Remove a photo background on iPhone, Android, Windows or Mac

Most phones and computers can already cut a subject out of a photo. Before installing an app or signing up for a website, it is worth knowing what your own device does, what it saves, and where it stops being the quickest route.

iPhone and iPad

Apple calls it lifting a subject from the background.

1. Open the photo in Photos, or pause a video on the frame you want.
2. Touch and hold the subject until an outline appears around it.
3. Choose Copy, Share, or Add Sticker.

Apple’s guide says this also works in Safari, Quick Look and other apps. After Copy, paste the subject into a note, a message, a document or an image editor. With another finger you can also drag it straight into a document in another app.

What to expect:

• There is no size or background control. You get the subject on transparency and nothing else. For a white background or a marketplace square, paste it into an editor that can add one.
• The receiving app decides whether transparency survives. Some apps fill the empty area with white when they save.
• The phone picks the subject. When a photo has several people or objects, it may take one of them, or all of them, and there is no brush to correct it.

Android

Several Android phone makers include a similar feature in their gallery app, usually by touching and holding the subject and choosing to copy it, share it or save it as a sticker or a new image. Which phones have it, and what it is called, depends on the maker and the software version, so check your phone’s own help pages under Gallery or photo editing. If your phone has no such option, a browser tool works in Chrome on Android without installing anything.

Windows

Paint in Windows 11 has a Remove background button in the toolbar.

1. Open the photo in Paint, or paste it onto the canvas.
2. Select Remove background. To limit it to part of the picture, draw a rectangle with the selection tool first.
3. Save as PNG to keep the transparent area.

Microsoft added the button in Paint version 11.2306.30.0, and transparent PNG support with layers in version 11.2308.18.0. If you do not see the button, update Paint from the Microsoft Store. With layers, you can put a new background on a layer underneath the cutout.

Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook have Picture Format, then Remove Background, for a picture that is already in a document. It adds controls to mark areas to keep or remove, which helps when the automatic result misses something. The cutout lives in the document; to reuse it, save the picture as a separate file.

Mac

Preview has a remove background button in its toolbar.

1. Open the image in Preview.
2. Click the remove background button.
3. If Preview asks to convert the file to PNG, click Cancel and choose File, then Duplicate, to keep the original, or click Convert to change the original.

Edit, then Undo, puts the background back. For a part of the picture instead, such as one face from a group photo, Preview’s Markup toolbar has an extract tool: trace around the part you want and connect the border back to where it started.

Which one to use

You want to	Quickest built-in option	When to use a browser tool instead
Paste a person into a message	iPhone lift subject	Never, the built-in one is faster
Make a transparent PNG on a PC	Paint	The hair or edges need fixing
Cut out a picture inside a slide	PowerPoint	The picture will be used outside Office
Prepare 20 product photos	None	Always: batches, one background and one size for all
Put a subject on white at an exact size	None	Always: the Size tab has marketplace presets
Remove a flat background from a logo	Paint or Preview	Thin lines or anti-aliased edges look rough

When the built-in result is not enough

Built-in tools make one automatic cutout and stop. They are built for a quick copy, not for finished product images or profile photos. A browser tool is worth the extra minute when:

• Hair, fur or thin straps come out blocky or with a halo. Remove Image Background predicts the mask with its Best edges model and follows the photo’s own edges at full size, and the Edges tab has Erase and Restore brushes with zoom.
• The wrong object was picked. On the Edges tab, Keep object and Remove object take a whole object where you click.
• You need a background or a size. The Background tab puts the subject on white, a colour, a gradient, a blurred copy of the photo or your own image, and the Size tab has presets for Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Etsy, Shopify and eBay.
• You have many photos. Add up to 20 at once, set a background and size on one, and apply the same settings to all of them.
• The image is a logo or signature. Flat colour keys out a plain background without any model, and keeps anti-aliased edges soft.

The photo stays in your browser. Best edges downloads its model once and keeps it on your device, and Flat colour needs no download.

Make the file fit where it is going

A cutout saved as PNG can be large. If the destination accepts WebP, choose WebP on the Size tab for a smaller file that keeps transparency. For a form with a size limit, open Resize Image or Compress Image afterwards. If the destination does not support transparency at all, save a JPG on the background colour you want, so the empty area is not filled with an unexpected colour.