How to turn iPhone HEIC photos into one PDF

Why your iPhone photos are HEIC files

Since iOS 11, iPhones save photos in the High Efficiency format by default.

• Why Apple uses it: HEIC files use the HEIF container with modern image compression, which usually produces files much smaller than JPEGs of similar quality, so the phone can store more photos.
• The compatibility trade-off: The trade-off is compatibility: older software, some Windows setups and many upload forms don't accept HEIC.
• Switching to JPEG: If you would rather have JPEG files from the start, the setting is under Settings, Camera, Formats, where Most Compatible saves new photos as JPEG. Photos you have already taken stay as they are.

Getting HEIC files off the phone

How you transfer photos decides whether they stay HEIC.

• Sharing and email: Sharing through some apps and email converts them to JPEG automatically, which is fine for this tool too.
• AirDrop and Files: AirDrop to a Mac and saving to the Files app usually keep the original HEIC files.
• By cable: When you connect the phone to a computer with a cable, the format depends on Settings, Photos, Transfer to Mac or PC. Automatic converts the photos to a format most computers can open. Keep Originals copies the HEIC files as they are.
• Any route works: Any of these routes works. The important part is having the image files on the device you use to upload them.

Converting with VelloDoc

• What the tool accepts: HEIC to PDF accepts HEIC and HEIF files. Add several photos at once, drag them in the file list into the order you want, and download a single PDF with one photo per page.
• Orientation and page size: Camera orientation is applied, so portrait shots aren't left sideways, and each page is sized from the photo's pixel dimensions, which gives large pages that viewers scale to fit the screen. Very large images are reduced to 6,000 pixels on their longest side.
• Multi-image HEIC files: If a HEIC file holds more than one image, each becomes its own page.
• Mixing with other image formats: To combine iPhone photos with JPG, PNG or other images in the same PDF, use Any Image to PDF instead.

Keeping the PDF a sensible size

• Why the PDF is larger: Inside the PDF, each HEIC photo is saved as a high-quality JPEG at full resolution. So a PDF of recent iPhone photos can easily reach several megabytes per page, which is more than the original HEIC files.
• Reduce it afterwards: For sharing on screen or uploading to a form, reduce it afterwards. Compress PDF with the Smaller file level lowers photo resolution for on-screen viewing, and Compress to Target Size brings the file under a specific limit, like the 2 MB many forms allow.
• Keep the original for printing: Keep the uncompressed PDF if you might print the photos.

Photos of paper documents

• Use Scan to PDF instead: If your photos show receipts, forms or letters instead of people or places, Scan to PDF is made for that. On a phone it opens the camera. You can photograph each page in turn and combine them right away.
• Crop and shoot straight on: VelloDoc doesn't detect page edges or correct perspective, so crop each photo to the paper in the Photos app first, and hold the phone parallel to the page when you take it.
• Make it searchable: To make the document searchable afterwards, run OCR PDF on the result.
• Where to read more: The guide to cleaner phone scans covers lighting and framing.

Order, orientation and final checks

• Arrange before converting: Pages follow the order of the file list, so arrange the photos before converting. Renaming them with numbers before upload can make that easier.
• If a photo is sideways: If a photo still appears sideways, for example because its orientation information was lost when it was shared, fix it afterwards with Rotate PDF.
• Check every page: Before you send the PDF, flip through every page to check the order.
• Photos can show more than you mean: And remember that photos can show more than you mean to share, from faces in the background to location details in the original files.

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