InkStrand
InkStrand fills in and signs PDF forms on an iPhone or iPad, including the flat scans that have nowhere to type.
What InkStrand does
- Type, date and tick anywhere on a page, including scans and photographs of paper forms. Tap a mark to move or resize it.
- Find the blanks on a scanned form, and fill them from a profile you type once.
- Sign with a finger or an Apple Pencil, and reuse a saved signature behind Face ID or Touch ID.
- Scan paper with the camera, and turn photos, Word documents, text files and web pages into PDFs.
- Combine documents, mark them up, make the text in a scan searchable, lock a copy with a password, or make one smaller.
- Save a flattened copy that looks the same in every PDF reader, then share, print or mail it.
- Open files from iCloud Drive and the Files app, or connect Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive to browse them read-only inside the app.
Filling in and signing are free. Scanning, converting, combining, markup, searchable text, passwords, compression and connected drives belong to a one-time purchase called InkStrand Complete.
Your documents stay on your device: InkStrand has no account and no server of its own. The privacy policy sets out exactly when the app uses the network.
Support
Questions, problems and suggestions are all welcome by email.
Contact
To help us answer quickly, please include:
- your iPhone or iPad model and iOS version, from Settings › General › About
- what you were doing, what you expected, and what happened instead
- a screenshot, if one shows the problem
Please don't email a document with personal details in it. If a particular form misbehaves, a blank copy of it, or a link to where you got it, is just as useful.
Common questions
How do I fill in a form that has nowhere to type?
Most forms arrive as flat scans with no fields in them. Open the form, choose Text, Date or Check, and tap where it belongs on the page. Tap a mark to select it, drag it to move it, and drag a corner to resize it. If a form does have real fields, InkStrand fills those in directly.
How do I sign?
Tap Sign and draw your signature with a finger. InkStrand saves it for the next form, and asks for Face ID or Touch ID before it applies the saved one. To draw a new one, delete it, or turn that check off, open Your signature on the Documents screen.
My signature or typing is missing when I open the file somewhere else
The copy was most likely saved as editable. Tap Review, save a flattened copy, and send that one. Flattening makes your typing and signature part of the page, so every PDF reader shows them the same way and they can't be dragged off.
A page shows up blank
The file usually hasn't finished downloading from iCloud. Open it once in the Files app, let it download, then open it in InkStrand again.
I bought InkStrand Complete. How do I get it on another iPhone or iPad?
On the Documents screen, tap Unlock everything, then Restore purchase. The purchase belongs to your Apple Account, so restoring it is free, and you can do it as often as you need.
How do I connect or disconnect Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive?
Connecting an account is part of InkStrand Complete. On the Documents screen, tap Locations, choose the drive, and sign in on the provider's own page. InkStrand asks for read-only access: it can open your files but never change them, and Locations shows which account each drive is signed in to. To disconnect, swipe the drive's row in Locations, or open the drive and choose Disconnect from the ⋯ button. That removes the sign-in from your device and asks Google or Dropbox to cancel InkStrand's access; for OneDrive, remove InkStrand in your Microsoft account settings. To sign in with a different account, choose Switch account from the same button. Your files are untouched either way.
All three, and iCloud Drive, can also be reached without connecting anything: Locations › Browse in Files.
I locked a copy with a password and have forgotten it
The password can't be recovered. InkStrand doesn't keep it, so nobody can open that copy without it, us included. The document it was made from was not locked.
A Word document looks different in InkStrand
iOS has no exact way to convert Word files, so InkStrand lays the document out again, and spacing or page breaks can change. Check the layout before you sign. For an exact copy, save the document as a PDF from Word first, and open that instead.
Are my documents uploaded anywhere?
No. InkStrand has no account and no server of its own, and it does not upload your documents, your signature or your details. They stay on your device unless you share or save them somewhere yourself. The privacy policy sets out exactly when the app uses the network.
Requirements
An iPhone or iPad with iOS 18 or later.