How to Add Stickers to iPhone Photos: A Simple Guide

Unleash your creativity and personalize your photos like never before! With the built-in features of your iPhone, turning your cherished photos into fun, expressive stickers is incredibly easy. Whether you want to add a touch of whimsy to your messages, decorate your notes, or simply enhance your photo edits, iPhone stickers offer a fantastic way to personalize your digital world. This guide will walk you through the simple steps to create both static and animated stickers directly from your iPhone photos, making your interactions more engaging and visually appealing.

Creating Stickers from Still Photos

Transforming a regular photo into a sticker is a straightforward process, allowing you to isolate subjects and use them as digital embellishments. Here’s how you can make stickers from your still photos:

1. Open the Photos App: Begin by launching the Photos app on your iPhone, where all your memories are stored.

2. Select Your Photo: Navigate through your photo library and tap on the photo you wish to turn into a sticker. Open it in full-screen view to get a better perspective.

3. Isolate the Subject: This is where the magic happens. Touch and hold the main subject of your photo. You’ll notice the subject being highlighted, indicating it’s being isolated from the background. After a brief moment, release your finger.

4. Add Sticker Option: A menu will pop up right above the selected subject. From the options presented, tap “Add Sticker.”

   Person selected in Photos app with "Add Sticker" option highlighted

5. Access Your Stickers: Congratulations, you’ve just created a sticker! It will now be saved in your stickers menu. You can access this menu whenever you use the iPhone onscreen keyboard in apps like Messages, Mail, or when using Markup tools for photo editing.

6. Enhance with Effects: To make your stickers even more unique, tap “Add Effect.” You can choose from visual effects like Outline, which adds a crisp border; Comic, for a cartoonish look; or Puffy, to give your sticker a raised, 3D appearance. Experiment with these effects to find the perfect style for your sticker.

Tip: Stickers are not just for messages! You can also use the stickers you create to decorate your photos directly within the Photos app using Markup. This allows for endless creative photo editing possibilities.

Making Animated Stickers from Live Photos

For an even more dynamic touch, you can create animated stickers from your Live Photos. These stickers capture movement, adding an extra layer of fun to your creations. Here’s how to make them:

1. Go to the Photos App: Just like with still photos, start by opening the Photos app on your iPhone.

2. Choose a Live Photo: Locate and tap on a Live Photo that contains motion you’d like to capture in your sticker. Open it in full screen.

3. Isolate and Elevate the Subject: Touch and hold the moving subject in the Live Photo. This time, instead of just releasing, slide your finger upwards while holding the subject. You’ll see a duplicate image appear, indicating you’re creating an animated sticker. Then, release your finger.

4. Add Animated Sticker: Just like with still photos, an “Add Sticker” option will appear. Tap “Add Sticker.”

5. Find Your Animated Sticker: Your newly created animated sticker is now ready to use! It will be available in your stickers menu alongside your static stickers.

6. Apply Effects (Optional): You can also apply effects like Outline, Comic, or Puffy to your animated stickers to further customize them, just as you would with still photo stickers.

Managing Your Stickers

Once you start creating stickers, you might want to manage them. iPhone makes it easy to organize and remove stickers as needed.

Adding Effects to Existing Stickers

You can always go back and add or change effects on stickers you’ve already created. Simply access your sticker menu, and when you select a sticker, the “Add Effect” option will be available to modify its appearance.

Deleting Stickers

If you want to declutter your sticker collection, deleting stickers is simple:

1. Open a Photo and Enter Edit Mode: Start by opening any photo in the Photos app and tap Edit in the top right corner.

2. Access Markup: Tap the Markup button (it looks like a pen icon in a circle) at the top of the editing interface.

3. Open Sticker Menu: Within Markup, tap the Sticker button (usually represented by a stylized sticker icon).

4. Remove Sticker Option: Touch and hold the sticker you wish to delete within the sticker menu. After a moment, a “Remove” option will appear. Tap “Remove” to delete the sticker from your collection.

Your stickers are conveniently synced with iCloud, ensuring they are accessible across all your Apple devices – iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro – as long as you are logged in with the same Apple ID. This seamless synchronization allows you to create stickers on one device and use them on another, keeping your personalized sticker collection readily available wherever you go.

Creating stickers on your iPhone is a fun and intuitive way to personalize your digital communications and photo edits. Experiment with different photos and Live Photos to discover endless creative possibilities and make your messages and photos truly stand out!