Scanning with iPhone or Android: save document as PDF

1 min read·25 July 2026

You don't need a scanner for a clean PDF of a paper document. Your smartphone has built-in scanning functions that make excellent PDF files, here's how.

Scanning on iPhone (Notes app)

Open the Notes app, create a new note, tap the camera icon and choose "Scan Documents". Aim the camera at the document, the app detects edges automatically and makes a perspective-corrected scan. Save as PDF: tap the scan, choose "Share" → "Save to Files".

Scanning on Android (Google Drive)

Open Google Drive, tap the "+" icon, choose "Scan". The app makes a rectangle detection and perspective correction. Save to Drive or export as PDF to your phone storage.

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Quality improvements after scanning

Smartphone scans are good but not perfect. Common improvements: compress the PDF if it's too large (photo quality), use OCR to make the text searchable, or adjust brightness/contrast in the app's photo editing features.

Multiple pages in one PDF

With iPhone Notes scan: make multiple scans in the same session: they're automatically combined into one multi-page PDF. With Android/Drive: scan per page and merge afterwards via PDFrust.

Alternatives for better quality

Dedicated scan apps: Adobe Scan (free, excellent quality), Microsoft Lens (free, Office integration), CamScanner (free/paid). These give better text recognition and sharper results than the built-in options.