Ditch the signature apps — your iPhone has a hidden built-in tool to sign any document

1. Take a screenshot of the document

Open the document you need to sign and take a screenshot by pressing the side button and volume up button simultaneously (or home button and side button on older iPhones).

Next, click the Markup icon, the one that looks like a marker inside a circle. When the Markup toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen (with the different pens and pencils), tap the plus (+) button. From the menu that opens, select Signature.

2. Write your signature

If you’ve never used this feature before, you’ll see a blank screen prompting you to create a signature. Sign directly on your iPhone screen using your finger. Try to keep it smooth and legible. This signature gets saved for future use.

If you’ve used this before, stored signatures appear. You can select a previously saved signature or tap the plus icon to create a new one. Multiple stored signatures are useful if you need different signature styles for different purposes.

3. Add the signature to your document

After selecting or creating your signature, it appears on the screenshot as a draggable element. Use your finger to drag it to the appropriate signature line on the document.

Pinch to resize the signature so it fits the signature box properly. Most forms have designated signature areas, so make sure your signature fits within those boundaries without overlapping text or other fields. If you need to rotate the signature, you can use two fingers to twist it.

Once positioned correctly, tap Done in the top-left corner. Your signed document is now saved to Photos as a new screenshot with the signature embedded.

4. Share the signed document

After tapping Done, the signed screenshot saves automatically. Tap the share icon (square with an arrow pointing up) to send it.

You can email it directly, upload it to cloud storage, send it via Messages, or save it to Files. The signed document is a standard image file that works anywhere you’d send a photo.

For professional contexts where image files aren’t ideal, you can convert the screenshot to PDF. Save it to Files first, then use the Files app to convert images to PDFs by selecting the file, three-dot menu, and Convert to PDF.