How to convert an image to PDF on an iPhone
The iPhone can create PDFs with nothing installed, but the options hide in places nobody would guess. Here are the three that work.
4 minute read
Option 1: the browser, for several photos in one PDF
This is the only one of the three that combines several photos into a single document and lets you order them, so it is the one for paperwork.
Open this site in Safari or Chrome on the iPhone and go to the several images into one PDF tool.
Tap the upload area and choose Photo Library. You can select as many photos as you like at once.
Order them, pick A4 if you will print it, and press Create a single PDF.
Option 2: the Print trick
The classic iOS shortcut. It works offline, but only with what you can select at once in Photos, and with no way to reorder.
- Open Photos and select the images.
- Tap Share and scroll to Print.
- On the preview screen, pinch outwards with two fingers on the thumbnail. That gesture, documented nowhere, turns the preview into a PDF.
- Tap Share again and save it to Files.
Option 3: with the Files app
Useful when the image is already saved as a file rather than in the Photo Library.
- Open Files and find the image.
- Long-press it and choose Create PDF.
- The PDF appears in the same folder.
Which one to use
- Several photos in one ordered document → the browser. It is the only one that lets you change the order.
- A single photo, fast and offline → the Print trick.
- The image is already in Files → long-press and Create PDF.