If I get an email with a PDF, it will say “Tap to Download.” (It never used to do this. Started when I switched to the iPhone 16) When I tap, it says “Downloading” and then goes back to “Tap to Download.” I’ve looked in the Files folder. It is not downloading anywhere. Some of the PDFs used to be there and open, but now have gone to “Tap to Download.” And I have the Adobe Acrobat reader app
iPhone 16 Pro
While most PDFs can be viewed directly within your iPhone's Mail app, there are some occasions where you might encounter a PDF attachment that requires a dedicated PDF reader app like Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it properly.
There are two main reasons why some PDF attachments require a dedicated PDF reader app:
In addition to these two main reasons, there may be other cases where a dedicated PDF reader app offers a better viewing experience. For example, dedicated PDF reader apps often have more features for navigating and searching through PDFs, such as bookmarks, thumbnails, and text search. They may also allow you to annotate PDFs with highlights,comments, and drawings.
Download where?
Do you mean open?
Ask the sender to send it again in the correct format. Some pdf files open only with Acrobat Reader.
I have iPhone SE with iOS 13
I have made a GIF to demonstrate PDF on email (I did not have any issue). Watch it below
That’s my problem. They don’t download to anywhere. I’ve gone in to the Files folder. They’re not there. Also my screen only says “Tap to Download
.” I do not have the download icon. (See pic)
When I tap on it, it says “Downloading” for a split second, and then reverts back to “Tap to Download.” But nothing downloaded. If I hold down on the”Tap to Download” it brings this up:
As soon as you tap that, it goes back to “Tap to Download.” And it does not download.
And the file I took the screenshot of used to work. When I used to opened that email, the PDF was already open at the bottom. This all started when I went from my iPhone 13 and upgraded to the iPhone 16 Pro. Now 90% of the PDFs I get sent don’t work. Some work just like before and are already open when I go to read the email. And the ones that don’t work are not all from the same sender. And I have had a sender have 2 PDFs attached and one will open and one will not. I usually end up having to contact them and send me the PDF by text. Because that always works. But I really want to have them work in my email.
I uninstalled and reinstalled my email in the hopes that would fix it. It did not. I have to believe it’s something simple, but for the life of me, I can’t figure it out.
This process does not help. Because on mine this symbol does not exist.
Mine looks like this:
When I tap to download, for I split second it does this:
But nothing downloads. I have gone through all the folders. If I press and hold the “Tap to Download” button, this comes up:
And when I tap that, a split second later it goes back to this:
No files get downloaded. There’s never a little pie that comes up to show progress.
This process shown below may help you.
PDF not downloading in mail app on iPhone
