How to Remove the Background from a Photo Using a Smartphone

When you’re a busy entrepreneur and marketer on the go, sometimes you need to edit your photos on the fly, especially for social media posting. That’s when it comes in super handy to be able to remove the background from a photo using a smartphone.

After all, you don’t always want to post a selfie pic in front of a storefront or a restaurant. Maybe you want to switch the background to another setting or even to a solid color?

Whether you like it or not, visual design is a big part of content marketing these days. You’re expected to produce decent looking images even if you don’t have design skills. And that’s where these apps really save the day.

Today’s modern options have made removing the background from a photo MUCH easier. You don’t even need to trace outlines anymore since algorithms do the heavy lifting.

It happens to me enough times that I found a smartphone app called Adobe Photoshop Mix. It’s a tool that works well and is very simple to remove the background from a photo. Even better, it’s a free download from both the iTunes and Google Play stores.

Step 1 – Set Up Adobe Photoshop Mix

Download and install the app on your smartphone. The first time you open Photoshop Mix, you’ll need to either log in to your Adobe Cloud account or create a free account from within the app.

Step 2 – Choose an Image

Within the app, choose the plus sign to start a new project.  The plus sign will open a new screen that will allow you to choose where you will select a photo from, including your smartphone, Facebook, Dropbox, etc.

After you choose an image, it will appear on your screen.  If the image needs to be cropped, select the crop tool from the lower left side of the screen.  The crop tool will open and you will have a few choices listed at the bottom for crop templates. The freeform option gives you the most flexibility as you can position the outlines where you want to crop just by touching them and dragging with your finger like you would a mouse.

Once the area is selected, tap on the check mark in the lower right to save the crop. You’ll be redirected back to the main project window.

Step 3 – Remove the Background

To remove the background from a photo, you’ll be using the Cutout tool. The Cutout tool allows you to select which parts of the picture stay and which parts will be removed.

When you tap on the Cutout tool,  it will load in “Add” mode by default.  You will see the “Add” in the lower left of the screen. “Add” means that everything you trace will be kept in the image while everything else will drop out.

Again like with the crop tool, use your finger like you use a mouse with your computer. Warning: this takes practice to perfect!

Trace with your finger around the part of the image that you want to stay in the photo.  As you trace, you’ll see the area that you’re removing fades while the area you are keeping stays bright and in focus.

The first pass of the cutout tool removes the majority of the background that you no longer want. However, you’ll need to do some clean up.

Step 4 – Clean Up

To remove the rest of the background that is close to the area you want to keep, change from the Cutout tool in Add mode to the “Subtract” mode. To do this, touch “Add” in the lower left section of the screen. The Subtract mode removes areas that you trace with your finger.

I’ve found that it’s easiest to zoom in to clean up any remaining background that you want to remove. To zoom in, take TWO fingers and pinch inwards. This will zoom in on the image.  Reposition the image as needed with your two fingers, and drag the image into position. Be sure not to use ONE finger! One finger will delete/remove areas on the screen.

If you make a mistake, use the Undo arrow at the top of the screen.

Now that you’re zoomed in, move one finger around the areas that you want to clean up and do a more detailed job. This took me a few tries. I had to use the Undo button at the top a few times until I got everything removed. Once you are satisfied with your image, save the edits by touching the checkmark on the lower right of the screen. Your changes will save and you’ll be returned to the main menu.

Step 5 – Bonus: Layering

Adobe Photoshop Mix also allows layers, so you can add a new background to your image.

To add a background layer, tap on the layers button at the top of the app and when the layers option is visible on the screen select the + to add a layer.  You are then given the option to choose an image from your phone, Facebook, Adobe cloud, etc.

I selected another image from the photo roll which opened a new layer on top of my original image, but I used my finger to drag the layer with my face on it above the new background and voila, I am in a vegetable stand.

Once you have completed your edits you can save them by touching the arrow up button which will give you an option to save to your camera roll.  This will look slightly different on an Android device.

Back to You

I use Adobe Photoshop Mix for all kinds of projects, most of which become Instagram and Facebook posts. It is the fastest way for me to snap, tweak and post all from one device.

Did you find this tutorial helpful? What other graphic tools do you love to use on your smartphone?