---
title: "PDF & Document Tools for iPhone — Merge, Compress, Convert, All Free"
url: https://adityaarsharma.com/pdf-document-tools-for-iphone/
date: 2026-08-01
modified: 2026-08-03
author: "Aditya R Sharma"
description: "Every PDF and document tool in Grabio — merge, compress, scan, convert — with an honest note on which run on-device and which use a clean third-party site."
word_count: 329
---

# PDF & Document Tools for iPhone — Merge, Compress, Convert, All Free

[Home](https://grabio.adityaarsharma.com) › [Blog](https://grabio.adityaarsharma.com/blog) › PDF & Document Tools
PDF work on iPhone is the one category where I had to be honest about the limits. iOS can build a PDF from a photo and compress one entirely on-device — genuinely private, no upload. But it cannot merge PDFs or decode a QR code from a saved image; Apple simply doesn't expose an action for either. So Grabio does what's real: the on-device jobs stay on your iPhone, and the two jobs that need a website hand off to a specific, clean tool with your file already loaded — no ad-stuffed downloader maze.

## Fully on-device (nothing uploaded)

- [Convert a photo to PDF](https://grabio.adityaarsharma.com/blog/convert-a-photo-to-pdf-on-iphone-for-email) — turn a signed form or ID photo into a real PDF
- [Scan a document or receipt to PDF](https://grabio.adityaarsharma.com/blog/how-to-scan-a-document-or-receipt-to-pdf-on-iphone) — the same tool, framed for expense reports and receipts
- [Compress a PDF](https://grabio.adityaarsharma.com/blog/how-to-compress-a-pdf-on-iphone) — for college, visa, and government portals that cap uploads at 1-2MB
- [Convert a PDF to images](https://grabio.adityaarsharma.com/blog/how-to-convert-a-pdf-to-images-on-iphone) — pull a page out as a JPG for a slide deck or a chat

## Hands off to a clean website (the honest exception)

- [Merge PDF files](https://grabio.adityaarsharma.com/blog/how-to-merge-pdf-files-on-iphone) — no Shortcuts action can combine PDFs on-device, so this opens PDF24 with your file already picked
- [Scan a QR code image](https://grabio.adityaarsharma.com/blog/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-image-on-iphone-without-an-app) — for a saved screenshot or old photo of a code, not the live camera scanner. Hands off to QRLynx since iOS has no image-decode action either.

Everything above starts from the same place: share the file to Grabio from the iPhone share sheet, and it either does the job on your phone or opens the right tool with the file ready to go — no searching, no sketchy downloader sites. For photo-side PDF work like reducing file size before you scan, see the [photo tools](https://adityaarsharma.com/photo-tools-for-iphone/) page.

![Aditya Sharma](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a59cc2335b41e9479258bbca14b1f0528dd236cc02666e04b8dcf39596a4cfc8?s=128&d=mm&r=g)

Written by Aditya Sharma

Marketer who codes. Aditya builds Grabio himself — writing the code, running the servers, and testing every feature on his own iPhone before it ships. [adityaarsharma.com](https://adityaarsharma.com)

[✉️ Email Aditya](mailto:grabio@adityaarsharma.com)