# How to sign a PDF on your phone

You do not need to print, sign and re-scan. Open the PDF in Scan Clan, add your signature, and send it back. You can draw the signature on the screen, or photograph one you wrote on paper and Scan Clan will lift it off the page.

## Step by step

### 1. Open the document

Scan the page, or import a PDF you already have. Imported PDFs are edited alongside anything you scan.

### 2. Choose Signature

From the document menu. If you have not made one yet, this is where you do it.

### 3. Draw it, or photograph it

Draw with a finger or stylus. Or sign a blank sheet of paper, photograph it, and Scan Clan lifts the ink off the background so you get the signature without the paper around it. The photographed one usually looks more like your real signature.

### 4. Place it

Drop it where it belongs on the page and size it. It is saved, so the next document takes one tap.

### 5. Send it

Share it to any app, print it, or export it with a password if it is going somewhere sensitive.

## Getting a clean signature from paper

Use a dark pen on white unlined paper. Lifting the ink off the background is a contrast problem, and a blue biro on a lined pad gives it far less to work with than a black pen on plain white.

Fill a good part of the frame with the signature rather than photographing a whole page with a small mark in the corner. More pixels on the ink means cleaner edges when it is scaled onto a document.

## Locking the signed file

A signed contract is usually the kind of thing worth protecting in transit. Choose the password option when you export or share, and the PDF that leaves the app is encrypted with AES-256 and needs the password to open. Send the password by another channel than the file itself — a password in the same email as the attachment protects nothing.

See also: [how to scan a document to PDF on Android](/guides/scan-documents-to-pdf-on-android/).

> Scan Clan is free, and every step below is part of the app — there is no paid tier to move any of it into. [Get it on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spirikle.scanclan).

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_Scan Clan · https://spirikle.com/guides/sign-a-pdf-on-your-phone/ · published by Spirikle · support@spirikle.com_