# Scan documents with your phone

Canonical HTML: [https://pdfpix.com/guides/scan-documents-with-your-phone/](https://pdfpix.com/guides/scan-documents-with-your-phone/)

A phone makes a usable scan if you get two things right: even light and a square-on shot. Everything after that is mechanical. Most phones already have a document scanner built into an app you have, and if you photograph the pages instead, they become one PDF in a single step.

## What separates a scan from a snapshot

A scan is flat, evenly lit, square to the page and cropped to the paper. A snapshot of a document is none of those, which is why an office rejects it. The difference is not resolution. It is geometry and light.

Put the sheet on a plain surface. Stand so the light comes from the side rather than from behind you, because your own shadow across the page is the single most common fault. Hold the phone parallel to the paper and fill the frame with the sheet.

## Use the scanner your phone already has

Most phones ship with a document scanner inside an app you already use. It finds the edges of the sheet, corrects the perspective so a page shot at a slight angle comes out rectangular, and writes a PDF directly. That is better output than a plain photograph, and it costs nothing to try first.

Where it lives depends on the phone and the version of its software, so look in the camera app and in the notes or files app rather than following a menu path from a screenshot that may be two versions old. [The Samsung guide](https://pdfpix.com/guides/scan-documents-on-a-samsung-phone/) covers that family specifically.

## If you photograph the pages instead

A plain photograph works, with the same rules about light and angle. Shoot every sheet in order and do not stop halfway to check, because counting at the end is faster than working out later which of forty pictures is missing.

Watch the format. Recent iPhones save photographs as HEIC by default. Use [HEIC to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/heic-to-pdf/) for those photos. It decodes the primary still image locally and keeps its pixel dimensions. Use [Images to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/images-to-pdf/) for JPG and PNG files.

## Turn the pictures into one document

Open [Images to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/images-to-pdf/), add every picture at once, and drag the thumbnails into the right order before you build. One image becomes one page. Do not rely on the file names, because they sort as text and put IMG_10 ahead of IMG_2.

Nothing is resampled. The pixels the camera produced go into the PDF exactly as they are, and the finished file is reopened and checked so that every image kept its original dimensions before you download it.

## Page size is a real choice

Match makes each page the size of its own photograph, so the document has pages of slightly different shapes. A4 or Letter puts every picture on a standard sheet, scaled to fit and centred, and a landscape shot turns the page landscape rather than shrinking into a portrait sheet.

Choose A4 or Letter for anything that will be printed, filed or sent to an office. Match is for documents that will only ever be read on a screen. Margins are none, a quarter inch, or half an inch, and half an inch is the safe choice for anything that goes near a printer.

## The file will be large

Forty photographs from a modern phone make a PDF around 150 MB, which no mail system accepts. Compress the finished document as one step rather than shrinking each picture first, so the images pass through encoding once.

A photographed page has room to give, because camera resolution is far above the 150 dpi the compress tool keeps. A phone photo of a page comes down from about 2.7 MB to about 73 KB at the default setting, and to about 18 KB at the smallest.

When the form names the number, two pages walk both steps against it: [JPG to PDF under 200 KB](https://pdfpix.com/jpg-to-pdf/200kb/) for the tight upload field and [JPG to PDF under 1 MB](https://pdfpix.com/jpg-to-pdf/1mb/) for the ordinary attachment cap.

## Check it before you send it

Open the finished PDF and read one line on every page at normal zoom. If you cannot read a line, neither can the person receiving it, and reshooting one sheet now costs less than being asked for the whole document again.

[The multi-page guide](https://pdfpix.com/guides/scan-multiple-pages-into-one-pdf/) covers building longer documents, and [the scanning hub](https://pdfpix.com/guides/scanning/) lists the rest of the cluster, including passports and other identity pages.

## Questions and answers

### How do I scan a document with my phone without buying an app?

Use the document scanner already built into your phone's camera, notes or files app. If you cannot find one, photograph the pages in even light and turn them into a PDF with Images to PDF, which runs in the browser tab.

### Why do my phone photos get refused as scans?

Usually because of shadow across the page or a shot taken at an angle, not because of resolution. Light the sheet from the side, hold the phone parallel to the paper and fill the frame with the page.

### Can I turn iPhone HEIC photos into a PDF here?

Yes. [HEIC to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/heic-to-pdf/) converts each file's primary still image in the browser and keeps its decoded pixel dimensions.

### Do the photos lose quality when they become a PDF?

No. Nothing is resampled, so the pixels the camera produced are the pixels in the PDF. The finished file is checked to confirm every image kept its original dimensions.

## Related pages

- [HEIC to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/heic-to-pdf/): Turn iPhone HEIC photos into a PDF without converting them first. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [Image to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/images-to-pdf/): Put JPG and PNG images into a single PDF, in the order you choose. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [Scan multiple pages into one PDF](https://pdfpix.com/guides/scan-multiple-pages-into-one-pdf/): Get a multi-page scan into a single PDF. Free, in your browser, with Image to PDF.
- [Scan a passport with your phone](https://pdfpix.com/guides/scan-a-passport-with-your-phone/): Check all four corners are in frame and there is no glare, then get the passport page into a PDF an office will accept. Free, in your browser, with JPG to PDF.
- [Scan documents on a Samsung phone](https://pdfpix.com/guides/scan-documents-on-a-samsung-phone/): Use the scanner already on a Samsung phone. Free, in your browser, with JPG to PDF.
- [JPG to PDF 200 KB](https://pdfpix.com/jpg-to-pdf/200kb/): Turn photos into a PDF that comes out under 200 KB. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [JPG to PDF 1 MB](https://pdfpix.com/jpg-to-pdf/1mb/): Turn a set of photos into a PDF under 1 MB. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [Scan a document to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/guides/scanning/): Find the right guide for turning a phone photo into a scan. Every guide on the job, sorted by the problem you have.