iPhone: select the photos, share, then Print, then pinch outwards on the preview to turn it into a PDF you can save.
Android: select the photos, share, then Print, and choose Save as PDF as the destination. A browser tool works on both and gives you control over order and page size.
Receipts for an expense claim. A signed form photographed rather than scanned. Pages of a document someone handed you. The phone is where these images are, and sending eight separate photos when one PDF would do is the kind of small friction that adds up.
On an iPhone
iOS has had this for years without ever advertising it, which is why most people install an app for it.
Select the photos in the Photos app
Tap Select, choose the images in the order you want them, then tap the share button. Selection order is not always preserved, so check the result.
Choose Print from the share sheet
Scroll down the list of actions. You are not going to print anything, this is just the route to the preview.
Pinch outwards on the preview
Spread two fingers on the page thumbnail. It opens into a full preview which is, at that point, a PDF. Share it from there and save to Files.
The Files app offers a second route that is easier when the images are already saved as files rather than in the photo library: select them, long press, and choose Create PDF. It builds the document immediately with no print dialog involved.
On Android
Android puts it in the same place conceptually and makes it slightly more discoverable, since Save as PDF appears as an actual printer destination.
Select the images in Google Photos or your gallery app, share, choose Print, then open the destination dropdown at the top and pick Save as PDF. The print dialog gives you paper size and orientation controls, which the iOS route does not surface.
The HEIC problem
iPhones store photos as HEIC by default, a format that is roughly half the size of JPEG at the same quality. It is a good format and it is not universally supported.
This rarely matters when using the built-in routes, because iOS converts as it builds the PDF. It matters a great deal if you send the raw images to someone on Windows or upload them to a web tool, where they may simply not open.
- Camera format settingMost Compatible
- Sharing settingAutomatic converts on send
- Emailing raw HEICOften fails on Windows
- Built-in PDF routesConvert automatically
- ScreenshotsAlways PNG, never HEIC
Photos that come out sideways
A phone photograph stores its pixels in one fixed arrangement and records which way up the phone was in a separate metadata tag. Software that reads the tag displays it correctly. Software that ignores the tag shows it rotated.
This is why a photo that looks right in your gallery can land sideways in a PDF. The image did not rotate, the tool simply did not consult the tag. Rotating the photo in your gallery app before converting writes the correct orientation into the pixels themselves and removes the ambiguity.
Keeping the file sendable
Phone cameras produce large images. Twelve megapixels of a sheet of A4 is roughly 600 DPI, an archival scanning resolution for something that will be glanced at and filed.
Ten such photos make a PDF that many email systems will refuse. Compressing the finished document once typically cuts it by three quarters with no visible difference, because most of that resolution was never needed.
Build a PDF from photos
Works in your phone browser. Pick the images, set the order, download the file. Nothing uploaded.
Common questions
The phone-specific parts.
01How do I make a PDF from photos on an iPhone without an app?
Select the photos, tap share, choose Print, then spread two fingers outwards on the print preview. That gesture turns the preview into a PDF you can share and save to Files. The Files app also offers Create PDF on selected images.
02How do I do it on Android?
Select the images, share, choose Print, then open the destination dropdown and pick Save as PDF. The print dialog also lets you set paper size and orientation before saving.
03Why are my photos sideways in the PDF?
Phone photos record orientation in a metadata tag rather than in the pixels themselves, and some tools ignore the tag. Rotating the photo in your gallery app before converting writes the correct orientation into the image and fixes it permanently.
04What is HEIC and will it cause problems?
It is the default photo format on iPhones, about half the size of JPEG at the same quality, and not universally supported. The built-in PDF routes convert it automatically. Sending raw HEIC files to other people, particularly on Windows, often fails.
05Why is my PDF so large?
Because phone photographs are large. A twelve megapixel photo of an A4 page carries around 600 DPI when 300 is ample. Compressing the finished PDF once usually reduces it by three quarters with no visible change.
06Why are there white borders around my photos?
The built-in routes place each image on a fixed paper size, so any photo whose shape does not match the page leaves margins. A browser tool that matches the page to the image removes them.