How to Create a PDF File in Mobile, Without an App

Your college wants the assignment as a PDF, the job portal asks for your certificates as a PDF, or the bank wants your documents in PDF form, and all you have is photos on your phone? Your Android phone can make a PDF on its own, with no app to download. But it turns each photo into a separate PDF and doesn’t let you set the order or the file size. Here are all the methods, and when the built-in ones aren’t enough.

Which method is right for you?

For a single photo, the Print option is enough. If the PDF goes to a government office, a college or an employer, you usually need more: several pages in one file, a fixed order and a file under the size limit. That’s what the browser method is for.

Method 1: Save one photo as a PDF with Print

Android has a PDF printer built in. You don’t print anything. You save the print preview as a PDF. Here’s how it works in Google Photos, which comes preinstalled on most Android phones.

For a second photo, you repeat everything and get a second PDF. If you need, say, the front and back of your ID card in one file, method 3 is easier. In other gallery apps, for example on Xiaomi, Redmi or Motorola phones, the option is usually also called Print and sits in the three-dot menu.

Method 2: Several photos in the Samsung Gallery

Many Samsung phones have their own PDF feature in the Gallery app. Depending on the One UI version, you’ll find it in different places:

• Via Create: Select the photos in the Gallery, tap Create at the bottom and choose the PDF option. On some versions, you first have to switch the feature on in Gallery Labs. Gallery Labs appears when you tap the version number several times under Settings > About Gallery.
• Via the Gallery assistant: On newer models, select the photos, tap More and open the Gallery assistant. There you’ll find an option to save as PDF, with page size and quality settings.

If you can’t find either option, your phone doesn’t have the feature. Then use Print for single photos or the browser method for several.

Method 3: How to make a PDF file in mobile with several photos, on any Android

This is the method for a PDF that goes to a government office, a college or an employer: all pages in one file, fixed order, A4, small file. It works the same on every Android phone, whether Samsung, Xiaomi, Redmi, Motorola or Pixel. Nothing to install, no account, and your photos aren’t uploaded to any server. That also saves phone storage and mobile data: there’s no app to download, and your photos never leave your phone.

You can mix photos, screenshots and images from WhatsApp, even HEIC photos someone sent you from an iPhone. If you only have JPG photos, JPG to PDF works the same way. To combine many photos neatly on any device, see the guide How to combine multiple photos into one PDF.

Paper document? Scan it instead

For letters, forms or mark sheets, a scan is better than a photo. Google Drive crops the page, straightens it and turns it straight into a PDF.

1. Open Google Drive and tap the plus icon at the bottom right.
2. Tap Scan and take a photo of the page.
3. Add more pages with the plus icon, then tap Done and save the PDF.

On Samsung phones, the Camera app also recognizes documents and offers to scan them. Drive needs a Google account, which is usually already set up on Android phones.

What about iPhone?

On iPhone, the methods have different names: there’s the Print trick in the Photos app and Create PDF in the Files app. All the steps are in the guide How to make a PDF on iPhone from photos. The browser method works the same in Safari on iPhone as it does here in Chrome.

The PDF is too large: what helps?

Phone photos have many megapixels and are often several megabytes each. The Print option and the Drive scanner have no setting for file size. Just a few photos can produce a PDF that an upload portal or an inbox rejects.

• In the browser tool, set File size to Smaller. Each photo is then limited to 2,400 pixels on the long side. That’s enough for the screen and for a printed A4 page.
• Crop the photos in your gallery first, so only the document is visible.
• Split many photos into two PDFs if the portal accepts several files.

Check before you send

Open the PDF once and go through these points:

• Is everything readable, even when you zoom in?
• Is every page upright, and is the order right?
• Are all pages there, for example the front and back?
• Does the file have a clear name, such as “Certificate-Your-Name.pdf”?

To send the PDF by WhatsApp or email without it turning back into a photo on the way, see the guide How to send a picture as a PDF. For ID cards, certificates or medical documents, choose a method with no server upload. Your phone’s Print option and Filemanta both work only on your device.

• No app needed: open the photo in Google Photos, tap Print, choose Save as PDF.
• The Print option makes one PDF per photo, with no control over order or file size.
• Some Samsung phones turn several photos into one PDF in the Gallery app, depending on the One UI version.
• On any Android phone, Chrome does it all: several photos, your own order, A4, a smaller file, with no server upload.
• For paper, the scanner in Google Drive beats a regular photo.
• Before sending, check that the PDF is readable, upright, complete and not too large.