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How to rotate a PDF on iPhone

By DeckleUpdated

To rotate a PDF on iPhone, open Rotate PDF in Safari, tap Select a file and choose the PDF, pick All pages or This page, tap Turn left or Turn right, then tap Rotate PDF. The rotation is saved into a new file, so the pages open upright for anyone you send it to. Your original is not changed. On iOS 26 and later, the Preview app can rotate pages too; both methods are below.

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

How to rotate a PDF on iPhone with Deckle

  1. Open Rotate PDF in Safari, or another browser.
  2. Tap Select a file and choose the PDF from the Files app.
  3. Under Rotation scope, keep All pages to turn the whole document, or choose This page to turn only the page in the large preview.
  4. Tap Turn left or Turn right. Each tap is a quarter turn; two taps turn a page upside down.
  5. With This page, move to the next page in the page rail and turn it if needed.
  6. Tap Rotate PDF. The button stays disabled until at least one page is turned.
  7. Download the file, which has "(rotated)" added to its name, and open it to check.

The result screen tells you how many pages were turned.

Which way to turn

The page reads Tap
Bottom to top (text runs upwards) Turn right once
Top to bottom (text runs downwards) Turn left once
Upside down Either button twice

Undo steps back a turn and Reset pages clears them all. Pages turned left and right can be saved together.

Rotation that stays

Turning your iPhone sideways, or using a reader's view rotation, changes only what you see. The file is the same, and the next person to open it sees the page sideways. Deckle writes the new orientation into each turned page of the saved PDF, so it shows upright in every reader. The page content is not redrawn, so text stays selectable and nothing loses quality. See how to rotate a PDF and save it permanently.

Rotate pages with Preview on iPhone

Apple's page Add, delete, rotate, move, or crop PDF pages in Preview on iPhone covers rotation, for iOS 26 and later:

  1. Open the PDF in the Preview app.
  2. Tap the thumbnails button. If it doesn't appear, tap the PDF.
  3. Tap the page options button, then Rotate Left or Rotate Right.

Preview edits the PDF you opened. Make a copy first with Duplicate if you want to keep the original. After rotating, send the file to yourself or open it on another device to confirm the rotation travels with it.

Scans from the phone camera

Documents photographed or scanned on a phone are often saved sideways when the phone was held flat over the page. If a whole scan is sideways, leave Rotation scope on All pages and tap once. If only some pages are wrong, choose This page and turn each one. If the scan also needs pages removed or reordered, use Organize PDF pages, which does everything in one save; see how to delete pages from a PDF on iPhone.

Tips

  • Check the download, not the editor. Open the saved PDF from the Files app to see the result as others will.
  • Landscape can be correct. A wide table may be meant to sit sideways.
  • Turns are 90° steps. Rotate PDF does not straighten a tilted photo.
  • Unlock first. A PDF that asks for a password needs an unlocked copy from Unlock PDF.

Frequently asked questions

How do I rotate one page of a PDF on iPhone?

Set Rotation scope to This page, go to the page and turn it, then tap Rotate PDF.

Will the rotation show on other devices?

Yes. The rotation is saved in the PDF, so other readers show the page the way you saved it.

Does rotating reduce quality?

No. Only the page orientation setting changes.

Are my files uploaded?

No. The PDF is rotated in Safari on your iPhone.

Can I rotate a password-protected PDF on iPhone?

Make an unlocked copy first with Unlock PDF, using the password you were given, then rotate the copy.

Related tools

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