Draw, Doodle, and Write on Photos with iPhone’s Markup Tool

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Learn to draw pictures and doodles on iPhone photos

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Article Summary

Written by Megaera Lorenz, PhD

Last Updated: October 24, 2025 Fact Checked

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Your iPhone’s Markup tool offers a surprising array of pens, brushes, and other drawing tools that you can use to doodle directly on your photos. You can even add shapes or text to your photo, or use the ruler tool to make perfectly straight lines. Read on to learn how to find and use the tools you need to draw on any photo in your iPhone’s gallery.

Easiest Way to Draw on iPhone Photos

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Open the photo you want to draw on.
3. Tap the Edit button (it looks like three sliders) below the photo.
4. Tap the Markup icon (it looks like a pen tip in a circle) at the top of the screen.
5. Select a drawing tool and drag your finger on the screen to draw on your photo.
6. Tap the checkmark at the top to save your edits.

Steps

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1. 
   1
   Open your iPhone's Photos app. Photos is the multicolored pinwheel icon on the Home Screen. You can easily draw on photos using the Markup tool in the Photos app.
2. 
   2
   Select a photo to edit. Browse the photos in your main photo library, or tap the Collections tab at the bottom of the screen to see your albums. When you find the photo you want, tap on it to open it.
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3. 3
   Tap the

   

   slider button. It's at the bottom of the screen.
4. 4
   Tap the

   

   Markup button. Markup is a tool that allows you to add drawings, shapes, text, and other elements to your photos. To open it, tap the icon at the top right side of the screen that looks like a pen tip in a circle.
5. 
   5
   Select a drawing tool. You’ll see several drawing tools at the bottom of your screen, including a pencil, a pen, a crayon, a highlighter, and a brush. There’s also an eraser and a select tool.

   • Swipe left or right to see more drawing tools.
6. 6
   Pick a color. Once you’ve chosen your drawing tool, tap the icon that looks like a dot in the middle of a rainbow circle. Choose a color from the palette and adjust it as needed.
7. 7
   Adjust your line thickness and opacity. Tap your selected tool a second time to choose a line thickness. You can also drag the opacity slider to make your line more or less transparent.
8. 8
   Draw on the photo with your finger. Simply drag your finger across the screen to draw on the photo freehand using your selected tool.
9. 9
   Use the ruler tool to draw straight lines. If you want to draw a perfectly straight line with any of the drawing tools, you can do so with the ruler!

   • Tap the ruler in the menu of drawing tools, then drag it to position it wherever you want on the photo.
   • Use two fingers to rotate the ruler if you need to adjust its angle.
   • Select a drawing tool and drag it along one side of the ruler to make a straight line.
   • Tap the ruler tool again in the menu at the bottom of the screen to hide it.
10. 10
    Use the selection tool to select and move parts of your drawing. The selection tool looks like a stylus with a grey and white striped tip. Use it to draw a selection around any part of your drawing. You can then tap and drag the selected area to move it around.

    • An edit menu will appear above the selected area. You can use it to do things like changing the color of your drawing, duplicating it, deleting it, and more.
11. 11
    Tap + to find more Markup tools. Tap the + button on the right side of the markup menu to see additional tools. From this menu, you can:

    • Add text or a signature to your photo.
    • Add a shape. The preset shapes include things like squares, circles, stars, and hearts.
    • Add stickers to your photo.
    • Create an image description (this is a caption intended to make your image more accessible to people who use screen readers).
    • Add a loupe, which allows you to magnify a selected area of the picture.
12. 12
    Tap the blue ✓ checkmark button when you’re done. If you’re finished drawing on your photo, tap the checkmark at the top right corner of the screen to save your changes and close Markup. Tap Done at the top right of the image to close the main Edit menu.

    • If you want to remove the changes you made, open the picture and tap the
      
      Edit icon again, then tap Revert in the top right corner. Tap Revert to Original to confirm.
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• Question

  How to do this on a Mac desktop?

  

  Community Answer

  First, double click on a picture. Then, click the marker icon. You then can draw.

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Tips

• If you don’t like the options in Markup, there are several apps in the App Store that you can use to edit and doodle on your photos. Some popular options include You Doodle and Doodle Buddy.
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