How to Turn a Photo into a Sticker on iPhone (Cutout vs Drawn)
Some photos are too good to stay in the camera roll: your dog mid-yawn, a friend's face the moment the cake fell, the coffee that looked like a heart. Turned into a sticker, that photo becomes a reaction you can drop into any chat for years. iPhone has a built-in way to cut a subject out of a photo, and there is a better way when you want the result to look like an actual emoji rather than a photo cutout. This guide covers both.
The short version
- A quick cutout of the photo as it is: touch and hold the subject in the Photos app and choose Add Sticker. Free, iOS 17 or later.
- A sticker that looks drawn, with a clean edge and a matching set: Pixmoji, on any iPhone with iOS 15 or later.
- Either way, start with one clear subject, good light, and a simple background.
Method 1: The built-in photo sticker in iOS 17
Apple added subject lifting to Photos in iOS 16 and turned it into stickers in iOS 17.
- Open a photo in Photos.
- Touch and hold the subject until a glowing outline appears, then lift your finger.
- Tap Add Sticker. The cutout is saved to your sticker drawer.
- Optionally tap Add Effect for an outline, a comic, a puffy, or a shiny look.
- In iMessage, open the sticker drawer to send it or drag it onto a message.
This is useful for a one-off and it costs nothing. Its limits are what you would expect from a cutout: the sticker is still a photo, so it never looks like an emoji, edges around hair and fur are often rough, the four effects are the only styling you get, and it lives mostly inside iMessage. It also cannot make a sticker of something that is not in the photo, like your dog wearing a party hat.
Method 2: Turn a photo into a real sticker with Pixmoji
Pixmoji does not cut the photo out, it redraws it. Pick a photo, and the AI produces a sticker with the background gone, a clean edge, and the look of an illustrated emoji.
- Open Pixmoji and choose Image to Emoji.
- Pick an image from your library. One clear subject, in focus, works best.
- Generate. The sticker is ready in a few seconds.
- Save it to your library, or share it straight to WhatsApp, iMessage, Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat.
Because the result is drawn rather than cut, generating the same photo twice gives two different takes. Keep the one with the cleaner edge and the truer expression. Everything is saved to your library so a set stays together.
Which photos make the best stickers
- One subject. A single face, a single pet, a single object. Groups turn into a muddle at sticker size.
- Sharp and well lit. Daylight or bright room light. Blur and shadow confuse both the cutout and the AI.
- Simple background. A wall, the sky, a floor. Busy backgrounds cost edge quality.
- Big expression or clear pose. Stickers are small. A yawn, a head tilt, a jump reads; a neutral face does not.
- Faces and pets first. They carry emotion, which is the whole point of a reaction sticker.
Ideas people actually make
- The pet pack: your dog or cat in six moods, one per common reaction.
- The friend pack: each person in the group chat as a cartoon, made from photos they already sent.
- The inside joke: the object or moment only your group understands, now a sticker.
- Baby and family stickers: grandparents adore these, and they work in WhatsApp family groups.
- Food and things: the burnt toast, the plant that survived, the car. Anything with a story.
Sending your sticker everywhere
In iMessage, Pixmoji stickers show up in the sticker drawer, so you can tap to send or peel one onto a bubble; see adding stickers to iMessage. For WhatsApp, add the sticker to a pack and tap Install Pack; the pack appears in your sticker tab for every chat. For Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, share it as an image and paste it into a story, a comment, or a snap. Friends on Android receive stickers as small images, so nobody is left out.
Quick answers
How do I turn a photo into a sticker on iPhone?
Two ways. In Pixmoji, choose Image to Emoji, pick the photo, and generate a drawn sticker with the background removed. In the Photos app on iOS 17 or later, touch and hold the subject and choose Add Sticker for a plain cutout.
Can I make a sticker of my dog?
Yes. A clear photo of your dog with a simple background, run through Image to Emoji in Pixmoji, gives a drawn sticker in a few seconds. Pets are the most popular sticker subject for a reason.
Does the sticker have a transparent background?
Yes. Both the iOS cutout and Pixmoji stickers have the background removed, so they sit cleanly on any chat bubble or story.
Can I use photo stickers in WhatsApp?
Yes. Add Pixmoji stickers to a pack and tap Install Pack; the pack is added to your WhatsApp sticker tab, available in every conversation.
Is Pixmoji free to download?
Yes. Pixmoji is free to download on any iPhone or iPad with iOS 15 or later.
Turn your favorite photo into a sticker
Pick the photo everyone in the group already loves. Download Pixmoji, choose Image to Emoji, and send the sticker before the conversation moves on.