You CAN lift image and paste into another image on your iPhone!!!

Not a question but a solution to a problem. Using your iPhone you want to lift a subject from an image and paste that lifted subject onto another image on your iPhone. Many say it can't be done and you can only paste the lifted image into another app, email, messages, Files, Quick note, etc. The fix is a bit complicated to setup but once done you're set to do it easily as much as you want. You do need iOS16 or higher.

1 - Follow the instructions in this video When you get to the end he has you run a test but the video is confusing as it first seems the guy is picking the full image and not a lifted subject. So to properly test and perform the action in the future, do Step 2.

2 - Lift the subject from the desired image. You need to press the subject until a glow appears around it and a menu appears. Select Share, Save Image. Now you have the lifted subject saved as its own image and you can see that the original background is gone and replaced with either white or black depending on where you are at in the process.

3 - Open any picture in Photos.

4 - Tap the Share to button (box with arrow pointing up in lower left corner)

5 - Tap the Shortcut created per the video instructions.

6 - Your Photo Library opens. Find the lifted image you saved and tap. The Photo Library goes away and them comes back.

7 - Find the image you want to use as a background and tap.

8 - The first image you tapped (lifted image) is now on top of the second image you tapped (background)

9 - Use your finger to move and a pinch to resize the top image.

One issue I've experienced is when Step 6 doesn't happen. This has only happened when I've done several lift-n-paste actions in a row. Closing and reopening the Photos app has fixed it for me.

Another issue I've found is that the image that you are lifting from cannot be a JPG. There may be other formats that won't work either. I've found that it needs to be a PNG. or HEIF. If you took the picture using your iPhone then no problem. If you got the image from elsewhere, such as an Internet browser, it may not be the right format. If not sure, open the image in the Photos app, swipe up from the bottom of the image and about mid-screen on the right side and under the word, Adjust, you will see what format. Whatever format for the original image will carry over to the lifted subject image you will save. What I've found is that after you lift and save, it will look like the background is gone but when you overlay onto another image you will get a white box around your subject. Definitely not what you want. This stumped me for awhile but I discovered a fix. Before lifting, open that first image fully, take a screenshot and save. Then use that screenshot image to lift the subject. Works like a charm. Hope this helps people.

[Edited by Moderator]