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How to merge PDF files on iPhone and iPad

By DeckleUpdated

To merge PDF files on iPhone or iPad, open Merge PDFs in Safari, tap Select files, choose the PDFs from the Files app, put them in order and tap Merge PDFs. Deckle creates one new PDF on your phone and leaves the originals unchanged. There is no app to install. On iOS 26 and later, Apple's Preview app can also insert one PDF into another; both methods are below.

Merge PDF
Illustrated document pages containing a chart, photograph and text.
Illustration · a document can contain more than its visible pages.

How to merge PDFs on iPhone with Deckle

  1. Open Merge PDFs in Safari, or another browser.
  2. Tap Select files and choose two or more PDFs from the Files app. Tap Add PDFs later to bring in more.
  3. Check the ticks under Files to merge. Only ticked files are joined.
  4. Put the files in order with the arrow buttons next to each row, or type a position and tap Move to. Dragging works too, but the buttons are easier on a small screen.
  5. Optional: change Output PDF name.
  6. Tap Merge PDFs. The button stays disabled until two files are ticked and says what is missing.
  7. Download the merged PDF and open it to check the first page of each file.

The result screen tells you how many pages were combined from how many files, so you can check nothing is missing.

Get the files into Files first

The file picker shows what is in the Files app: On My iPhone, iCloud Drive and any cloud storage app you have added there. A PDF that arrived as an email attachment or in a messaging app needs saving to Files before it appears. Most apps offer this through the share button. Put all the PDFs for one merge in a single folder and they are quicker to pick.

PDFs you download from Deckle go to the Downloads folder in the Files app, as Apple describes in Where to find downloads on your iPhone or iPad. From there you can share or attach them.

Merge with Preview on iPhone

From iOS 26, iPhone and iPad have a Preview app for PDFs. Apple's page Add, delete, rotate, move, or crop PDF pages in Preview on iPhone shows how to add pages from another file:

  1. Open the first PDF in the Preview app.
  2. Tap the thumbnails button to show the pages. If it doesn't appear, tap the PDF.
  3. Touch and hold the thumbnail after which you want the other file, then tap Insert from File.
  4. Choose the PDF (or an image) to insert.

Preview adds pages to the document you have open, so that file changes. Apple's page on locking PDFs in Preview says to tap Duplicate to keep a copy; do that first if you need the original. Inserting one file at a time suits two or three PDFs; for a longer packet, Deckle's list is quicker to arrange.

Order matters

Deckle joins whole files from the top of the list to the bottom. It doesn't sort by name or date. Read the list before you merge, as if it were the contents page of the finished document. Each file keeps its own pages, page sizes and rotation, and nothing is re-compressed. For more, see how to merge PDF files in the right order.

Tips

  • Unlock protected files first. Merge PDFs can't open a PDF that asks for a password. Use Unlock PDF with the password you were given.
  • Convert screenshots and photos first. Merge PDFs takes PDFs only. Turn screenshots into a PDF with PNG to PDF; see how to convert screenshots and PNGs to PDF on iPhone.
  • Name the file before sharing. A clear name helps the person receiving it.
  • Keep packets moderate on a phone. There is no fixed file count, but very large merges use a lot of memory. Merge in batches if Safari slows down.

Frequently asked questions

How do I combine PDFs on my iPhone for free?

Open Merge PDFs in Safari, choose the files, arrange them and tap Merge PDFs.

Are my files uploaded?

No. The PDFs are merged in Safari on your iPhone.

Does it work on iPad?

Yes. Deckle works the same in Safari on iPad, and the larger screen makes dragging rows easier.

Can I merge photos with PDFs?

Convert the photos to PDF first, then merge the PDFs. On iPhone and iPad, Deckle scales photos over 4 megapixels down to 4 megapixels, which is fine for reading, and refuses photos over 25 megapixels, such as 48-megapixel shots. Convert those, or photos you want in more detail, on a computer, where photos keep up to 16 megapixels. Preview's Insert from File also accepts images.

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