To fax from an iPhone you need an app that places the fax call for you; no fax machine, landline or printer is involved. In Faxsure it is four steps: scan the pages (or choose a PDF), enter the recipient’s fax number, check the price shown for that page count, and tap Send. When the receiving machine confirms the pages, you get a PDF receipt.
Steps
- Get the pages ready. Scan paper pages with the app’s camera scanner, or choose a PDF or photo you already have in Files or Photos. If you already scanned the pages with the Files app, Apple’s last step is “Choose a location, then tap Save”, so the scan is a file you can add to the fax. The steps for a saved PDF are in how to fax a PDF from the Files app.
- Put the pages in order. Check that every page is there, in the order the recipient expects, and delete blank or duplicate pages. The price follows the page count, so removing a page can lower it.
- Enter the fax number. Type or paste it with or without +1, spaces, dashes or brackets; the app formats it and checks that it is a valid US or Canadian number. For a government form, you can pick the number from the directory of official fax numbers instead of typing it: each entry shows the agency page it comes from and the date we checked it.
- Add a cover sheet if you want one. It is free and does not count as a page. Some agencies ask for one and some ask you not to include one, so follow the form’s instructions.
- Check the price and send. The price for the page count is on the screen before you start and again on the Send button. There is no subscription to send.
- Watch it go. The app shows each page as it is sent (“Sending page 2 of 4”), also on the Lock Screen, and notifies you when the fax is delivered or could not be delivered.
- Keep the receipt. The PDF receipt shows the number, pages, time of delivery, attempts and a confirmation code. Save it with your copy of the document.
Before you send
- The number is the right one for this document. Agencies often use a different fax number per form, and sometimes per state. The IRS, for example, lists two numbers for Form 2848 by the state the taxpayer lives in, and a third for APO and FPO addresses, U.S. territories and addresses outside the United States; see Form 2848 fax numbers.
- Signatures are the kind the form accepts. Some forms must be signed by hand when they are faxed. The IRS instructions for Form 2848 say: “You must handwrite your signature on Form 2848 if you file it by mail or by fax. Digital, electronic, or typed-font signatures are not valid signatures for Forms 2848 filed by mail or by fax.” For a form like that, print it, sign it with a pen and scan the signed pages.
- Every page is readable. Fine print, stamps and handwriting should be legible in the black-and-white preview; a fax is sent in black and white.
- Notice or letter? If you are answering a notice, look for a fax number on the notice itself. For a CP2000 notice, the IRS says to fax your response to the location listed on the top left side of the notice.
If the fax is not delivered
A busy line or no answer is retried automatically, up to 3 attempts in total. If the fax still does not go through, it goes back on your balance on its own, and the app says why in plain words. For 24 hours you can try again free or change the number. A number that is not a fax machine or does not exist fails at once, without retries, so you can fix it. The reasons and what to do about each are in why a fax fails.
What happens to your document
The IRS page on CP2000 notices says: “If you use an online fax service, understand its privacy and security policies.” Faxsure encrypts your document, sends it, and deletes it from our servers as soon as it is delivered; a fax that was not delivered is kept up to 24 hours for a free retry, never longer than 72 hours. Your history and receipts stay on your iPhone.