How to create a signature for PDF documents on an Android phone.

There are times when there is no other option but to use an app. If you need to sign a PDF document from your Android phone, that’s the only way to do it — unlike iOS, which allows you to create a signature using the built-in Markup app, you’ll have to look for a third-party source. There are several apps available, the most well-known of which is the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

So, if you want to sign contracts and other PDF documents without having to pull out your computer, here’s how to do it with the Android version of Acrobat:

• Install Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Google Play Store.
• Sign in (or create an account); if you’ve just installed the app, you may have to go through a series of directions and advice popups.
• At the bottom of the screen, tap the “Files” icon. It will grant you access not only to files saved on your device (you must first grant access to all files), but also to files stored on Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and Adobe’s Document Cloud. You can also look for PDFs attached to Gmail.

• I went with Google Drive. I was invited to use the same email account to access Google Drive and PDFs from Gmail; I also had to grant the app access to your Google account.
• Regardless of which route you take, select your source and tap on your PDF file to open it in Acrobat. Then, in the lower right corner, tap the “Edit” icon.

• Choose “Fill & Sign.”
• Tap the signature icon (it looks like a pen nib) in the lower right corner and choose “Create Signature” (or “Create Initials” if that’s all you need).

• In landscape mode, you’ll see a “Sign Here” box with options (above the box) to draw your signature, insert an image, or use your camera to photograph a signature drawn on paper. When you’re finished, tap the “Done” button in the upper right corner.
• You’ll be taken back to your PDF document. Tap on the location where you want your signature to appear. It will appear in a box; you can adjust the size of your signature by pulling on the box’s sides, or you can delete it by tapping on the trash icon (which will also appear). When finished, click the checkmark in the upper left corner.
• And you’re finished! When you go into “Fill & Sign” in the future and select the signature icon, the signature you just created will be there for you to drop into your document. If you want to try again, you can delete the signature by tapping the “minus” sign to the right of it.