Creating and Using Photo Cutouts on iPhone
The iPhone offers numerous clever and fun features that can be easily overlooked. One of the most whimsical recent features is the ability to lift the subject of a photo away from the background for use in other applications, such as email, photo editing, or even iMessage stickers in iOS 17. Despite its apparent simplicity, this feature involves complex number crunching, requiring an iPhone with a modern processor, such as the A12 Bionic chip or later. While it works best with the latest iPhones, it is also compatible with earlier models such as the iPhone XS and XR from 2018, running at least iOS 16.
Highlight a subject in a photo in the Photos app and select “Copy” to use it in other apps. Alternatively, you can share the subject directly from the Photos app using the iOS 17 share sheet. It is also possible to copy the subject by dragging it from the Photos app into a third-party app that supports drag-and-drop.
Additionally, in iOS 17, users can create iMessage stickers from photo cutouts. Simply open an image in the Photos app, select the subject, and choose “Add Sticker” from the context menu. You can then customize and use the new sticker in the Messages app.
