Scan documents on iPhone with Safari (no App Store needed)

Your iPhone already has a superb document camera — what it lacks out of the box is a clean photo-to-PDF pipeline that doesn't involve installing yet another app. Safari plus ToPDF covers it: scan, auto-crop, name, share, all in the browser.

Scanning in Safari

1. Open topdf.online in Safari and tap “Tap to choose photos”.
2. iOS asks where from: Photo Library for existing shots or Take Photo to shoot now. Both work identically.
3. The page is detected, cropped, straightened and turned upright automatically. iPhone HEIC photos are converted on the spot — nothing to configure.
4. Add pages, adjust anything, then Share (AirDrop, WhatsApp, Mail…) or Download PDF (lands in Files → Downloads).

iPhone-specific notes

• HEIC just works — conversion happens in the browser, locally. (Details.)
• Live Photos are treated as their still frame — fine for documents.
• The camera's document hints: shoot from above, tap the page to focus, and let the yellow exposure settle before the shutter.
• Where downloads go: Files app → Downloads; changeable in Settings → Apps → Safari. Or skip it with Share → Save to Files.

Why not the Notes scanner?

Notes' built-in scan is decent for quick captures into Notes. ToPDF's advantages are the output and the boundaries: a real named PDF (not a note attachment), per-page editing with a magnifier, passport-aware cropping, name suggestions — and processing that verifiably never leaves the device. Comparison: ToPDF vs Apple Notes.

Frequently asked questions

Does it work in Chrome or Firefox on iPhone?

Yes — iOS browsers all use Safari’s engine underneath, and ToPDF runs the same in each. Share-sheet support included.

Do I need iCloud or an Apple account?

No accounts of any kind. The scanner runs locally; downloads go to your Files app like any Safari download.

Will it fill up my iPhone storage?

Only the one-time engine cache (~55 MB) plus the PDFs you choose to save. ToPDF keeps no library of your scans.