A new Google app is coming to Android. We finally won't envy Apple users for digital signatures.

Signing a document on an Android phone has always been a pain. Without a stylus or a third-party app, you usually had no choice but to send the file to a computer. Google is now quietly addressing this long-standing issue — with the June update, a new Signatures app, a repository for your signatures, is appearing on phones.

What the app can do

Signatures functions as a signature vault. You can create them in three ways — draw them on the screen with your finger, type your initials in one of the offered fonts, or upload a photo of your handwritten signature. You can also save multiple versions and manage them on a separate page.

The clever part is how the signature is meant to get into documents. The app will function as a so-called picker — similar to when you select a photo from your gallery. When a program needs a signature, a small window will open where you can select your signature or add a new one. It’s also distributed via Google Play system updates, so it doesn’t depend on the phone manufacturer and will arrive on a wide base of devices with Android 12 and newer.

Android is catching up to iOS, but only halfway for now

iPhone and iPad owners have been signing PDFs quickly in Markup for years, so Android is more catching up to the competition than bringing something groundbreaking. Even so, it’s a welcome feature, as signing without a stylus has always been cumbersome on Android.

The catch is that the app is currently effectively useless. Google hasn’t officially announced it, hasn’t even mentioned it in the update’s new features list, and most importantly, hasn’t yet told developers how to integrate the feature into their apps. Currently, no program can request signatures from the vault, so while you can save a signature, you have nowhere to use it. Furthermore, the app has no icon or its own page in the Play Store — it can only be launched indirectly. It is clearly a preparation for the future, not a finished solution.

What Czech users should know

One thing is easily overlooked amidst the excitement around signatures on phones. A drawn or photographed signature is, from a legal perspective, a so-called simple electronic signature, not a qualified signature according to the European eIDAS regulation. In practice, this means it will serve well for ordinary forms, internal documents, or confirmations, but it is insufficient for legally binding acts with authorities or contracts requiring verified identity. For those, you still need a bank identity or a qualified certificate.

The question of privacy also remains open — a signature is sensitive data, and for now, it seems to be stored locally on the device. Ideally, Google would link it to an account and synchronize it between phones, which would, however, mean sending such a personal item to the cloud. If you want to find the app on your phone, you need the June Google Play system update installed. But be prepared that you might not have it immediately — it’s being rolled out gradually and not on all brands.

Do you sign documents on your phone, or do you still sit down at a computer for that?

Sources: 9to5Google, Android Authority