The easiest way to digitize your photos

Available through Google Play and the Apple App Store, this free app helps you “scan” photographs using your phone’s camera. Push a button (as if you’re taking a photo) then match up the center circle with the four dots that appear (see video). The app automatically enhances and rotates the image and—best of all—removes glare (!), to create a perfect digital replica in seconds. Along with loose photos, the app works with framed images and those already secured into an album, so no need to beg mom to let them loose.

If you also use the Google Photos app, your PhotoScan images will be automatically uploaded to your cloud for easy searching and sharing. Even without a manual tag, the app is able to search your photos for, say, “teddy bear” and pull up all images in your cloud where a teddy bear appears.

So this holiday season, while you are sifting through old family photos, consider cataloging them for safekeeping and easy sharing with this new tool.