Isolating a person, family pet, or object from a busy photo background historically required opening complex graphic design desktop software like Photoshop and carefully tracing outlines with a lasso tool. In modern iOS versions (iOS 16, 17, and 18), Apple built an incredible neural cutout tool into the core operating system known as Visual Look Up Subject Lifting. Powered by on-device machine learning and the Apple Neural Engine, your iPhone can identify foreground subjects with sub-pixel precision, allowing you to lift people, pets, and products right out of pictures with a simple touch.
How Subject Lifting Operates Across iOS
Subject separation is not restricted to a single app; it operates ubiquitously across Apple’s ecosystem:
- Photos App: Works on standard snapshots, portrait captures, screenshots, and live camera rolls.
- Safari & Web Pages: Touch and hold any image on a website in Safari to lift foreground subjects without saving the picture first.
- Paused Video Frames: Pause any recorded video in your camera roll and lift subjects directly out of the video frame.
- Quick Look & Files: Isolate subjects inside PDF documents or image files stored within the Files app.
How to Lift a Subject from a Photo
Extracting a clean, transparent cutout takes just two seconds:
- Open the Photos app on your iPhone running iOS 16 or later.
- Select any photo containing a clear subject—such as a friend, child, dog, car, or coffee mug.
- Press and hold your finger firmly on the subject for approximately one second.
- You will feel a subtle haptic tap, and a luminous silver shimmer will ripple around the perimeter of the subject, indicating it has separated from the background.
- Release your finger to reveal the contextual action bubble containing Copy and Share (and Add Sticker on iOS 17+).
Ways to Use Your Separated Subject
Once lifted, you can distribute and use the transparent PNG cutout in numerous creative ways:
- Copy and Paste: Tap Copy, open Messages, Notes, or an email draft, and tap Paste to insert a transparent graphic.
- Drag and Drop: While holding the lifted subject with one finger, use your other hand to swipe up to the Home Screen, open another app (like Keynote or Canva), and drop the graphic directly onto your slide canvas.
- Add Sticker: Tap Add Sticker to save the cutout into your universal iOS Sticker Drawer, allowing you to peel and stick custom photo stickers across iMessage chats.
Tips for Clean Subject Isolation
To ensure neural edge detection cleanly outlines hair, fur, and intricate object borders:
- Ensure Subject Contrast: Photos where the subject’s colour distinctly contrasts with the background produce the sharpest cutout edges.
- Use Portrait Mode: Photos captured in Portrait Mode provide pre-calculated depth maps, allowing the neural engine to separate fine flyaway hairs with extreme fidelity.