How to sign a PDF on iPhone for free

Your iPhone can already do it: open the PDF in Files, Mail or Notes, use Markup and add a signature you draw with your finger. It is free and built into iOS. If you want a photo of your real ink signature, a company stamp, the same signature on every page, or a PAID stamp, use an app such as 1Scanner. Signing PDFs you open from Mail or Files costs nothing there either.

Sign a PDF on iPhone with Markup in Files or Mail

Apple explains Markup signatures in the iPhone User Guide. In short:

1. Open the PDF. An attachment in Mail can be marked up there or saved to Files first.
2. Open Markup and choose to add a signature.
3. Sign with your finger. iPhone keeps the signature for next time, and you can save several, such as your full name and your initials.
4. Drag the signature onto the line and resize it, then finish and send or save the PDF.

The same Markup tools fill in blank fields of a form, and AutoFill can enter your details from your contact card. If the PDF is in a place you can't edit, save a copy to iCloud Drive or On My iPhone first.

Sign a PDF in Notes on iPhone

Notes is handy when the document is still on paper. Scan it into a note with the iPhone camera, or add a PDF to a note from Files or Mail. Then open Markup on it and add your signature the same way. Apple's guide to PDFs in Notes covers rotating, cropping and adding pages.

Where iPhone Markup falls short for signing

• Your real signature. Markup signatures are drawn with a finger on glass, which rarely looks like your pen signature.
• A company stamp. Apple's guide describes no way to add a seal from a photo.
• Many pages. Initials on every page of a contract go on one page at a time.
• Stamps. There are no ready PAID, APPROVED or date stamps.

Sign PDFs on iPhone with 1Scanner: your own signature and stamp

1Scanner keeps your signatures and stamps in a small library on the iPhone, so you make each one once:

• Your ink signature, initials or company stamp from the camera, a photo or a file, or drawn with your finger (Apple Pencil works on iPad). The paper becomes transparent, the ink keeps its color, so a blue seal stays blue, and the image is cropped to the ink.
• Any PDF. Open a PDF from Mail, Files or another app in 1Scanner, or scan the paper with the camera. An imported PDF keeps its own text as text.
• Place it anywhere. Move, resize and turn the signature, or add it to every page at once.
• Ready stamps: APPROVED, PAID, COPY, CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, RECEIVED or today's date, in red, blue or black, in the app's language, or a word of your own.
• Fill in text with Apple's Markup inside 1Scanner, on the same document.

Step by step: sign a PDF on iPhone with 1Scanner

1. Install 1Scanner from the App Store.
2. Save your signature once: photograph it on white paper, pick it from Photos or Files, or draw it.
3. Open the PDF from Mail or Files in 1Scanner, or scan the paper document.
4. Put your signature or stamp on the page and adjust it. For initials on each page, add it to all pages at once.
5. Share the signed PDF or save it to Files.

Mark who the signed iPhone copy is for

When you send a signed contract or an ID copy, 1Scanner can add an optional watermark to the copy you share, such as "Copy for Bank X · only for opening an account" with the date. It is drawn into the pages of that copy only; the document in your library stays clean. The watermark is free.

Is 1Scanner free for signing on iPhone?

Every feature works for free. The only limit is 20 scanned pages a day; PDFs you import from Mail or Files never count, so signing them is not limited. Premium removes the daily limit and the reminders: $0.99 a week, $2.99 a month or $19.99 a year. These are base prices without VAT and other local taxes. There are no trials and no ads.

Is it safe to sign PDFs on iPhone with 1Scanner?

1Scanner's App Store privacy label is "Data Not Collected". There is no account, no ads and no analytics or tracking. Your signatures, stamps and documents are kept on your iPhone and never uploaded by 1Scanner; they go only where you send them. Details: 1Scanner privacy policy.

On a computer instead? You can sign a PDF in the browser on any computer without installing anything, or read how to sign a PDF on Mac.

Is a PDF signed on iPhone legally binding?

Markup and 1Scanner put a picture of your own signature on the page, like signing a printout. It is not a certified electronic signature, and ready stamps such as PAID or APPROVED are pictures too. Many forms and agreements only need a signed copy; when someone asks for a qualified e-signature, use the service they name.

Signing PDFs on iPhone: questions