Method 1: Compress in Safari (fastest)
- Open getpdfpress.com in Safari (or any browser).
- Tap the upload zone. iOS shows a picker - choose Choose File to browse the Files app (including iCloud Drive), or pick from Photos if your PDF lives there.
- Select your target size (500KB for most portals, 200KB for stricter ones) and a compression level.
- Tap Compress, then Download. Safari saves the file to Files → Downloads by default.
The whole round trip takes under a minute on a typical connection, and it works identically on iPad.
Method 2: Shrink scans at the source
If you're creating the PDF yourself with the iPhone's built-in scanner (Notes → camera icon → Scan Documents, or the Files app's scan feature), you can avoid a bloated file in the first place: after scanning, tap the color filter and choose Grayscale or Black & White for text documents. Hold the phone flat and directly above the page so the de-skew doesn't stretch and re-render the image larger.
Where compressed files land in the Files app
Safari downloads go to Files → On My iPhone (or iCloud Drive) → Downloads. You can check the size by long-pressing the file and tapping Get Info. If a portal asks you to upload, its file picker will open this same Files interface - navigate to Downloads and select the compressed copy (it's the one with "-compressed" in the name).
Sharing the result: Mail, Messages, portals
From Files, long-press the compressed PDF → Share → Mail or Messages. For job portals and government sites in Safari, tap their upload button and choose the file from Downloads. Because you compressed first, you'll dodge both the portal's limit and Mail's attachment ceiling.
iPhone-specific tips and gotchas
- PDF stuck in Photos? Photos sometimes stores scans as images. Share → Save to Files first, or upload the images directly to JPG to PDF to get a proper, optimized PDF.
- Low Power Mode can slow big uploads; plug in for very large files.
- Markup adds weight. Drawing signatures with thick brushes in Markup re-renders pages; sign first, compress last.
- Everything above works the same in Chrome and Firefox on iOS - they all use Safari's engine and the same Files picker.