How to Make a CV PDF With a Professional Photo on iPhone
By Chinmoy Biswas · Updated , first published
In much of continental Europe, Asia and the Middle East, a CV with a photo is expected. In the UK, US, Canada and Australia it is usually better to leave it out. If the employer expects one, a blurry holiday crop does more harm than no photo at all. This guide covers the whole job with a phone and free tools: deciding whether to include a photo, taking it, placing it, exporting the PDF and building the single application file that many portals ask for.
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Should your CV include a photo?
It depends on the country: include a photo where it is the local convention, such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Spain, and leave it out in the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada and Australia unless the advert asks for one.
No employer in Germany can legally demand a photo since the General Equal Treatment Act of 2006, but most German applications still carry one and recruiters there are used to seeing it. In the US and UK the opposite applies. Many companies strip photos or discard CVs that contain them, because a photo reveals age, ethnicity and gender and creates a discrimination risk. The general background on national conventions is summarised in the Wikipedia article on the curriculum vitae. The EU's Europass CV builder treats the photo as optional, which is a fair summary of the rule across Europe: common, never compulsory.
| Region | Photo on CV | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Germany, Austria, Switzerland | Common | Not legally required; top right of the first page or on a cover sheet |
| France, Spain, Italy, Portugal | Common | Small photo next to the contact details |
| Middle East, much of Asia | Often expected | Follow the advert; some ask for a passport-style photo |
| UK, Ireland | Avoid | Often removed before shortlisting |
| US, Canada, Australia | Avoid | Can get a CV rejected outright |
| Acting, modelling, some client-facing roles | Expected everywhere | Usually a separate headshot, not a CV photo |
How do you take a professional CV photo with a phone?
Stand facing a window, in front of a plain light wall, and have someone else take a head-and-shoulders shot from eye level with the back camera from about 1.5 metres away. Daylight and distance matter more than the phone model.
The back camera is sharper than the selfie camera on every phone. Distance matters because a wide lens held close enlarges the nose and shrinks the ears. If the phone has a 2x option, use it and step back. Wear what you would wear to the interview. Take a dozen shots; small differences in expression are obvious when the photo is 4 cm wide on a page.
Settings that help on iPhone
Use the standard Photo mode rather than Portrait mode if hair or glasses come out with smudged edges. Tap the face to set focus and exposure, then drag the sun icon down slightly if the skin looks washed out. Turn the flash off. Turn on the grid in Settings > Camera so you can keep the eyes on the upper third line.
Common mistakes
- Overhead lighting, which puts shadows under the eyes. Face the window instead.
- A cropped group photo. The missing shoulder next to you is always visible.
- A busy background. A door, a plain wall or a curtain works.
- Sunglasses pushed up on the head, a visible lanyard, or a car seat belt.
- A photo that is more than two or three years old.
Improve the best shot
Often the photo with the best lighting has half-closed eyes or a stiff smile. Expression Editor – Reshot AI is an iPhone app from an independent sponsor of this site. Its listing describes tools for adjusting smile and expression, eye contact and head pose, and for enhancing photo quality. It is a third-party product; check its own privacy information before using it, as you would with any photo app. Whatever editor you use, use it lightly. The photo should still look like the person who walks into the interview. A relaxed expression and a direct gaze beat heavy retouching.
The built-in Photos app covers the basics without any extra app: Edit > Crop for framing, and small moves on Exposure, Brilliance and Warmth. Avoid filters.
One firm rule: do not use AI-edited images for passports, visas or other official ID photos. Those follow strict rules, typically a 35 × 45 mm print with a neutral expression, and generally forbid digital alterations.
Place the photo in your CV
Crop to a portrait ratio such as 3:4 in the Photos app first. Size the photo to roughly 3.5–4.5 cm wide on the page. A photo far larger than that looks like a profile page rather than a CV. Keep a thin margin between the photo and your contact details.
Word on iPhone
Tap where the photo should go, open the editing ribbon with the A-and-pencil icon, choose Insert > Pictures and pick the photo. Select it, choose Wrap Text > Square, then drag it to the top right next to your name. Dragging the corner handles keeps the proportions; the side handles stretch the face.
Pages on iPhone
Tap the + button, choose the media tab, then Photo or Video. Select the image, tap the paintbrush, and under Arrange set Text Wrap to Around. Apple's Pages User Guide for iPhone documents the wrapping options. Pages CV templates already contain a photo placeholder; tap it to swap in your own.
Google Docs on Android or iPhone
Tap + > Image > From photos. Text wrapping controls in the mobile app are limited, so a two-column table with no borders is the dependable layout: name and contact details in the left cell, photo in the right.
Export a clean PDF
Always send a CV as a PDF so fonts and layout stay intact. In Word for iPhone, use the three-dot menu > Export > PDF. In Pages, three-dot menu > Export > PDF. In Google Docs, three-dot menu > Share & export > Save as > PDF.
If you only have the DOCX and none of these apps, Word to PDF converts it. That is one of the few tools on this site that uses a server, because the conversion runs on LibreOffice; the file is deleted right after conversion.
Export, do not scan or screenshot. An exported PDF contains real text. Applicant tracking systems read that text to fill in your profile and to match keywords, and they read nothing from an image of a page.
How do you combine a cover letter, CV and certificates into one PDF?
Export each document as a PDF, then add them to Merge PDF in the order the employer should read them and download the single file. The merge runs on the phone, so nothing is uploaded.
Many portals, especially in Germany and Austria, accept only one attachment. Photos of certificates can be turned into pages first with JPG to PDF, using the A4 page size so every page matches. iPhone photos in HEIC format go through HEIC to PDF.
- Typical order: cover letter, CV, most recent degree certificate, employment references, other certificates.
- Name the file clearly: Firstname-Lastname-Application-Company.pdf.
- If a page came out sideways, fix it with Rotate PDF before merging.
How big should a CV PDF be?
A CV alone should be well under 1 MB, and a full application pack should fit the portal's limit, which is commonly 2 MB to 5 MB. The photo and scanned certificates cause almost all of the size.
A 12-megapixel phone photo is 2–4 MB on its own, far more than a 4 cm image needs. If the merged file is over the limit, run it through Compress PDF at the Recommended level, which resizes large photos to about 150 DPI and keeps the text as text. Zoom in afterwards to confirm the photo still looks sharp. Avoid Extreme for a CV: it turns pages into images, and tracking systems can no longer read the text.
Final checks before you apply
- Open the PDF on a different device to confirm fonts and the photo look right.
- Try selecting a line of text. If it highlights, a tracking system can read it.
- Remove hidden details, like an old employer's name in the author field, with Remove PDF Metadata.
- Make sure the email address and links are clickable and correct.
- Do not password-protect a CV. Recruiters' systems often cannot open encrypted files.
- Keep a version without the photo for applications to countries where it is not wanted.
FAQ
Questions people also ask
What size should a CV photo be?
About 3.5 to 4.5 cm wide in a 3:4 portrait ratio, placed at the top of the first page. That is close to passport size. Anything larger dominates the page and takes space that is better spent on experience.
Is it OK to use a selfie on a CV?
Better not. Selfies are taken at arm's length with a wide lens, which distorts the face, and the angle is usually too high or too low. Ask someone to use the back camera from about 1.5 metres at eye level.
Can applicant tracking systems read a CV with a photo?
Yes, as long as the CV is an exported PDF with real text. The system ignores the image and reads the text. Problems start when the whole CV is a scan or a screenshot, because then there is no text to read.
Should a CV be sent as PDF or Word?
PDF, unless the advert asks for Word. A PDF keeps fonts, spacing and the photo position identical on every device, while a DOCX can reflow in a different Word version or in Google Docs and push the photo onto the text.
Free tool
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