How to edit a PDF on iPhone

What you can do with Apple's built-in apps

Preview

On recent versions of iOS, iPhone has a Preview app for PDFs and images. Apple's guide says you can open a PDF from Recents, Shared or Browse, then:

• Add things on top: tap the Markup button, then the Add button, and choose a text box, signature, shape or sticker. To take something back, tap the More button, then Undo.
• Highlight: select some text, tap Highlight, and choose a color, underline or strikethrough.
• Fill out and sign forms: tap the AutoFill button and tap a blank field to type. The Add button also offers Add Signature and Add Text Form Box.
• Manage pages: add, delete, rotate, move or crop pages, and lock, export or compress the PDF.

Markup in other apps

Markup also appears in other apps. Apple names Notes and Photos as examples. In the Markup toolbar, the Add button offers Add Text, Add Shape and Add Signature. You sign with your finger and can save several signatures. In Notes, you can attach a PDF and annotate it with the Handwriting Tools button. In Books, open a PDF, tap the page, then tap the Markup button.

What the built-in apps can't do

All of these add things on top of the page. Apple's guides describe adding text boxes, shapes, signatures and highlights, but none of them describes changing the words that are already in the PDF. So if you need to fix a typo, update a date or change a name in the original text, you'll need an editor.

Change the words in a PDF in Safari

PDF ProMaster's tools work in Safari on iPhone, with nothing to install and no account. The file is opened on your iPhone and isn't uploaded.

1. Open Edit PDF in Safari and tap Choose PDF file. Pick the PDF from where it's saved, such as your Downloads folder or iCloud Drive.
2. Tap the page you want to change. The editor opens.
3. Tap Edit text & images. Every line of text and every picture gets an outline.
4. Tap the line you want to change and type the new words. To delete words, clear the text. You can also tap a picture to move, resize, replace or delete it.
5. Use the other buttons to add new things: Add text, Date, Image, Signature (draw it with your finger, type it, or use a photo of it), Draw, White-out, Highlight or Box.
6. Tap Done, then Save PDF.

When you save, the old words are removed from the file and the new ones drawn in their place, in a standard font (similar to Helvetica, Times or Courier). It may look slightly different from the original. A few honest limits: lines and shapes drawn in the PDF can't be changed yet, scanned pages need OCR PDF first, and White-out only hides what's underneath. Our guide Why can't I edit my PDF? covers the other reasons a PDF won't change.

Other jobs on iPhone

• Sign: Sign PDF lets you draw your signature with your finger, then tap the page where it should go. It signs one page at a time.
• Merge: Merge PDF joins several PDFs. Use the arrows to put them in order, then tap Merge PDF.
• Make it smaller: Compress PDF shrinks a PDF for email or an upload form. Exact size lets you set a limit such as 200 KB.
• Several jobs at once: the PDF ProMaster Workspace opens PDFs, photos and Word files together. Tap a page to see it larger, tap the circle in its corner to select it, and press and hold a page to slide it to a new place. Edit page (✎) opens the same editor as Edit PDF. When you're done, choose your download settings, such as compression or a password, and tap Download.

Where your edited PDF is saved

When the file is ready, the download should start by itself. If it doesn't, tap the Download button on the result. Apple explains where to find it:

• In Safari, a Downloads button appears next to the search field after a download. Tap it to see your files.
• In the Files app, tap Browse, then the Downloads folder. If you don't see it, tap iCloud Drive first.
• To choose where downloads go, open Settings > Apps > Safari > Downloads and pick iCloud Drive, On My iPhone or Other.

Edit PDF saves a new copy with "-edited" added to the name, so your original stays as it was.

Tips for a small screen

• Turn your iPhone sideways for wide pages. The editor redraws the page to fit the screen.
• Change one page at a time. Tap Done after each page, and check the page previews before you save.
• Set the text size. A size of 10 or 11 usually fits printed lines. Text can be set from 6 to 144.
• Use Undo freely. Undo takes back any step in the editor.
• Stay on the page until it's saved. Your file is kept only in the Safari tab while you work. Close the tab and your unsaved changes are gone.
• Very long files need memory. A phone may struggle with a huge scan that a computer handles easily. If it's slow, split the file with Split PDF and edit the part you need.

Questions

Sources

• Apple Support: Get started with Preview on iPhone (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Open and view PDFs and images in Preview on iPhone (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Annotate a PDF or image in Preview on iPhone (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Fill out forms, sign documents, and create signatures on iPhone (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Add text, shapes, stickers, and more with Markup on iPhone (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Write and draw in documents with Markup on iPhone (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Work with PDFs in Notes on iPhone (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Read PDF documents in the Books app on iPhone (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Where to find downloads on your iPhone or iPad (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Find your downloaded files on iPhone (checked 27 October 2026)
• Apple Support: Customize your Safari settings on iPhone (Downloads) (checked 27 October 2026)