How to Scan a Lease Agreement with Your iPhone
Remove the staple, capture every page and every addendum in order, and export the whole lease as one PDF. Leases initial the bottom of each page, so frame wider than the paper — a clipped footer initial is what makes a scanned lease look incomplete. All processing happens on your iPhone and export is free and unwatermarked.
Tools used: Crop & perspective fixRotateSignatureMarkupText insertPDF conversion
Step by step
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Assemble the whole set before scanning
A lease is rarely just the main agreement — there are usually addenda, a rules annex, an inventory or condition report, and sometimes a key receipt. Lay them out in the order they are referenced so you scan a complete file rather than discovering a gap later. Remove staples so every sheet lies flat.
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Frame wide enough to keep footer initials
Leases have both parties initial the bottom corner of every page, and those initials sit within a centimetre of the paper edge. Leave visible background on all four sides at capture and crop tighter afterwards. A page missing its initials reads as an unexecuted page.
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Capture pages in order, checking reverse sides
Go through the stack one sheet at a time, front then back, keeping the capture order identical to the printed page numbers. Long leases are often printed double-sided to save paper, and a reverse side holding half the termination clause is easy to miss. Use the printed "page N of M" footer as your checklist.
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Straighten pages and rotate the annexes
Use Crop & perspective fix on any page shot at an angle so the text block sits square. Inventory tables, floor plans, and parking diagrams are often landscape, so use Rotate on those pages before exporting. A document that opens in a consistent orientation is noticeably easier for the other party to review.
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Sign, date, and export as one PDF
If a signature or date field is still blank, use the Signature tool to place a drawn signature and Text insert to fill printed date or name fields. Then export everything as a single PDF rather than one file per section. Whether a drawn signature is acceptable for a tenancy is decided by the other party and local law — confirm before relying on it.
Frequently asked
- Do I need to scan every page of the lease?
- Yes, if the scan is meant to stand as a copy of the agreement — a partial lease is generally not useful to anyone reviewing it. Include all addenda and annexes the main document references. If someone asked for a specific section only, ask them whether they also want the signature page.
- Is a scanned lease valid?
- Validity depends on local law and on what the parties agreed, and it varies substantially by country and even by region. A scanning app cannot answer this for you. Keep the paper original, and ask the landlord, agent, or the receiving institution what they accept.
- Can I sign the lease inside the app?
- You can draw a signature with the Signature tool, place and resize it on the signature block, and fill printed date fields with Text insert. Markup is available for initialing each page footer. Whether the other party accepts a signature added this way is their decision, so agree it in advance.
- How do I add photos of the property condition to the same file?
- Scan the printed condition report as pages of the same document so it travels with the lease. If you have loose printed photos, capture each one as its own page in the same session and they will export into the same PDF. Keeping everything in one file is what makes it findable at move-out.
- Is my lease uploaded anywhere?
- No. Capture and text recognition run on the device using Apple's built-in frameworks, and document images are not sent to a server. No account is needed and there is no cloud copy. The PDF leaves your phone only when you share or print it.
Last updated 2026-07-28