How to Crop a Picture on iPhone

Nowadays, the iPhone camera is a great and super handy tool to get high-quality shots. As your smartphone is always at hand, it allows you to capture any unexpected and inspiring moments of your everyday life. Often the iPhone is used not only for amateur photography, but also as a professional device for creating photo and video content.

An additional bonus for the user is the possibility of fast and free image processing right on the phone using built-in editors.

We are talking about cropping, rotating, applying filters, and so much more.

In this article, we'll take a closer look at how to crop a picture on the iPhone with the built-in editor and third-party tools. We'll dive into the main differences, advantages, and drawbacks of each option, and when it's best to turn to each of them.

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How to Crop a Picture on iPhone in a Few Steps

If you want to crop a photo on your iPhone manually, here's how:

  1. Launch the Photos app on your smartphone and select the image you want to edit. crop a picture on iphone
  2. Open the "Edit" option in the bottom-right corner. It gives you access to all the editing tools.
  3. Select the "Crop" icon to activate the image cropping function. how to crop a picture on iphone
  4. By default, your aspect ratio will be locked, indicated by a lock icon on the image. To crop without any constraints, tap the Crop icon again and select Freeform. how to crop a picture on iphone
  5. Tap and drag on the cropping borders until you like the results.
  6. If you change your mind, no big deal, just click on the "Reset" button at the top center of the app. It will return to the original photo.
  7. Click "Done" to save your changes. how to crop a picture on an iphone

The processed file will be saved to your ‘Photos’ gallery, replacing the original image. Even after cropping, you can always revert the image back to its original size. Click on “Edit > Revert > Revert to Original” to do so.

As you may see, it's pretty straightforward. If you need to quickly crop a photo, the built-in editor is perfect for you.

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How to Crop a Picture on iPhone with Different Aspect Ratios

It's also worth mentioning that the iPhone allows you not only to crop photos manually at any ratio of frame width and height, but also to set fixed cropping proportions.

The built-in editor provides a choice of the following ratios:

  • Square
  • Wallpaper
  • 16:9
  • 5:4
  • 7:5
  • 4:3
  • 5:3
  • 3:2

To crop an image on an iPhone using fixed proportions, tap the “Aspect Ratio” button right after selecting the “Crop” icon. It is located in the upper right corner of the screen. Scroll through the options and tap the one that suits you best.

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How to Crop a Picture into a Circle on iPhone

In case you want to crop circle image, the built-in iPhone editor won't do the trick. As a solution, use an online photo cropper like Watermarkly. It works online on any device and offers a wide range of cropping options, including a circular one.

  1. Go to the Watermarkly website.
  2. At the top of the page, click on the "More Tools" menu and select "Crop Photos" to go to the editor. how to crop a picture into a circle on iphone
  3. Click on "Select Images." Select the picture you want to crop. It will immediately be uploaded to the app.
  4. Tap on the "Circle" icon to change the cropping shape from rectangular to circular. how to crop a picture into a circle on iphone
  5. Adjust the size and the position of the cropping borders.
  6. Tap on “Next Step” to go to the export settings. how to crop a picture into a circle on iphone
  7. Preview the result and tap on "Crop Images" to save the edit. how to crop a picture into a circle on iphone

The picture will be saved to the Files > Downloads. The original photo will remain intact.

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Built-In Editor on iPhone vs Watermarkly for Cropping Pictures

Each of the solutions has its own strengths and weaknesses that should be mentioned.

The main difference between Watermarkly and the built-in iPhone editor is that with Watermarkly you can process multiple photos at once, (rather than just one).

So, if you’re dealing with a bunch of different images, the online photo cropping app can significantly save your time. Plus, in this tool you can upload photos from both your photo gallery and cloud storage.

As mentioned before, Watermarkly goes beyond the basic cropping, it's got an additional circular cropping option too. This opens new possibilities for photo editing.

In both apps you can edit the image crop area as you please or choose from the pre-set ratios. However, mind that Watermarkly offers a wider range of templates, including 9 standard width-to-height ratios and more than 10 ready-made ratios for social media platforms. Even more, there is an option of customizing crop parameters in pixels or as a ratio.

If you regularly use the online cropper, it will save your crop settings, and you won’t have to start editing from scratch each time.

Now, here's the catch.

Watermarkly doesn't have a mobile app for cropping, which can be a bit inconvenient. Once you're done editing, the processed photos won't end up in your regular gallery. You’ll find them in the Downloads folder, which may be a bit of a treasure hunt.

Keep in mind, the app is free to use, but it allows you to crop up to 10 images per day. You can process more files after purchasing the paid version.

So, the online service will come in handy when photo cropping is something you do on a regular basis, requiring a solution with extra features. It has the tools to help you crop like a pro.

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FAQs

How to crop a photo on iPad?

iPad also has a built-in photo editor, allowing you to crop a picture using the steps mentioned earlier. Alternatively, you can crop a picture on your iPhone using an online app Watermarkly. All pros and cons of both solutions have been mentioned in this article earlier.

How to cut a picture on iPhone for free?

You can make use of the built-in editor, which allows you to crop photos for free. However, each photo needs to be processed individually. The iPhone gives the flexibility to crop images manually or by using predefined ratios.

How to custom crop a picture on iPhone?

It all depends on the specific cropping parameters you require. If you just need to make minor adjustments to your photo using rectangular or square cropping, the capabilities of the built-in editor will be more than enough. However, if you want to create a circular crop or need more advanced customization options for size or aspect ratio, then using an online application like Watermarkly would be a better choice.

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