You don’t need a third-party app to turn photos into PDFs on your iPhone — iOS has this built in, and it works surprisingly well. There are actually three ways to do it depending on what you need. Here’s each method, step by step.
Method 1: Use the Photos app (quickest)
This is the fastest way and it’s already on your phone. The trick is using the Print menu, which sounds weird but actually works as a PDF converter.
1. Open the Photos app and select the image (or images) you want to convert.
2. Tap the Share button (the square with the arrow).
3. Scroll down and tap Print.
4. On the print preview screen, pinch outward on the thumbnail with two fingers. This turns it into a PDF.
5. Now you can share, save, or send the PDF from there.
That pinch-to-zoom step is the part most people miss. Apple doesn’t advertise this feature anywhere obvious, but it’s been around since iOS 10.
Method 2: Use the Files app for batch conversion
If you need to convert several images at once, the Files app handles it better. This method works with photos you’ve already saved to Files or iCloud Drive.
1. Open the Files app.
2. Navigate to the folder with your images.
3. Tap the three-dot menu (top right) and choose Select.
4. Pick the images you want.
5. Long-press on one of the selected images.
6. Tap Create PDF from the menu that appears.
The Files app combines them into a single multi-page PDF automatically. The pages appear in the order you selected the images, so pick them in the sequence you want.
Method 3: Third-party apps for extra features
The built-in methods cover most situations, but if you need OCR (text recognition), custom page sizes, or compression controls, a dedicated app does more:
MobiPDF handles batch processing well and lets you reorder pages after conversion. Smallpdf connects to cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox. I Love PDF works entirely in your browser if you don’t want to install anything. PDF Converter supports a wider range of input formats beyond just images.
HEIC vs. JPEG: which format to start with
Your iPhone shoots in HEIC by default, which produces smaller files at the same quality as JPEG. For PDF conversion, both formats work fine. The only time it matters is if you’re sharing the PDF with someone on an older system that doesn’t support HEIC — in that case, convert your photos to JPEG first (Settings > Camera > Formats > Most Compatible), or the PDF converter will handle the format conversion for you.
One thing to keep in mind: if image quality matters a lot (say, for a portfolio or document scan), start with the highest-resolution original. PDF conversion preserves whatever quality the source image has, but it can’t add detail that isn’t there.