How to sign a PDF on your phone

Before you start

PDF Tools works in the browser you already have, on Android and on iPhone. Save the PDF to your phone first: download it from your email or messaging app, or find it in your Files app.

Signing happens on your phone. The document is not uploaded anywhere, so it doesn’t matter how private it is. Once the page has loaded, it even keeps working without a connection.

Open the PDF

1. 1Open PDF Tools and go to Sign PDF.
2. 2Tap the drop zone and choose your PDF.
3. 3The document opens full screen, ready to sign. Your pages are in the middle and the signing tools run along the bottom of the screen, under your thumb.

Create your signature

1. 1Tap Signature. A box opens on the Draw tab.
2. 2Sign inside the box with your finger. Turning your phone sideways gives you more room.
3. 3Not happy with it? Tap Undo to remove the last stroke or Clear to start again. You can also switch the ink between black and blue.
4. 4Leave Save for next time ticked if you want to reuse this signature. It is kept on this phone only.
5. 5Tap Use signature.

Drawing isn’t the only way. On the Type tab you type your full name and pick a handwriting style. On the Photo tab you take a picture of your signature written on plain white paper, and PDF Tools removes the background for you.

Put it in the right place

Your signature lands on the page you are looking at. Drag it to the signature line, and drag its corner handle to make it bigger or smaller. Tap anywhere else on the page when you’re done, or use its remove button if you placed it by mistake.

The other tools work the same way. Initials adds your initials, which many contracts ask for on every page. Date adds today’s date as text you can change. Text lets you write your name, a reference number or a short note anywhere. Tick fills in a checkbox.

Apply and download

1. 1When everything is in place, tap Apply at the top of the screen.
2. 2The document updates and stays open, in case you want to keep working on it.
3. 3Tap Download. The file is saved with “signed” added to its name, for example lease-signed.pdf.

On most phones, More (the three dots at the top) also offers Share, so you can send the signed PDF straight back by email or message without looking for it in your downloads.

Good to know

• If the PDF is protected with a password, you’ll be asked for it. The password is only used on your phone to open the file.
• If the PDF already carries a digital signature from someone else, PDF Tools warns you: adding anything to the document makes that signature invalid.
• The open document is kept for this browser tab only. After a reload, PDF Tools offers to continue where you left off, and closing the tab clears it from the phone.
• A signature you draw is a simple electronic signature: your handwritten signature placed on the page. Whether it is accepted depends on the person or organisation asking and on the rules where you live. If they need a certified digital signature, ask them which service they accept.