Sometimes I take a great photo, only to discover an intrusive person, unwanted object, or annoying flaw otherwise ruining the image. Has this ever happened to you? Fortunately, AI has made it so today’s photo editors can remove the imperfection and also seamlessly blend in the background so you’re not left with empty space. Google Photos offers its Magic Eraser tool. Apple Photos has a Clean Up feature. And Microsoft Photos comes with an Erase option. Here’s how I’ve used these tools to fix my photos.
Google Photos Magic Eraser
To use Google’s Magic Eraser tool, you’ll need the Google Photos mobile app (Android, iOS). It can automatically detect distracting elements in a photo and highlight them for you to erase. Alternatively, you can circle or brush over an item to make it vanish. I tried this on an Android phone by opening the app and choosing a photo I took in Paris of the Arc de Triomphe. My wife photobombed the shot with our frog puppet Leonard as a joke, but I decided I wanted to remove it and her arm for a more serious picture.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Google)
To do this, I can tap the Edit icon on the bottom toolbar, select Actions, and then choose Magic Eraser. If the tool doesn’t automatically highlight the right, I can simply tap what I want to remove. Ideally, it should highlight just the area to erase. If not, then I may have to circle or brush the object to proceed. I can also tap Deselect to remove the selection that was made or tap Refine selection to increase or decrease the highlighted area. In this case, the Magic Eraser chose the right section and I can tap Erase when it pops up at the bottom. The screen will go blurry, then remove the selected element when it refocuses. The erased section is filled in based on the surrounding pixels.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Google)
Since I primarily use an iPhone, I’ll try the same trick there. I opened the Google Photos app on my iPhone 16 Pro and found the picture I want to change. But with Leonard the frog puppet removed, I also want to erase the cars driving past the the Arc de Triomphe. I can click the Edit icon at the bottom toolbar, select Tools, and then choose Magic Eraser.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Google)
Keeping the selection set to Erase, I’ll paint over each of the cars that I want removed. In some cases, I need to draw on each one a few times to get rid of all the elements and let the background blend in. When finished, I can tap Done and then save the edited photo.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Google)
Apple Photos
Thanks to the power of Apple Intelligence, I can do something similar with Apple Photos on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Here, I can launch the Photos app on my iPhone and open the image I want to tweak. For this one, I chose a photo that I took at a local Comic Con convention of someone dressed up as Galactus. The photo had two elements I wanted to remove—one person’s arm and the back of another. I can tap the Tools icon at the bottom and then Clean Up. The tool automatically selects the one person’s arm. I can tap the selected area and remove it from the photo, with the background seamlessly blending in.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)
Next, I want to remove the other element of the person’s back. This one can be trickier, since it’s a larger section to eliminate. I can paint over the outline of area with my finger. The tool then selects the entire area and removes it, much easier and more seamlessly than I expected. Both elements are gone, resulting in a much better photo. When I’m finished, I can tap Done to save the photo with the changes.
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(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)
Next, I’ll try Clean Up in Apple Photos on my Mac. Glare and spotlights can often mar a photo, but the Clean Up Tool can eliminate those types of distractions. Here, I launch the Photos app and open a photo with a few lighting glares that I want to remove. I can click Edit and then choose Clean Up. The tool offers me two options—Erase and Retouch. I’ve found that Retouch generally works better at not only removing an element but blending in the surrounding area. I can also move a slider to adjust the size of the tool.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)
I can then paint over the areas I wish to remove. The two smaller sections are easier to eliminate. A larger area proved more difficult so I painted over this spot several times before I felt satisfied with the results. When done, the glare spots are gone, and I can click Done to save the edited image.
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(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)
Microsoft Photos
Built into Windows, the Microsoft Photos app can remove unwanted elements in a photo via its Erase tool. Just select the area you wish to remove, and the tool will do the rest. Best of all, this works with the Photos app in both Windows 10 and Windows 11. To try this out, I launched the Photos app on my Windows PC and opened another photo that I took at the convention.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Microsoft)
Here, I see an entire person I’d like to eliminate from the picture. I can click the Edit with Designer button, which opens Microsoft’s image editor. I then click the Erase button. I can hover my mouse pointer over the person I want to remove, and the tool detects and highlights just the person’s body. I then click Erase. After some time, the person is removed, and the surrounding area seamlessly fills in to cover the empty space. When done, I then save the new image.
You’ll notice that when you use an AI-powered feature like Erase in a Microsoft app like Photos, you’re told that one or more credits have been used. To let you take advantage of AI, Microsoft doles out a certain number of credits each month. With just a free Microsoft account and no subscription, you get 15 credits per month. By subscribing to a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plan, you get 60 credits per month. If you have Copilot Pro, you’ll enjoy an unlimited number of credits.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Microsoft)
A Three-Way Tie
All three tools performed equally well at removing unwanted elements, often better than I anticipated. So I don’t have a winner here. The one you use will depend mostly on your go-to device. Those of you with an Android phone will likely want to use Google Photos, iPhone owners will want to turn to Apple Photos, and Windows users will want to fire up Microsoft Photos.
About Our Expert
Lance Whitney
Contributor
Experience
I’ve been working for PCMag since early 2016 writing tutorials, how-to pieces, and other articles on consumer technology. Beyond PCMag, I’ve written news stories and tutorials for a variety of other websites and publications, including , ZDNet, TechRepublic, Macworld, PC World, Time, US News & World Report, and AARP Magazine. I spent seven years writing breaking news for as one of the site’s East Coast reporters. I’ve also written two books for Wiley & Sons—Windows 8: Five Minutes at a Time and Teach Yourself Visually LinkedIn.
I’ve used Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products for years so I’m well versed in that world. I also know the Mac quite well. I’m always working with iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and Android on my various mobile devices. And these days, I write a lot about AI, so that’s become another key area for me.
My wife always jokes about all the tech products we have around the house, but I manage to put them to good use for my articles. I like Lenovo computers, so I own a couple of Lenovo desktops and several laptops. I have three MacBooks and a Mac mini. For my mobile life and work, I use an iPhone 16 Pro, iPad Pro, and iPad mini as well as an Apple Watch. But since I write about Android, I own several Android phones and tablets. Like any tech person, I have a cabinet full of cables, wires, and assorted mysterious gadgets. And when it’s time to take a break from writing, I have an old Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, both of which I use for exercise and fitness games.
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