Convert to PDF guide
Convert iPhone HEIC Photos to PDF
Updated
Short answer: Drop each HEIC photo into HEIC to PDF, then combine the resulting PDFs with Merge PDF if you need them in one file.
Since iOS 11, iPhones save photos as HEIC by default. It's an efficient format, but many Windows PCs, upload portals and older apps can't open it, which is why converting to PDF is often the quickest way to get a photographed document accepted.
Step by step
Step 1: Get the photos onto the device you're using, with AirDrop, the Files app, iCloud Photos or a cable. Files ending in .heic or .heif are HEIC.
Step 2: Open HEIC to PDF and drop a photo. It's decoded, turned the way the phone was held, and saved as a page.
Open HEIC to PDF(runs on our server)Step 3: Repeat for each photo; each one counts as one server conversion.
Step 4: To put them in one document, drop all the PDFs into Merge PDF, drag them into order and merge.
Open Merge PDF(runs on your device)Step 5: If the merged file is too big to upload, run it through Compress PDF.
Open Compress PDF(runs on our server)
Why this works, and what to watch for
HEIC stores images with the HEVC video codec, which makes files around half the size of an equivalent JPEG. The catch is support: Safari can display it, but most other browsers can't decode it, and Windows needs an extra extension. That's why this tool runs on our server, where a proper HEIF library decodes the photo. Each image is stored in the PDF as a high-quality JPEG, which every PDF reader understands.
Orientation is the other trap. iPhones save the pixels the way the sensor captured them and record which way is up in a tag. Apps that ignore the tag show your photo sideways. HEIC to PDF reads the tag and rotates the image before saving, so the page comes out the right way up.
If you regularly need JPEGs, two settings help. Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes the camera shoot JPEG from then on. Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic converts photos to JPEG when you copy them over a cable. JPEG photos can go straight into JPG to PDF, which runs in your browser, takes many images at once and has no daily limit.
For documents rather than photos, the iPhone's own scanner (in Notes or Files) saves a PDF directly, with edges cropped and perspective corrected, which is usually better than photographing the page.
Each HEIC conversion uses one of your daily server conversions: 3 a day without an account, 10 with a free account, and far more on Pro and Business.