Technologies

How to Sign Documents Using Your iPhone or Android Phone

There are tools built directly into iOS and Android for signing your documents.

If you receive a PDF or other digital file that requires your signature, you can easily do so using your phone. Whether you use an iPhone or an Android phone, both include built-in options for adding a quick signature to a document, saving a new copy and sending it off.

These tools work in a pinch, but I wouldn’t recommend them if you’re marking up a more in-depth document that requires multiple signatures and filling out many text boxes. A more advanced signing tool like DocuSign or Microsoft 365 is better optimized, and frankly, if you’re signing something like an apartment lease, you might want to break out a bigger screen like a computer or tablet.

Most documents that need your signature are much shorter and simpler, so if you’re dealing with one of those, then Apple’s Markup tool and the Google Drive app each include a quick way to get your documents filled out and on their way.

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Sign with Google Drive on Android or iPhone

The Google Drive app — included on all Android phones and can be downloaded onto an iPhone — includes markup tools that make it easy to sign a document.

When using Google Drive on Android, you’ll first need to open the PDF that you want to sign.

When it’s open, depending on the file, you’ll either get an Edit option marked with a pencil or an Annotate option marked by a pen with squiggly lines. If you have the Edit option, you can then select Form Filling to enter your additional information. If you have only the Annotate option, you can tap it to bring up a pen tool, and you can use that to give a quick signature to your document.

However, Google Drive doesn’t consistently detect PDFs that should get the Form Filling option, and if you do need to edit the document to include plain text, you may want to use a more robust alternative service instead. If the above steps did accomplish what you need for your document, you can then tap Save in the top right to save those changes. If you want to make a separate copy with these changes, you can tap the More button marked by three vertical dots and tap Save as.

The iPhone version of Google Drive has less flexibility. After opening a PDF, you’ll see a Fill out form option at the bottom indicating whether Google Drive can fill out the form. Otherwise, there’s no annotation option to fall back on. Apple has its own built-in tool for signing a document, which can be used instead.

Sign with Apple’s Markup tool on iPhone

Apple’s Markup tool allows for annotating documents and photos with text, images, emojis and signatures. You can access this tool from across iOS, either directly while viewing a PDF or from Apple’s Share menu.

You’ll first want to open up the PDF that you want to sign — whether that PDF is from an email attachment or from a website. Depending on the app you are using to view it, you might already see the Markup tool on the bottom-right corner of the screen, represented by a pen tip within a circle. If you don’t, tap the Share icon marked by a square with an upward-facing arrow, and in the pop-up menu scroll up to find and tap Markup.

After Markup is turned on, you’ll first get the option to scribble directly onto the document using a variety of pen tools — but don’t use those to sign the document. Instead, tap the Signature icon marked by a rectangle with a pencil, which will likely be in the top row of the Markup menu. This will then bring up a + icon into the bottom-right of the screen, and after tapping that you’ll either select Add Text Form Box or Add Signature. The former is good for typing in print text, while the latter is for handwriting signatures.

If selecting to add a text box, you’ll first be able to move the text box by dragging and resizing it as needed. Then you can tap into the text box to bring up the keyboard for entering text. When you are finished, you can tap outside of the text box to make the keyboard disappear and then tap Done in the top-right to save those changes.

If you are adding a signature, you’ll first use the pop-up menu to sign your name using a finger. That signature can be saved and used again for future documents. After setting up that signature, you can tap Done to move it into a text box in the document. You can then use your finger to drag, drop and resize as needed.

Whether you are using the text box option or the signature option, you can make additional adjustments with each box by tapping an option icon alongside each box, marked by three dots (…). This pop-up will let you Cut, Copy, Duplicate or Delete the box as needed.

When you are done making your adjustments, you can either select Done to save your changes or use the Share icon to send the amended document to another app like your email or cloud storage.

Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal

Technologies

Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to ‘drive into standing water’

Waymo issued a voluntary recall of about 3,800 of its robotaxis to fix software issues that could allow them to drive into flooded roadways.

Waymo is recalling about 3,800 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues that could allow them to “drive onto a flooded roadway,” according to a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.
The voluntary recall is for Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS), the U.S. auto safety regulator said in the letter posted Tuesday.
Waymo autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, were seen on camera driving onto a flooded street and stalling, requiring other drivers to navigate around them. It’s the latest example of a safety-related issue for the Alphabet-owned AV unit that’s rapidly bolstering its fleet of vehicles and entering new U.S. markets.
Waymo has drawn criticism for its vehicles failing to yield to school buses in Austin, and for the performance of its vehicles during widespread power outages in San Francisco in December, when robotaxis halted in traffic, causing gridlock.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
“Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority,” the company said.
Waymo added that it’s working on “additional software safeguards” and has put “mitigations” in place, limiting where its robotaxis operate during extreme weather, so that they avoid “areas where flash flooding might occur” in periods of intense rain.
WATCH: Waymo launches new autonomous system in Chinese-made vehicle

Technologies

Qualcomm tumbles 13% as semiconductor stocks retreat from historic AI-fueled surge

Semiconductor equities reversed sharply after a broad AI-driven advance, with Qualcomm suffering its worst day since 2020 amid inflation concerns and rising oil prices.

Semiconductor stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, reversing course after an extensive rally that had expanded the artificial intelligence investment theme well past Nvidia and driven the industry to unprecedented levels.

Qualcomm plunged 13% and was on track for its steepest single-day decline since 2020. Intel shed 8%, while On Semiconductor and Skyworks Solutions each lost more than 6%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF, which benchmarks the overall sector, fell 5%.

The sell-off came after a key gauge of consumer prices came in above forecasts, and as conflict in Iran pushed crude oil higher—prompting investors to shift away from riskier assets.

The preceding advance had widened the AI opportunity set beyond longtime industry leader Nvidia, which for much of the past several years had largely carried the market to new peaks on its own.

Explosive appetite for central processing units, along with the graphics processing units that power large language models, has sent chipmakers to all-time highs.

Market participants are wagering that the shift from AI model training to autonomous agents will lift demand for additional AI hardware. Among the beneficiaries are memory chip producers, which are raising prices as supply remains tight.

Micron Technology slid 6%, and Sandisk cratered 8%. Sandisk’s stock has surged more than six times over since January.