Why Can’t I Open PDF on iPhone? Reasons with Fixes

It can be very frustrating if you can‘t open PDF on iPhone because most people use their iPhones for quickly viewing documents on the go. This error could be faced due to different reasons. That is why we have collected all the reasons and explained their solutions in this guide.

If you are having problems with opening your PDFs, then this guide will be your one-stop solution. Things will get even better as you move towards using UPDF for opening PDFs on iPhone.

Why Can't I Open a PDF on My iPhone?

There are multiple reasons why you cannot open your PDF documents on your iPhone including:

1. The PDF reader on your iPhone is not working correctly
2. You have installed an outdated or incompatible version of PDF software
3. Your iOS is having some system glitches
4. The PDF file is corrupted or incompletely downloaded

How to Fix “Can’t Open PDF on iPhone”?

Now that you are aware of the reasons behind this problem, let us have a look at our top 7 effective solutions to open PDFs on your iPhone.

Fix 1. Use UPDF to Open a PDF

The first solution to solve this problem is using UPDF on your iPhone to open PDF documents. It offers a better experience and features as compared to other PDF tools on iPhone and it is free to use if you need to open your PDFs.

When using the UPDF iOS app you get all the editing and annotating features with a lot more. It supports UPDF AI as well as creating PDFs from the camera by scanning or directly from images. Moreover, you can share, print, and even protect your documents with the UPDF iOS app.

So, download it now on your iPhone for free via the below button or from the AppStore to try it. Open your PDFs in UPDF with the following steps:

Step 1:

Locate the “UPDF application icon” on your iPhone and tap it to run the application. Now that you are in the UPDF App, tap the "+" button from the bottom right to open a “New PDF file” in from your iPhone's offline storage.

Step 2:

Under the “Import From” section tap “Files” because that is where the PDFs downloaded on iPhones are stored by default. UPDF will now show all PDFs available in “Files” and you can tap on the desired PDF to select it then tap “Open” to open it in UPDF.

When using UPDF on iPhone or on any other device you can enjoy a lot of other features as well. Learn more about the features of UPDF in the below video or by reading this review article. You can download UPDF for free on your iPhone, Android, and computers to try its experience. For a premium experience, purchase the UPDF Pro version and unlock all features.

Fix 2. Download UPDF and Open it Again

If Fix 1 did not work for you then there could be some issues with the application installed on your iPhone. The best solution to this situation is to download it again and try to open the PDF file with the following steps.

Step 1:

Tap on the UPDF app icon on your iPhone and tap the “Delete App” button. Authenticate by clicking “Delete” and this step will uninstall the UPDF application from your iPhone.

Step 2:

Open your iPhone's AppStore and search "UPDF”. From the search results tap the “Download” button against UPDF and wait until its download is complete.

Once the download is finished you may log in with your account and follow the same steps from Fix 1 to open the PDF document.

Fix 3. Restart iPhone

Operating System glitches are very common these days. If your device has such a problem, then a perfect PDF with perfectly installed apps like UPDF will not open successfully. Luckily, restarting the iPhone can solve the problem with the following steps:

Step 1:

Press and hold any “Volume” button along with the “Power” button of your iPhone. Keep holding until you see the power-off slider. Once it appears you can release the buttons and slide this slider that will power off your iPhone.

Step 2:

When the screen turns off wait for 30 seconds and then hold the “Power” button to turn on your iPhone like you normally do. When your iPhone turns on you can try opening the PDF again.

Fix 4. Use UPDF as the Default PDF Tool

If you have not installed any PDF reader on your iPhone or have multiple apps, you may feel inconsistency when opening PDFs. Sometimes your PDF may fail to open or show contents. In that case, you can use UPDF as your default PDF viewer.

Unfortunately, iOS does not let users select a default app other than its built-in iBooks to open PDFs. However, some steps can help you open your PDFs in UPDF every time you open them:

Step 1:

Open the “Files” app on your iPhone and look for the PDF you want to read. Hold on the PDF, AND tap the “Share" button from the bottom left. Now, you need to scroll down until you see the "Import to UPDF” option.

Step 2:

Now, UPDF app will open with your PDF document imported to it. Simply tap on the “Document thumbnail” and it will open in UPDF.

You can follow these steps every time you want to open a PDF with the UPDF iPhone app.

Fix 5. Use Another Device to Open it.

If your PDF document is not opening on your iPhone, you can try opening it on some other device. The best way to send that PDF to your other devices is using the UPDF Cloud feature since it synchronizes your documents as well as their progress.

Here are the steps you can follow to use another device for opening the PDF.

Step 1:

Open the "Files" application on your iPhone and tap the PDF to open it. From the bottom left corner tap the "Share” button and select the “Import to UPDF" option. Now, your PDF file will be saved in the UPDF application, and it will also open the UPDF app.

Step 2:

In UPDF app locate the PDF document thumbnail in recent and tap the “Options/3-dots” button. Now, scroll down and tap the “Copy to UPDF Cloud” option. Doing this will upload the PDF to your UPDF Cloud storage.

Step 3:

Open UPDF on your other device, which can be another smartphone or computer. Go to the "UPDF Cloud” section and open the PDF document there. Now, you can read the contents of your PDF on another device.

Fix 6. Ask Others to Open It

If you are still unable to open that PDF document, then there could be an issue with the file itself. However, one thing that you can still try is asking others to open that PDF document by following these steps below.

Step 1:

Open the “Files" app on your iPhone and open the PDF file you need. Now tap the "Share" button from the bottom left and send it to your desired contact over your preferred platform which could be email, Airdrop, WhatsApp, etc.

As the other person receives the file, they can try opening it. If they are successful in opening the file, then the issue is not with the file but with your iPhone. However, if they are also unable to open the file then you need to download the file from its source again or you can repair it online.

Fix 7. Repair Corrupt PDF

If you found out that the issue existed with the file, then it must be a corrupt PDF document. Luckily, you can repair PDF documents online for free with tools like iLovePDF by following these steps:

Step 1:

Open the browser on your iPhone and go to the iLovePDF document repair tool online. Click “Select PDF File” and upload your corrupt PDF by selecting it and tapping “Open" from the top right.

Step 2:

Now, iLovePDF will display a preview of your PDF. Here you need to tap the “Repair PDF” button, and the online tool will start uploading and repairing your PDF document.

Step 3:

After iLovePDF finishes uploading and repairing your PDF, you can click the "Download File” button and save the repaired file on your iPhone’s offline storage.

Final Words

The problem needs to be addressed immediately if you can’t open PDF on iPhone. With our guide and 7 effective methods explained we hope that you can easily open any PDF document on your iPhone. The key is having the right application on your iPhone and UPDF is the best choice in this case.

With its extensive iOS features you can easily open any PDF on iPhones. So, head to your AppStore today or download the UPDF app on your iPhone here.