’m noticing that my scans have not really change in size going back years, but what I discovered thus evening whilst on phone with Apple tech is that attaching it to an email compressed the scan. Apple are working on this issue.

The scanned document in gray scale is even more disaster. It is increasing the size of the image. For example my default 2 page scanned document was 8 MB, with gray scale, it increased to 8.5 mb.

What is going on in Apple? please listen to the community

[Edited by Moderator]

Check scans you might have saved from before the update, you should find they’re large also. The problem lies between notes and email I believe. Ie when you attach a scan to the email it should compress, that compression is happening intermittently at present.

I have updated iOS 18.2.1 (22C161) today and tested one Notes scan of 39.5mb, once attached to email 696kb.