How to remove the background from a photo in iOS 16

iOS 16 has introduced many new features, but one really useful feature has to do with photo editing. If you need to remove backgrounds from photos, you usually need an editing tool like Photoshop, Gimp or an online removal tool. But iOS now has a built-in tool to remove the background from a photo. It’s not perfect (yet), but it looks promising. This is how it works.

Read more: Features Apple took from Android with iOS 16

Crop a topic and remove the background in iOS 16

Before we begin, it’s worth clarifying that this actually lifts the subject of the photo out of the frame. You can then paste the subject of the photo into another app, such as iMessage, whatsapp, facebooketc, and it will appear without the background.

So this is not strict a Photoshop or Gimp replacement. But for quick snaps that you want to share in a text message (for example), it’s a really handy feature.

First, go to the photo in the Photos app and long press on the subject of the photo. When it starts to shimmer around the edges, a small menu will appear. Tap To copy.

Now go to the app you want to share the edited photo with. I’ve tried it iMessage. Tap in the message box and select To stick. The app will request permission to paste from the Photos app. Tap of course Allow pasting.

The subject of the photo now appears, minus the background. It is now ready to be shipped.

If the background of the iPhone is dark, you probably won’t notice any imperfections. But if you make the background white, you’ll see a gray border around parts of the image. So it doesn’t work 100% perfectly, but it’s close.