How to fax from iPhone, with or without an app

Yes, you can fax from an iPhone, and you do not need an app. Scan the paper to a PDF with the Files or Notes app. Open a fax service's send page in Safari, upload the PDF, type the fax number and pay. The iPhone places no fax call. The service's telephone carrier does.

Our own page works that way in Safari, for numbers in the United States or Canada.

You can send a fax online with no app on this site: one document, one card payment and no subscription. The price is in the box above.

What can an iPhone do alone, and what can it not?

An iPhone has a camera, a document scanner and a browser. It has no fax modem. Faxing is a phone call from one fax terminal to another. The two agree on a speed and pass page images, and the Phone app cannot do that. Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 27 has no fax topic in its table of contents, as read on 2026-11-13.

So faxing from an iPhone always has two halves. The phone makes the file and sends it over the internet. A service dials the fax number and reports back.

Scan the paper to a PDF

These taps come from Apple's support page "How to scan documents on your iPhone or iPad". Apple published it on 2026-02-13 and we read it on 2026-11-13. It names iOS 26, and it sends owners of iOS 17 and earlier to another page.

The Files app is the shorter route to a browser upload, because the scan is saved as a file straight away.

1. In the Files app, tap the More button.
2. Tap Scan Documents.
3. Place the document in view of the camera. In Auto mode the iPhone scans it by itself.
4. To capture by hand, tap the Shutter button or press a Volume button. Drag the corners to fit the page, then tap Keep Scan.
5. Scan the next page the same way, or tap the Done button.
6. Choose a location, then tap Save.

Open the saved file once. It should be one PDF with every page upright and in order.

The Notes app has the same scanner. Open a note, tap the Attachment button, then tap Scan Documents. Apple's user guide for iOS 27 says the document is saved as a PDF in the note. That guide also lists a Scan Documents button in the Preview app, which creates a PDF too.

How do I send it from Safari without an app?

1. Open the send page in Safari. The Send a fax button in this site's header goes there.
2. Tap the file button and choose the PDF you saved. One fax takes one file.
3. Type the recipient's fax number with its area code.
4. Add your name and your email address. Both are printed on the cover sheet, which is included.
5. Tap Continue to payment. The next screen shows the page count and the price, and nothing is charged yet.
6. Pay by card. The card is authorized now and charged only when the fax is delivered.
7. Open the mail we send you and tap Confirm and send.

The fax goes out after that last tap. Opening the mail's link sends nothing by itself.

Why scan to a PDF and not take a photo?

The send page takes PDF, PNG, JPG and TIFF files. An iPhone 7 or later can save camera photos in HEIF, and HEIF is not on that list. Apple's page on the format, published 2025-12-05 and read on 2026-11-13, names the setting. Under Settings, Camera, Formats, the choice Most Compatible makes new photos JPEG.

A scan avoids the question. It is cropped to the page, and all the pages sit in one PDF in the right order. Three loose photos would be three files, and one fax takes one file.

What does an app or a subscription add?

Way	What you install	Fits when
A web page in Safari	Nothing	You send a fax now and then
A fax app	The app	You fax every week and want the history on the phone
A subscription with a fax number	An app or an account	People have to fax you back

What an app can add is a place on the phone for your past faxes and saved recipients. A subscription is worth paying for when it comes with a fax number of your own, so you can receive.

Before you install one, read the price on its App Store page. Look for whether it charges per fax or per week, and for the day a trial becomes a paid plan. The pay-per-fax guide sets usage charges beside subscriptions.

How do I keep a phone scan legible?

A fax page is black and white, and a phone scan loses some sharpness on the way.

• Lay the page flat on a dark table, so the scanner finds the edges.
• Use daylight or a lamp from the side, and keep the phone's shadow off the paper.
• Zoom into the saved PDF and read the smallest print and the signature.
• Write and sign in black ink. Grey and coloured marks turn into black dots or vanish on a fax.

Type size has a floor too. In our bench run of 2026-11-08, four fonts all scored 98% or more at 7 pt and larger, at standard fax resolution. That run was a simulation read by OCR software, with no camera and no phone line. A phone scan is rougher than that, so we would keep body text at 10 pt or larger. The method and the tables are in the smallest font that survives a fax.

How do I know it arrived?

Stay on the order page after the confirm tap, or come back to it later. It shows the fax waiting for a line, then dialing, then the result. The page says the fax was delivered only once the carrier's report of the pages is on it. A receipt follows by mail with the pages, the amount, the time and the carrier's reference.

If the fax fails, nothing is charged and the card authorization is released.

Delivered means the receiving machine accepted every page. It says nothing about whether a person has read them. When a deadline depends on it, phone the office and ask. Our guide on how to send a fax covers busy lines and other failures.