How to Convert HEIC Photos to PDF on iPhone, Windows or Mac
You photograph a signed lease on your iPhone, AirDrop the pictures to your laptop, and the landlord's portal refuses them: it wants a PDF, and your photos are .heic files. HEIC is simply the format iPhones use to save photos. Turning a set of them into one tidy PDF takes a minute once you know the steps.
What HEIC is, and why forms reject it
Since iOS 11, iPhones save photos in HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) by default. It keeps the same quality as JPG in roughly half the space, which is why Apple uses it. The trouble is support: many websites, upload portals and older Windows programs do not accept it, and most document forms ask for PDF anyway.
You can tell you have HEIC photos when the file name ends in .heic, or when Windows shows a blank icon and asks you to install an extension to open it.
Convert HEIC to PDF, step by step
Open HEIC to PDF in your browser on any device. Add the photos from your computer or phone, or pick them from Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive; each file can be up to 260 MB. Add them in the order you want the pages to appear.
With several photos, choose One PDF to put them all into a single document, one photo per page, in that order. Choose PDF each if you need a separate PDF for every photo. Each photo is placed on an A4 page, portrait or landscape to match the photo. Download the result and give it a clear name before you send it.
On iPhone or iPad
Open the HEIC to PDF page in Safari or Chrome, tap to add files, and choose Photo Library or Browse to pick from the Files app. The finished PDF goes to Downloads in the Files app, where you can rename it, share it to WhatsApp or Mail, or upload it to a portal.
If you would rather your iPhone stopped saving HEIC, go to Settings, Camera, Formats and choose Most Compatible. New photos are then saved as JPG; photos you already took stay HEIC.
Take document photos that read well
Shoot in good daylight, straight above the page, with the whole page in the frame and nothing else around it. Avoid the flash, which leaves a bright spot on glossy paper. Crop each photo to the page edges before converting; a tight crop makes the text larger on the PDF page and easier to read.
If the PDF is too large to upload
Phone photos are detailed, so a PDF of ten photos can run to several megabytes. Send it through Compress PDF from the result screen with Continue with this file; the Recommended level keeps text sharp on screen. If the form only accepts one file but you converted the pages separately, combine them with Merge PDF, and use Organize PDF to fix the order or rotate a page.
When JPG is the better choice
If the form asks for images rather than a document, convert with HEIC to JPG instead. JPG opens everywhere and keeps each photo as its own file. Use PDF when the pages belong together, such as a multi-page contract, receipts for one expense claim, or the front and back of an ID card.