How to Send a Fax from an iPhone

Two ways to fax from an iPhone

• The FaxUp app is the better choice when the document is on paper. It has a scanner, lets you sign forms, and keeps your fax history.
• Safari at faxup.net needs nothing installed. It suits a PDF from an email, a file in the Files app or a photo you already took.

Both use the same account and the same credits. Sign in with the same email and a credit bought in one is there in the other.

Method 1: the FaxUp app

1. Install FaxUp from the App Store and open it. You can start without an account.
2. Tap to start a new fax and choose Scan for paper, or pick a PDF or photo from your iPhone.
3. Hold the phone flat above the page. The scanner finds the edges of the paper; adjust the corners if it missed one. Scan each page in order.
4. Check the pages: crop, rotate a sideways page or change the order. If the form needs a signature or the date, add them with Fill & Sign.
5. Enter the recipient's fax number. Add a cover page if the office asked for one.
6. Send. The first fax is paid with one credit ($2.99 for a single fax). One credit covers the whole fax, whether it is 1 page or 30.
7. Watch the status change to delivered. The delivery email has the transmission report attached.

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Method 2: Safari, no app

1. Open faxup.net/send in Safari.
2. Tap to add a file. You can choose from Files, Photos, or take a photo. PDF, Word documents, JPEG, PNG and HEIC are accepted: up to 10 files, 25 MB each.
3. Look at the preview. It shows each page in black and white the way the fax machine will print it, one page at a time.
4. Pick the country and type the fax number. The number formats as you type, which helps you spot a missing digit.
5. Add a cover page if you need one, then send and pay for just that fax.

Sending one page to a US or Canada number? Use the free fax instead: sign in with your email, no card needed.

Scanning tips that make a fax readable

A fax machine prints every dot as pure black or pure white, at about 200 lines per inch at best. Grey, colour and shadows don't survive that. So:

• Scan in daylight or under an even light, and keep your hand's shadow off the page.
• Put the paper on a dark, plain surface so the edges are easy to find.
• Fill in forms with black or dark blue ink. Pencil and light colours often print as nothing.
• Keep text and signatures away from the very edge: fax machines often lose about a quarter inch there, and a header line is printed across the top.
• Very small print (under about 8 pt) can blur into blobs. Zoom the scan if the original is tiny.
• Avoid big black areas, like a dark photo. They are slow to send and print as a smudge.

Not sure about a page? Run it through the free fax preview first: it flags faint marks, small text, dark areas and content too close to the edges.

What the fax machine on the other side prints

The recipient gets paper (or a PDF, if their office receives faxes digitally) in black and white. Pages are scaled to the width of a fax line, so a photo or an A4 page arrives at Letter width. Most machines print a header with the date, time and the sending number on each page. Colour is gone, and pale stamps or highlighter usually disappear.

When a fax fails, and what to do

• Busy or no answer. The fax line was in use or the machine was off. Try again later; offices often switch machines off after hours.
• A person answered. The number is a voice line. Ask the office for their fax number specifically.
• The number was refused before sending. It is a mobile number, or in a country FaxUp doesn't fax to. Check the country you picked.
• The call dropped partway. Long or very dark documents take longer and are more likely to break off. Send again; if it keeps happening, split the document.

Whatever the reason, a failed fax doesn't cost you: its credit goes back to your balance. Sending abroad? See how international faxing works.