How to create a signature for PDF documents on an Android phone

By Barbara Krasnoff , a reviews editor who manages how-tos. She’s worked as an editor and writer for almost 40 years. Previously, she was a senior reviews editor for Computerworld.

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Sometimes there’s no way around it — you’ve got to use an app. If you need to sign a PDF document from your Android phone, that’s simply how you’ve got to go — unlike iOS, which lets you create a signature using its built-in Markup app, you need to find a third-party source. There are a variety of apps available, but the most well-known is the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

So if you want to be able to sign off on contracts and other PDF documents without having to grab your computer, here’s how to use the Android version of Acrobat to do it:

• Download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Play Store.
• Sign in (or create an account); if you’ve just installed the app, you may have to go through a number of popups offering directions and advice.
• Tap the “Files” icon at the bottom of the screen. It will give you access not only to files saved on your device (you will have to allow access to all files first) but to those saved on Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Adobe’s Document Cloud. You can also search for PDFs that are attached to Gmail.