Convert a Photo to PDF on iPhone or Android
Both phones can already make a PDF from a photo, if you know where the option hides. Here are the built-in routes, and when a browser tool is the better pick.
To convert an image to PDF on an iPhone, open it in Apple's Preview app, tap the menu next to the file name, tap Export, and choose PDF. On Android, open the image in Chrome, tap More, then Share, then Print, and pick Save as PDF. Or use Image to PDF in any phone browser; your photo never leaves the device.
Which route fits your photo?
They differ in where the file goes and whether the text becomes searchable.
| Route | Phone | Searchable text | Where the PDF ends up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preview app, Export as PDF | iPhone (Apple's guide is for iOS 26 and 27) | Yes, with Embed Text turned on | A location you choose |
| Chrome, Print, Save as PDF | Android | No text recognition is described | A location you choose on the device |
| Google Drive scan | Android | Not described | Your Google Drive account |
| babapic Image to PDF | Any phone browser | No | Your downloads; nothing is uploaded |
How to convert a photo to PDF on iPhone
Apple's guide, Export or compress PDFs and images in Preview on iPhone, gives these steps:
- Open the Preview app and open your image. Preview finds files through Recents, Shared, and Browse, the same locations the Files app uses.
- Tap the menu next to the file name, then tap Export.
- Choose PDF as the format.
- Turn on Embed Text if you want the words in the photo to be searchable. Apple describes it as running OCR on the image.
- Choose where to save it, rename it if you like, and tap Save.
Embed Text is the one thing this route does that the browser tool doesn't, so use Preview if you need to search the text later.
How to convert a photo to PDF on Android
Google's Chrome Help page Print from Chrome covers images as well as web pages:
- Open the image in the Chrome app.
- Tap More, then Share, then Print.
- At the top, choose Save as PDF instead of a printer.
- Pick where to save the file on your phone, then tap Print.
If what you're photographing is a paper document, Google's Workspace guide Scan files as PDFs with your mobile device describes a second option. The Google Drive app's camera button scans the page and saves it as a PDF, which Google states is stored in Drive: your Google account, not just the phone. For an ID or bank statement, that may matter.
The same steps on either phone: Image to PDF
If your iPhone runs an iOS version Apple's Preview guide doesn't cover, or you switch phones, this works the same everywhere:
- Open Image to PDF in your phone's browser and tap the drop area to pick photos. It takes JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, and GIF, up to 50 files at a time.
- Choose a page size: A4, Letter, or Auto. Auto makes each page the same shape as its photo. Every page size keeps a white margin of at least 10mm around the photo.
- For A4 or Letter, pick portrait or landscape. Each photo is centred on its page.
- Create the PDF and download it.
Pages follow the order you pick the photos in. If several photos make up one document, such as both sides of an ID, Merge Images to PDF runs the same engine; our guide to merging photos into one ordered PDF covers the ordering mistakes to avoid.
Two things happen to your photo on the way in. Every page is stored as a JPEG at quality 0.92, even if you started with a PNG, and any transparent area is filled with white. The PDF is assembled in your browser, and the photo is never uploaded to a server.
If your photo is a HEIC file
iPhones often save photos as HEIC, which isn't one of the formats Image to PDF lists. A file your browser labels as HEIC is refused with an "isn't a supported image type" message, and an unlabelled .heic file reads or fails depending on the browser. Convert it to JPG first for a predictable result. Our guide to HEIC files explains how.
FAQ
Will the text in my PDF be searchable?
Only with Preview on iPhone, and only when you turn on Embed Text. Image to PDF wraps the picture in a PDF without text recognition, so the text stays an image.
The PDF is too big for the form. What now?
Make the photo smaller in pixels before converting. Image to PDF re-encodes every page at a fixed quality and full pixel size, so compressing the source file does little on its own; reducing its pixel dimensions is what reliably shrinks the PDF. Our guide to turning a photo into a PDF that forms accept covers this in detail.