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How to fax a photo from your iPhone
Sometimes the document you need to fax is already a picture on your phone: a photo of a signed form, a receipt, an ID page someone asked for, or a handwritten note. Faxing a photo works, but fax is black and white and fairly low resolution, so a little preparation makes a big difference. This faxappsforiphone.ca guide covers how to take a photo that faxes well, how to deal with iPhone file formats, and how to send it.
Get Started NowTake a photo that will fax clearly
- Use bright, even light, such as near a window, and avoid your own shadow across the page.
- Hold the phone directly above the page so the edges are square.
- Put the page on a dark, plain surface so the edges stand out.
- Fill the frame with the page and tap the screen to focus on the text.
- Skip the flash on glossy paper, as it creates glare that turns white on a fax.
Better still: use the document scanner
If the page is in front of you, the scanner in the Notes app usually beats a normal photo. Open a note, tap the camera or attachment icon and choose Scan Documents. iOS finds the edges, straightens the page and lets you choose a black-and-white filter, which is close to how a fax will look. You can then share the scan and save it to Files as a PDF. The scanner also lets you add more pages to the same scan, which is handy for a two-sided form.
For a photo already in your library, open it in Photos, tap Edit, crop to the page and raise the contrast a little. Remove colour if the text is faint. Turning saturation all the way down gives you a greyscale image, and a small boost to contrast and sharpness helps faded ink stand out.
Whatever method you choose, zoom in on the finished image before sending. If you cannot read every word on your iPhone screen, the recipient will struggle to read it on a fax printout.
Check the file format
FaxToFax.com, the service faxappsforiphone.ca recommends, accepts PNG, JPG and PDF files. Recent iPhones often save photos in HEIC format to save space. When you upload from the Photo Library in Safari, iOS usually converts the image to JPG automatically. If an upload is refused, you have a few options:
- Take a screenshot of the photo, which saves as a PNG, then crop it.
- Use the Notes scanner and save the result as a PDF.
- For future photos, go to Settings, Camera, Formats and choose Most Compatible, which saves new photos as JPG.
Send the photo as a fax
- Open Safari and sign in to FaxToFax.com with your email and one-time code.
- Start a new fax and tap attach, then choose Photo Library and pick your image.
- Check you attached the right image. If you noticed the text was hard to read, go back and edit or rescan it first.
- Add a cover page explaining what the photo is, such as "Signed consent form, page 1 of 1".
- Enter the fax number, confirm it on the check screen and send.
- Wait for the Delivered status and keep the time-stamped receipt.
Think before you fax sensitive photos
Photos of ID cards, health cards or banking documents contain information that is valuable to the wrong person. Send them only when the recipient genuinely needs them, crop out anything unrelated, and double-check the fax number. Afterwards, consider deleting the photo from your camera roll and from Recently Deleted.
How to Fax a Photo from Your iPhone: questions
Can I fax a colour photo?
You can send it, but fax is black and white, so colours turn into shades of grey or solid black. Raise the contrast before sending for the clearest result.
Why was my iPhone photo not accepted?
It may be in HEIC format. Try a screenshot, the Notes scanner, or set Camera Formats to Most Compatible so photos save as JPG.
Can I send several photos in one fax?
The simplest way is to scan the pages together with the Notes scanner, which saves them as one multi-page PDF, then attach that PDF.
Will the recipient see a blurry image?
Fax resolution is lower than your iPhone's camera, so fine detail is lost. Sharp, well-lit, high-contrast photos with normal-sized text come through best.
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