If you have ever found yourself installing apps like Photoshop to remove background from photos, iOS 16 brings some very good news for you. With iOS 16, you can easily remove background from images on directly on your iPhone. Whether it’s a portrait of yourself, or a picture of your dog, you can now easily convert the image into a transparent background picture, and use it as a sticker (among other things). So, here’s how to remove background from photos on iPhone using iOS 16.
There are multiple ways that you can use to remove background from your images on iPhone. We will be covering all of these methods, and you can use the one that suits your needs best. As always, you can utilise the table of contents below to jump ahead to any section that intrigues you.
iPhone Models That Support iOS 16’s Background Removal FeatureIsolate Subjects from Background on iPhone
Method 1: Remove Background from Images in the Photos AppMethod 2: Remove Background from Web Images (Safari Only)Method 3: Remove Background from Images using the Files AppWhich Apps Support iOS 16’s Background Removal Tool?How to Remove Background from Images on Unsupported iPhone Models
Method 1: Remove Background from Images in the Photos AppMethod 2: Remove Background from Web Images (Safari Only)Method 3: Remove Background from Images using the Files App
iPhone Models That Support iOS 16’s Background Removal Feature
If you’re wondering whether your iPhone supports the new background removal feature, here’s what Apple says. According to the company, the feature utilises “advanced machine learning and image analysis functionality”. In essence, Apple has only made the feature available on iPhones with an A12 Bionic processor or later. Here are all the iPhones that support the background removal feature:
Isolate Subjects from Background on iPhone
There are four quick ways to isolate subjects from the background. It’s worth pointing out that this background removal feature works on any image where the subject is clearly defined. So, whether you want to isolate a person, a pet, or an object from photos, you can use this method.
The Photos app is probably where you browse your photos most often. And if you want to remove the background from an image, you can now do it here directly.
In the Photos app, open the image from which you want to remove the background. For this example, I’m using an image of myself. Now, press and hold on the subject until a white glow appears around the image as shown in the GIF below.
You can now drag the subject and it will be lifted off the background and you can drag and drop it pretty much anywhere you like. Such as, in iMessage (or WhatsApp, for that matter).
Alternatively, once the white glow starts showing, you can stop holding the image and you will see a pop-up menu with the following options:CopyShare
You can use ‘Copy’ to copy the image without the background, and then you can paste it wherever you want to. Or, you can tap on ‘Share’ and directly share the “sticker”.
- CopyShare
On the other hand, if you want to create a sticker from an image you found on the web, or you want to remove the background from a web image, you can do it directly from Safari. You don’t need to download the image and use the Photos app method mentioned above. Here’s how you can remove backgrounds from images on the web using Safari in iOS 16.
Method 3: Remove Background from Images using the Files App
You can also remove the background from images saved in the Files app on your iPhone without having to export them to the Photos app.
That’s it, the Files app will remove the background from the image and
- Launch the Files app on your iPhone and then head over to an image.
The Files app will instantly remove the background from the image and save it in the same location.
iOS 16’s background removal feature, which is an extension of sorts to the Visual Lookup feature launched with iOS 15, is tightly integrated with almost every system app there is. Here are some of the apps we’ve tested, where the feature works like a charm:
- Photos Safari Messages Mail Files Notes
How to Remove Background from Images on Unsupported iPhone Models
Since Apple is gatekeeping a lot of iPhones from getting the new ‘remove background’ feature with iOS 16, if you have an older iPhone, you will have to resort to third party options to get similar functionality.
