How to Add an Electronic Signature on iPhone/iPad/iOS Devices

Getting electronic signatures completed on your iphone, ipad, or other ios device is easy with Nitro. We'll show you the process and get you the right tool for the job.

There’s some cognitive dissonance going around. While some people swear that electronic signatures are better, faster, and more secure than signing documents the old-fashioned way, it might not always seem that way with your technology. Why can’t you use your iPad to easily sign a document? This is the 21st century, after all. When someone sends you a contract to sign—or you want someone else to sign yours—why does it seem so difficult to do it all from the convenience of an iPhone, iPad, or other iOS device?

The truth is, it’s easy to handle both signing and adding electronic signatures to a contract document. You just need to know how.

And there are some important reasons for learning how. Consider:

Electronic signatures can save on costs—sometimes well over 55%—associated with getting documents signed.
When you use the right software solution, you can handle contract signing, security, and storage all within the same dashboard, which drastically simplifies the process.
Once you get the hang of it, signing an electronic document is essentially as easy as opening the document, adding the right names, and clicking “send.”

It’s that last point that we want to address today. If you love the simplicity of your iOS devices, but you’ve never been able to figure out how to add an electronic signature—either as the contract sender or receiver—we’ll show you how.

How to “eSign” a Document on Your iPhone, iPad, or iOS Device

For these steps, we’ll assume that you’ve received a contract from someone using Nitro. Since Nitro is a web-based solution, the basic steps will all be the same. You only need your iPhone, iPad, or iOS device to give you access to a web browser and your email client. Nitro can do the rest from there.

To get started, we’ll tackle the simplest steps. You’re the one who needs to sign the contract. Someone else is sending it. Say you received an email that says someone has requested your signature. What are the next steps?

Open your email and find the email from the sender. If the sender is using Nitro, you’ll automatically receive this email for a signature request as soon as they create the document and add your information to the list of required signatures.
Key point? You don’t have to sign up for a Nitro account. Not even a free one. We’ll talk more about that in the section on creating your own contracts if you do have a Nitro account.
With the email open, you’ll see a simple button. Sign the document. Tap or click this to move forward.

This will take you directly to the document. Simply review the agreement, just as you would any other contract you’re requested to sign.
If the sender set up the document properly, there should be at least two flags for you to sign:

Add your Signature and the Date by tapping each and inputting the relevant information. Note: this will be a valid, legally-binding document once you add your signature, just as it would be if you were signing papers at your desk.
Click or tap Submit.

You’re done. You’ll receive a confirmation email with a link to view the document, which you can now keep for your records.

Sound like a lot? The basic steps basically boil down to checking your email, clicking “Sign the document,” and inputting the information after you’ve read the contract. That’s all. The Nitro Sign system will take care of the rest, including emailing you with a follow-up so you can keep the contract handy whenever you need to review it.

Thanks to the web-based approach Nitro takes, the essential procedure will be the same, even if you check the contract on an iPhone and ultimately decide to sign it with your iPad. But what if you want to be the person sending out the contract? It’s going to be really hard to use an iPad to add signature and date fields, right? You’d be surprised.

Add Fields for Electronic Signatures and Dates on iOS Devices

With Nitro Sign, you can create a contract from just about anywhere. You can upload a PDF or even work within Microsoft Word to send out a quick employee offer letter. The question is: how do you make this document interactive so someone else can check their email and sign it, just as easily as you saw with the process above?

It might sound like a lot of work to figure out how to add boxes for electronic signatures and dates, but the good news is that the process is intuitive if you’re using Nitro Sign. In fact, one of the keys here is that Nitro Sign is web-based. You can log in from any Apple device you like, and the process will work just fine. Here’s what you’ll do.

Using Nitro Sign, Upload or Open the file you want to use as the contract.
Click/tap Add Recipient under the left-hand menu.

This will bring up the Add a Recipient window, which is fairly straightforward.

Enter in the Name and Email of the person you want to sign the contract. (Don’t worry—we still haven’t input the boxes for where they’re supposed to sign, but that’s coming up.)
This will add the recipient to the left-hand menu. Click the three dots next to their name, and drag the Signature field over to the area where that person is supposed to sign the contract.

Do the exact same with the Date, which you can access from the same menu. (Note: if you have other fields, like Initials, this is the same stage at which you will add those. For most contracts, a Signature and Date are required only).
Click Continue in the lower right corner of the screen to move forward.
This will bring up a field in which you can enter in your specific email message to the recipient, if you want one. If not, you can let Nitro stick to the default email. Either way, clicking forward to Request Signature will bring you to the next screen.

That’s it! Once you’ve tapped or clicked Request Signature with the appropriate boxes linked to the document, it’s now up to the recipient to review the contract and sign it.

Once they do, you’ll get a notification that the document has been signed and you’re ready to go. Until then, you’ll notice that the Nitro Sign dashboard will keep you in the loop as to how many outstanding contracts you have that have yet to be signed.

How to Make Edits with iPhone/iPad/iOS Devices

That all seems well and good. But what if you’ve done something that needs a bit of correcting? Can you go back in and make the necessary changes? And will the process be just as easy? For many people, the problem with signing contracts is that they have minimal experience in editing a PDF. While they might be able to figure out how to edit a contract through a more familiar program like Microsoft Word, editing a PDF sometimes seems difficult. What can you do?

One potential option is to use Nitro Pro, which makes it easy to edit a document directly, even when you’re working with a PDF.

How to Add or Edit Text in a PDF

To add text, you can simply click Type Text with the PDF open. This tool lets you add text to a PDF as if you were simply adding text to a word processor. Find it under Home -> Tools -> Type Text.
If you want to edit text, click the Edit button within Nitro Pro. With this enabled, you can now double-click the text you want to edit.
Position your cursor where you want to add or edit text.
If you want to change the font, case, and color of the text, highlight the text with the cursor and reveal the floating toolbar. You can then choose these options from the floating toolbar.
Click Finish once you’re happy with the text.

How to Edit Your Signature

When someone uses Nitro Sign, but they’re only the recipient of the contract (and don’t have a Nitro Sign account), it means that they won’t have a pre-existing signature to choose from. They’ll have to do the signing within the web page itself. This isn’t difficult, but sometimes an individual might input a signature that doesn’t look right. Is it possible to edit this signature?

In this case, it’s as simple as re-inputting the signature. However, even a signature that doesn’t “look right” can potentially be a legally binding signature, just as some people sign live, in-person documents with just a swish of the pen.

If you’re using Nitro Sign and want to establish a signature you can use time and again, follow these key steps:

Go to File -> Preferences -> Digital Signature -> Appearances.
Select the signature you want to configure, then choose Edit.
This will bring up the Configure Signature Appearance dialog.
Go to the Graphic section of this dialog.
You can choose from No Graphic to Graphic from File (using a pre-existing signature file), and then OK once you’ve made your choice.

Additional Tips for Handling an Electronic Signature on iPhone, iPad, or iOS

Let’s be honest: many people choose iOS because they like their computers simple. They like it straightforward, minimalistic, and easy to work through. And there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s how software should be. You shouldn't have to download a mobile app just to carry out the most basic functions of today’s businesses.

The problem is that many people feel as though using a Mac or iOS can put them at a disadvantage when they use software designed for PC. The beauty of software like Nitro Sign is that it doesn’t have this disadvantage. Since it’s web-based, you’ll be able to use it just as easily on an iPad as you would a Microsoft Surface. The key point is that you’re able to use a web browser. After that, the rest is simple.

However, there are some additional tips that you can use to enhance how you handle your electronic signatures on iOS, especially when using Nitro Sign. Here are a few of our favorite tips.

Keep Nitro Sign Bookmarked on Your Browser

You can use bookmarks on Safari on your iPad and iPhone, even if you’ve never used them before. This means you can move over to Nitro Sign on a whim. Once you have to send out a contract, you can simply turn to Nitro Sign, follow the steps above for adding a signature, and you’re in business.

Do Your Edits Within Nitro Sign

You’ll also find that keeping Nitro Sign handy will make it easier for you to edit some documents on your Apple devices. Rather than editing the documents only through your word processor, which can be cumbersome on a personal tablet or device, doing it through the web can actually be more intuitive. And the more you use it, the more it will make sense.

Learn Everything Nitro Sign Can Do

If you sign up for Nitro Sign, you’re signing up for software that can help you with all sorts of contract management issues. Don’t assume it’s only for getting people to sign a contract. With Nitro Sign, you can merge PDFs, edit PDFs into a single document while leaving out some pages, apply digital “whiteout”—the list goes on and on. If you want to know more, browse to our resources section and commit yourself to learning just one new feature that we have to offer. You’d be amazed at everything you can do.

Try It Out

When you can find a low-cost, risk-free way to try out a new solution, think of it as a high-leverage situation. Your upside is huge, and your downside is only that you tried something that didn’t work out. With cloud-based software like Nitro Sign, you’d be amazed at all of the little frustrations with signing electronic documents you can resolve with just one signup.

That’s where we come in. Nitro provides you with everything you need to simplify the process and get it down to a science. By the time you’re signed up, you’ll find that gathering signatures from remote workers and businesses across the world can be much easier than you thought. And if you have a Mac device, why not sign up for a free trial of Nitro just to see what it’s all about?

Making Adding Signatures the Easiest Part of Your Day

If you found yourself googling “How to add an electronic signature on Mac devices,” it’s fair to say that technical know-how can sometimes be an obstacle to getting business done. The good news is that it’s possible to create documents or add your signature to a document with ease. You simply have to know where to go.