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

Forza Horizon 6 Focuses on Japanese Car Culture: Here’s What to Know

The racing series’ latest edition, out in May, includes stunning views of Mount Fuji.

Microsoft has given racing-game fans a deeper dive into the upcoming Forza Horizon 6, and on Friday announced a May 19 release date for Xbox and PC. Premium Edition buyers will get early access on May 15, but PlayStation 5 owners will have to wait until sometime later in 2026 to play.

The publisher provided a first-look video that shows stunning views of Japan, including cherry blossom-strewn rural roads, ice-enclosed courses, neon-lit Tokyo streets and plenty of views of Mount Fuji.

The game will launch with 550 collectible cars, and Microsoft will display two on the cover: the 2025 GR GT Prototype and the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser.

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Microsoft says the open-world game will focus on Japanese car culture, with the player in the role of a new arrival to the country guided by two close friends, motorsports fan Jordy and car builder Mei.

The locations will be divided into districts, ranging from bustling urban areas such as Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing to suburbs, industrial docklands, and more rural areas.

What to know about Forza Horizon 6

Progress in the game will include unlocking new cars and more advanced races, plus a journal of digital mementos inspired by stamp collecting.

The game features eight player houses across Japan that serve as fast-travel points. And new to the game series is The Estate, a piece of land players can acquire and build on.

Inspired by Japanese car culture, Forza Horizon 6 will add Car Meets that’ll serve as social spaces for players.

The Standard Edition costs $70, the Deluxe Edition costs $100, and the Premium Edition, which unlocks early access and includes several Car Packs, costs $120. The game will also be a Day 1 release on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and will be available on Steam and Xbox Cloud as well.

Technologies

TikTok Deal Will Keep It Online in the US, but Your Experience of the App Might Change

TikTok has secured its future by agreeing to split the US app from the global business. But the deal will spark changes to the app’s algorithm.

TikTok has dodged a ban and secured its long-term future in the US by announcing a deal on Friday that will see a joint venture take over US operations of the popular social video app. The deal marks the conclusion of a protracted battle over the app’s continued presence in the US, which dates back to President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

TikTok in the US will now be run by TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which was established by a White House executive order issued in September 2025. At its helm will be CEO Adam Presser, previously the head of operations, who led TikTok’s efforts to ensure that the data of the app’s US users was kept secure. Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok’s international operations, will serve on the joint venture’s board of directors.

«TikTok USDS Joint Venture’s mandate is to secure US user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures,» the company said in a statement. «It will safeguard the US content ecosystem through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications.»

The venture has three managing investors — Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX — which each hold a 15% stake. Oracle also will be responsible for protection of US user data and of the freshly retrained algorithm, which will be specific to the US version of the app.

Presidents Trump and Joe Biden raised concerns over a potential national security threat posed by TikTok, because of its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance, which will retain a 19.9% stake in the new joint venture. During both of his presidential terms, Trump has attempted to ban TikTok, but also delayed the ban’s implementation.

The deal announced on Friday arrived moments before the deadline set by the White House for TikTok to comply with its September executive order. In a post on his social site Truth Social, Trump said he was «so happy to have helped in saving TikTok.»

«I only hope that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok,» said Trump. He also thanked China’s President Xi Jinping for working with the US and approving the deal. «He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision,» he said.

How TikTok might change for you

TikTok has more than 200 million users in the US, and if you’re one of them, the deal announced on Friday will allow you to continue using the app without the ongoing fear of it being banned.

It also won’t see you cut off from creators in China, or the rest of the world. People in the US will still be able to watch videos from Europe, such as last year’s viral «nothing beats a Jet2 holiday» trend. TikTok users outside of the US will still be able to follow their favorite American creators.

In the TikTok newsroom post, the company addressed interoperability, saying that the deal would «provide US users with a global TikTok experience, ensuring US creators can be discovered and businesses can operate on a global scale.»

Where the experience might change is in the content that is recommended to you. Under the terms of the deal, TikTok’s algorithm will be retrained, tested and updated based on US user data. This will have a knock-on impact on what you see on the platform, according to Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester.

«TikTok’s power lies in its content graph — an algorithm that learns from thousands of user signals to deliver hyper‑relevant, highly addictive videos,» said Chickering. «With a US joint venture retraining that algorithm on domestic data, the experience will change — maybe for the better, maybe not. One thing’s certain: TikTok in America won’t be the same.»

In spite of the interoperability that will see US TikTok users connected to those across the globe, it does seem likely that the focus on US data will lead to a shift away from the global nature of the content that the algorithm currently serves up to you.

«TikTok’s US algorithm will now be trained on US data, which means what trends — and what dominates feeds — will feel distinctly American,» said Chickering. «Global content will still appear, but its ranking will change.»

Exactly how this will look may differ from person to person, and will likely take some time to come into effect as the joint venture begins the retraining process. TikTok didn’t immediately respond to questions regarding how long it expects retraining the algorithm to take, when US TikTok users should expect to be impacted by changes and whether it will issue public updates about this process.

One potential pitfall the company might want to avoid, Chickering said, is moderating the US version of TikTok in a way that tilts too far toward any one particular political viewpoint, or fails to curb misinformation. Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter (now X) — and his subsequent algorithmic changes that alienated users and advertisers — is a cautionary tale in this regard. With Instagram Reels already vying to replace TikTok, the company will likely want to avoid making changes that could spark a mass exodus of people.

«For now, it’s speculation,» said Chickering. «It remains to be seen how new leadership will wield this power and whether moderation policies will evolve.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Jan. 23

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Jan. 23.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Hope you’re familiar with a certain blond actor (8-Across)! Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.