How to Remove White Margins from a PDF on iPhone or iPad

TL;DR

Import the PDF, switch to Crop, drag the box to just inside the content, then Apply to All Pages if the margins are the same throughout, and Export. PDFCrop does not auto-detect margins; you set the box yourself and see the result live.

The problem

Scanned papers, lecture slides exported as PDF and forms printed to PDF often have thick white borders. Reading on a phone means the text is tiny because half the screen is blank margin. Printing wastes paper, and pages look unprofessional. Fixing it normally needs a desktop PDF editor.

Steps

  1. Open PDFCrop and tap Import PDF, or send a PDF to PDFCrop from the Share sheet. If the PDF is password-protected you’ll be asked for the password.
  2. In the editor choose Crop from the mode switch.
  3. Drag the corners or edges of the box so it sits just inside the text and images. Pinch to zoom for precision; the thumbnail strip lets you jump between pages.
  4. Check a few pages. If the margins are similar, open the menu and choose Apply to All Pages.
  5. Tap Export, check the preview, and start the export. The new PDF appears in the Files tab.

Set the box, not the page

PDFCrop works out the box in PDF coordinates and stores it per page. Move it, resize it from the edges, then compare with the next page. A margin of a few millimetres around the text keeps scans from looking cut off.

Tips

  • Leave a little breathing room. Scans are often slightly skewed.
  • Do the widest page first if margins vary; a crop that is too tight on one page will cut its content when applied to all.
  • If the first and last pages differ (covers, appendices), crop them individually after the bulk apply.
  • Your edits are saved with the project, so you can close the app and come back.

What it doesn’t do

It doesn’t straighten skewed scans or detect text areas for you. See the other guides for rotating and splitting pages.

FAQ

Does PDFCrop detect the margins automatically? No. You drag the crop box yourself. The box is live on the page, so you can see what will be kept before exporting.

Can I crop every page the same way? Yes: Apply to All Pages copies the current crop to every page. Pro is needed after the first free use.

Is my PDF uploaded? No. Cropping and export happen on the device.

Will the quality drop? No. Pages are not re-rendered or compressed; the visible area is just set to the box you chose.

The app PDFCrop →