The average person today has a smartphone in their pocket virtually all day, every day. Phones have become our best friends, as we use them for everything from texting, surfing the internet, scrolling through social media, and playing games.
Mobile phones can also be used for business-related matters. Let’s take faxing, for instance. Except for office access, the average person does not have a fax machine.
Some people might wonder, “Can I fax from my cell phone? Is there even a way for me to send and receive faxes through my phone?”
If you’ve ever wondered if your mobile device could emulate a fax machine, you’ll be glad to know that technology has indeed made it possible. What’s more, you don’t even need to use a fax machine to do so. It’s just one more of a growing list of functions these handy, little devices can perform.
But how exactly can you send fax documents through one of your mobile devices? That’s exactly what we’ll focus on in the article below.
HOW CAN YOU FAX FROM A SMARTPHONE?
When people say that there’s an app for practically anything, they may not actually be too far off. Of course, there are still several functions even your phone cannot handle. However, when it comes to sending faxes, smartphones can be used in a similar manner to fax machines using apps.
While fax machines aren’t made wirelessly compatible with smart devices as of now, smartphones can fax documents without being a fax modem or a double of an existing fax line. Instead, the app connects to an online fax service that transmits the fax over the internet.
So when you need to send a fax, simply enter the fax number into the app and send it. When you send faxes through the internet, you save paper, ink, energy, and time. It’s a perfect solution both for companies and individual users.
With those apps, it is possible to both send and receive faxes. When receiving, the document gets sent to both an email address and is accessible via the cloud inside the app or online account. That way, you can be sure it won’t get lost in the process.
What’s more, since you won’t have to scan and print your files, they won’t lose any quality, which is incredibly important when sending important business or legal documents.
REQUIREMENTS FOR SMARTPHONE FAXING
Sending online faxes using your phone is very straightforward. Here’s what you need to be able to fax via your mobile device:
- A smartphone with an OS compatible with the available fax service application
- An internet or data connection
- An app with free or paid online fax services (usually you can download onto both an iPhone and Android device)
Some online faxing services like FaxBurner offer both free and subscription-based plans to meet different needs. A free account gives you a free temporary fax number available for 24 hours at a time. You are also allotted a limited number of outgoing fax pages, as well as a monthly allotment of incoming fax pages.
Paid plans include a permanent fax number with various allotments of incoming and outgoing faxes. The cost per month depends on the features you need (e.g., how many pages you need to send or the number of users). If you don’t know whether the services and app will meet your expectations, you can always use the unpaid version (if there’s one) as a free trial so that you can test the waters without spending money. However, keep in mind that some features are available only for premium users.
Once you install and set up the app on your phone, you will be able to fax documents to and from your mobile phone. To make matters even easier, the faxing apps can be integrated with apps such as DropBox or Google Drive.
The best thing about FaxBurner, though, is that you can download their app using official Google Play and Apple App Store. That makes downloading and using the application incredibly handy.
SENDING FAXES FROM YOUR SMARTPHONE
If you want to send faxes, you can do it easily by scanning pages of the documents with your phone’s camera, an image on your phone’s gallery, or sending a PDF document through the smartphone app. You can also easily send fax documents via email or another digital communicator.
Need to add a cover page or edit the document with a signature or text? You can do it easily using an app. There’s no need to print anything. Additionally, fax confirmations are included for both sent and received faxes. Faxes are also stored in the cloud to keep correspondence accessible and organized.
Bottom line? A subscription plan to a service like this makes faxing fast and convenient without the need for a dedicated fax machine.
RECEIVING FAXES ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE
Similarly, receiving a faxed document to your smartphone’s fax account is easy. Simply share your app-provided fax number to the sender.
Any fax sent to that number gets delivered to both your online/app account and your email, from where you can easily download it, convert it into a pdf, etc. You can also sign the document using your digital signature so that you don’t have to print it.
If needed, you can access and reply to your fax with just your mobile phone, tablet, or any other device you want to use.
BENEFITS OF USING YOUR PHONE AS A FAX MACHINE
Several benefits are coming with mobile faxing services. Some of them we’ve already mentioned, but the list is actually quite longer than that. Let’s take a look at some of the most important ones:
- Security: Online faxing services use state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions to ensure secure data transmission. Every time you send a fax online, you can rest assured your document will reach its destination fast and securely.
- Cost-Efficiency: When running a company, it’s only natural that you’d like to get rid of unnecessary costs. Well, thanks to online faxing, you’ll be able to save money on paper, fax machine maintenance, and other costs related to sending traditional faxes.
- Eco-Friendliness: Saving trees and helping the environment while maintaining or even increasing your workflow and operations? That’s where mobile faxing can give you a hand as you’ll be able to cut on paper almost entirely.
- Recordkeeping: The case of lost faxes is pretty common among businesses. Fortunately, when using an online service to send and receive faxes, you’ll be able to store everything on your cloud and hard drive, ensuring you’ll always be able to find what you’re looking for.
- Flexibility: One of the best things about using mobile faxing apps is that most of them support various devices. That allows you to send faxes anywhere and whenever you like.
- Scalability: As your company grows, it might be challenging to keep track of hundreds of faxes you need to send to your clients. That’s not the case with online fax services, though. They allow their users to send faxes to multiple addresses, helping your company grow without any obstacles.
CONCLUSION
Although it’s not the first thing that comes to mind when using them, smartphones are a convenient tool for faxing documents and can handle both occasional and regular fax needs.
With nothing more than an internet connection and a fax app, you can turn your phone into a functional fax machine that’s available almost anywhere and lets you send online faxes whenever you need.
In short, using your phone for your fax sending needs is a fantastic idea. It’s fast, effective, safe, saves paper, and cost-efficient. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a business or an individual user, take advantage of online faxing today and see for yourself how it can make your life easier.
