How to Crop a Photo on iPhone
Photos crops in a few taps and can undo it later. Here's why the frame won't change shape, and how to crop to an exact pixel size.
To crop a photo on iPhone, open it in the Photos app, tap the Edit button, tap the Crop button, drag the corners of the frame around the part you want to keep, and tap Done. To crop an image on iPhone to an exact size in pixels, Crop Image lets you type the numbers in Safari, and the photo is never uploaded.
How to crop a photo in the Photos app
These steps follow Apple's iPhone User Guide page Crop, rotate, flip, or straighten photos and videos on iPhone, which gives the same crop steps for iOS 18 and iOS 27:
- Open the Photos app and tap the photo.
- Tap the Edit button, then tap the Crop button.
- Drag the corners of the rectangle until it surrounds the part you want to keep.
- Tap Done to save. To back out, tap Cancel, then Discard Changes.
Quicker for a rough crop: while viewing a photo, pinch to zoom until it's framed the way you want, tap Crop in the top-right corner, adjust if needed, and tap Done.
Why won't the crop frame change shape?
The frame is locked to the photo's original aspect ratio. Dragging a corner keeps that ratio, so a 4:3 picture stays 4:3. To change the shape, tap the lock at the top-right corner of the photo to unlock it, then drag again.
For a standard shape, tap the Aspect Ratio button on the crop screen and pick a preset; Apple lists Square, Wallpaper, 9:16 and 5:7 among them. See what aspect ratio is.
How to undo a crop on iPhone
While you're editing, the Undo and Redo buttons at the top of the screen step through your changes (Apple's page Undo and revert photo edits on iPhone).
After you tap Done, open the photo, tap the More button, and tap Revert to Original. The crop page's own tip puts Revert under the Edit button instead, so check both.
To keep both versions, duplicate first: open the photo, tap the More button, then Duplicate. Per Apple's Duplicate and copy photos and videos page, the copy appears next to the original. Crop the copy.
Cropping an image that's in Files, not Photos
A download saved in the Files app isn't in your library, so use Preview. Apple's page Edit an image in Preview on iPhone (iOS 26 and 27) says to open the image, tap the Crop button, drag the blue handles over the area to keep, and tap Crop. On iOS 18 or earlier, use Crop Image below.
How to crop to exact pixels on iPhone
Apple's crop steps cover dragging and presets, not typing a size. When a form asks for a set width and height:
- Open Crop Image in Safari, tap the drop area, and choose one photo or up to 50.
- Leave "Aspect ratio" on Free, or pick Square (1:1), Standard (4:3), Widescreen (16:9) or Photo (3:2).
- Drag the box, or type values into the X, Y, W and H fields. They're pixels of your original photo, and the "Crop" line below shows the size you'll get.
- Tap Crop, then Download. Several photos come back together in one zip.
- Find the file in the Files app under Browse, then Downloads, as Apple's Find your downloaded files page describes.
The crop is cut from the full-size photo. A JPG comes back as a JPG and a WebP as a WebP, both re-saved at quality 0.92. Anything else comes back as a PNG, including a HEIC, which the tool decodes first. The name gains -cropped, and your library photo is left alone.
With several photos, the first one's box is applied to the rest in the same proportions, so run portrait and landscape shots separately.
After the crop
Crop first, then resize. Our guide to resizing a photo on iPhone covers the second step, and cropping a photo without wrecking it covers what to cut. For a square avatar, Crop to Square locks the box to 1:1. If the picture is sideways rather than badly framed, see rotating a photo on iPhone, and on a Mac, Preview and Photos crop differently.
FAQ
Can I crop several photos at once on iPhone?
Apple's steps work on one open photo. Crop Image takes up to 50 in one run.
Does cropping lower the quality?
A crop removes pixels, so there is less detail left to enlarge later. Crop Image also re-saves a JPG or WebP as a new lossy file at quality 0.92, which is a small further loss. A PNG or HEIC comes back as a PNG, which adds none.
Can I crop a video on iPhone?
Yes, in Photos, with the same steps. Crop Image takes still images only.