There are some tasks that will never be suitable for a smartphone — serious video editing and serious spreadsheeting, for example — but there’s plenty that you can do on these pocket devices, and that includes scanning, signing and sharing documents without having to go near a computer or printer.
Whether you’re on Android or iOS, there are a few built-in options you can try, plus plenty of third-party apps you can turn to for the job. Whatever you might be dealing with, whether it’s an order for work or a form from your kid’s school, you can take care of everything digitally, quickly, and with a minimum of fuss.
Built-in options
If you’re on Android, then Google Drive most likely came preinstalled on your smartphone: You can scan documents through the app by tapping the + (plus) symbol and then Scan: You’ll need to frame the document in question using the phone camera, and it’ll then be stored in your Google Drive account as a PDF.
What you can’t do right now in Google Drive or Google Docs is electronically sign documents, not without a third-party plug-in (see below for some examples). An eSignature feature is currently in beta, but even then it’s only available to users paying for a Google Workspace account.
Sharing is, of course, well catered for. You can share a document from right inside the Google Drive app by tapping the three dots next to the file and choosing Share — this will give other people access to the file inside your Google Drive account. You can also pick Send copy from the same menu to send a PDF through any app on your phone (an email app or instant messenger for example).
For those of you on an iPhone, there’s scanning and signing features built into the Files app (and the Notes app, if you want an alternative). From Files, tap Browse and On My iPhone, then tap the three dots in the top right corner and choose Scan Documents: Line up the pages you want to scan in the camera viewfinder, and they’ll be saved as PDFs to your device.
To sign a document in iOS, tap on it inside the Files app, then tap the pen icon (bottom right). You can then either use your finger to scribble your mark, or select the signature icon (the pen writing in a box) to create a new digital signature or use an existing one: Tap somewhere on the document, then the + (plus) button, then Add Signature. When you’re finished, tap Done.
Sharing from within the Files app is pretty straightforward. Tap and hold on a document, then choose Share from the menu that pops up: You can send the document through one of the apps on your phone, move it to another device via AirDrop, put it somewhere in a cloud storage service, and more besides.
Third-party apps
There are plenty of third-party apps around for scanning, signing and sharing documents, as you might expect — though they all vary in terms of which of those tasks they focus on most and which other features you get thrown in as well. You may already have one or more of these installed on your smartphone, and they’re all free to install — though some require in-app purchases for certain premium features.
Dropbox (Android, iOS) is best known for cloud storage and file syncing, but it also includes a capable document scanner. Scanned documents are saved as PDFs and stored in your cloud locker, and from there, you can share them in a variety of ways. Digital signing is available as well, but only (for now at least) with PDFs on iOS: With a file open, tap the open icon (an arrow inside a box), then choose Add Text or Signature.
HelloSign (Android, iOS) is now owned by Dropbox and powers the esignatures inside the Dropbox iOS app — if you want something more standalone, or something that works on Android, you can use this separate app. Scanning, signing and sharing are all supported, and there are tools for managing multiple esignatures on a document.
Then there’s DocuSign (Android, iOS), which is an app very much dedicated to helping you sign documents digitally (as its name suggests): To this end, it offers the ability to create and manage multiple signatures. There’s an integrated document scanner if you need it, or you can import a file from another source, and you can share completed documents to any other app on your phone, too.
Acrobat Reader (Android, iOS) is the veteran Adobe tool for PDF management, and the current mobile version of the app can handle scanning, signing and sharing documents in the PDF format (though a separate app, Adobe Scan, is required for the first step). Everything is neatly handled, and there are several useful sharing options — you can let other people comment on the file too, for example.
When it comes to ease of use, it’s difficult to beat JetSign (Android, iOS). Signatures, dates and other text can all be dropped into a PDF with a couple of taps, and there’s a lot of flexibility in every aspect of the app — from how your signature looks on the page to how files are shared with other people. Finished documents have to be exported as PDFs, but you can import files in a variety of formats (including Word documents).