How to send a fax from an Android phone

Updated October 25, 2026 · PlusFax team

Fax from Android without an app: scan with Google Drive, upload the PDF in Chrome, enter the number and pay. Works on Samsung, Pixel and every other Android phone.

What you need

Any Android phone or tablet with Chrome or another modern browser, the pages you want to send, and a card. There is nothing to install: scanning uses an app you already have, and the fax itself is sent from a web page.

Step 1: scan the pages

Three built-in options, in order of how clean the result is:

• Google Drive. Open the Drive app, tap the plus button, then Scan. Capture each page; Drive finds the edges, flattens the page and saves everything as one PDF. This is the best choice.
• Samsung camera. On Galaxy phones, point the camera at a page and tap the Scan prompt that appears. It saves a cropped image per page.
• Plain photos. Photograph each page straight on in good light. Several photos can be uploaded together, one page each.

If the document is already a PDF in Gmail or Drive, skip this step; the upload dialog can open it from there.

Step 2: upload on the send page

Open the Send a fax page in Chrome and tap the upload area. Android shows a file picker: choose Drive, Files or Gallery, then the document. The page counts the pages and shows the price before you do anything else: $1.99 for up to 5 pages, then $0.25 a page.

Step 3: enter the number

Type the fax number with its area code. For a number in another country, start with a plus sign and the country code and leave out the area code's leading zero: +44 20 7946 0000 rather than 020 7946 0000. The international guide has a table of country codes.

Make sure it is the fax line, not the office phone. A person answering the call is the most common reason a fax fails.

Step 4: pay and follow the status

Pay with Google Pay or a card. The status page updates live: dialling, sending page 1 of 3, delivered. When the last page is confirmed, an email receipt with the page count and timestamp arrives in your inbox. If the number is busy, the fax is retried; if it cannot be delivered at all, the page tells you why and you are not charged.

Good to know

• Resolution. Fax is black and white at about 200 dots per inch. A Drive scan is already right; a 12-megapixel photo is simply downsized.
• Signing. Open the PDF in Drive, tap the pen icon and sign with your finger, then upload the saved copy.
• Word files. Open them in Google Docs and use Share, then Save as PDF. Fax needs a fixed layout.
• Several documents. Upload them together; they are sent as one fax in the order shown.

Should you install a fax app instead?

Only if you fax every week and want an inbox on the phone. Most Android fax apps charge a recurring subscription after a short trial and some add their own cover page. For an occasional fax, Drive's scanner plus a web page costs $1.99 and leaves nothing to cancel. If you also need to receive faxes, look at a monthly plan with a dedicated number instead; the receiving guide covers how that works.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• How to send a fax from an iPhone · Scan with the built-in document scanner, send from Safari, keep the receipt in Mail.
• How to send a fax online · The four steps from a PDF on your screen to a confirmed delivery, and what to check before you press send.
• How to fax without a fax machine · Online services, all-in-one printers, copy shops and phone apps compared on cost, speed and privacy.
• Why did my fax fail, and how to fix it · Busy, no answer, no fax tone, partial pages: what each one means and what to do next.