How to Make a Sticker From a Photo on iPhone

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To make a sticker from a photo on iPhone, open the photo in the Photos app, touch and hold the subject, release, and tap Add Sticker. It is free, built into iOS, and lands in your stickers menu for Messages, the keyboard and Markup, per Apple's guide to making stickers from your photos. A Live Photo gives a sticker that moves. WhatsApp and Telegram take photo stickers too, through their own free tools.

This page is written by Feral Online, the one-person studio that makes Pixtide Sticker and Pixtide Swipe. We name where the other app wins.

The free way: Add Sticker in Photos

Apple's Photos app turns the main subject of any photo into a sticker in four taps, with no app to install. The steps from Apple's iPhone User Guide:

1. Open the Photos app and tap a photo to see it full screen.
2. Touch and hold the subject (a person, a pet, an object), then release.
3. Tap Add Sticker.
4. Optionally tap Add Effect to apply a style such as Outline or Comic, or to turn the Live Photo animation on or off.

The same lift works outside Photos. Apple's subject-lifting guide says it works in Photos, Safari, Quick Look and more, and on a video too: "pause a video on any frame", touch and hold the subject, then choose Copy, Share or Add Sticker. A frame from a paused video gives a still sticker, not a moving one.

Subject lifting arrived with iOS 16 and the Add Sticker drawer with Live Stickers in iOS 17, announced in Apple's iOS 17 newsroom post on 5 Jun 2023. The cut-out is automatic: Apple's guide mentions no brush to erase or restore edges.

Where your photo sticker ends up

A sticker made in Photos goes into Apple's stickers menu, one drawer shared by Messages, the keyboard and Markup. Apple's guide says it "appears in your stickers menu, which you can access when you use the iPhone onscreen keyboard or Markup tools."

• Messages: in a conversation, open the apps menu and tap Stickers, per Apple's guide to sending stickers in Messages. You can send a sticker on its own or peel it onto a message bubble. People need iOS 17.2 or later on both sides to see placed stickers.
• Any app with a keyboard: Apple's keyboard guide lets you browse emoji, Memoji and stickers from the onscreen keyboard, so your sticker can be sent from other chat apps too.
• Your other devices: Apple says stickers sync with iCloud to your iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro signed in to the same Apple Account.

To remove one, open a photo, go back to Add Sticker, touch and hold the sticker, and tap Remove. The drawer has no folders or packs, so after a few dozen stickers it becomes one long row.

Live Photos: stickers that move

A Live Photo makes a Live Sticker, Apple's free animated sticker. Apple's guide says to use a Live Photo "to create a Live Sticker that moves", and Add Effect switches the animation on or off.

What Apple's flow does not offer: a trim to choose which moment loops, a speed or loop setting, text captions, or a video or GIF as the starting point. Apple states no length for the animation; it plays the Live Photo's own short clip. Some press reports say certain effects turn a Live Sticker still, which Apple does not confirm.

In Messages a Live Sticker plays as it does on your phone. In WhatsApp it is less clear. Neither Apple nor WhatsApp documents it, and published guides disagree: one how-to from June 2026 says Live Photo stickers do not animate in WhatsApp, a 2025 vendor blog calls it "not guaranteed". Results vary by version, so send one to yourself before you rely on it.

Getting a photo sticker into WhatsApp

WhatsApp on iPhone has three free routes for photo stickers, and none needs a separate app.

1. Paste a lifted subject. Since WhatsApp 23.7.82 in 2023 (iOS 16 or later), copying a subject lifted in Photos and pasting it into a chat turns it into a sticker you can save, per WABetaInfo.
2. Create sticker inside WhatsApp. Since January 2024 (iOS 17 or later), the sticker tray has a Create sticker button: pick a photo, WhatsApp cuts out the subject, and you add text or drawings. The sticker is saved to your tray once sent.
3. Packs inside WhatsApp. Since April 2025 WhatsApp lets you create and organise your own packs and share them in a chat, as a WhatsApp spokesperson told 9to5Mac.

For a still sticker, WhatsApp's own tool is often all you need. Sticker apps follow a stricter set of rules in WhatsApp's iOS sticker documentation: 512 x 512 pixels, 100 KB or less for a still sticker, 3 to 30 stickers per pack, and still and animated stickers never mixed in one pack. The WhatsApp sticker pack rules page has every limit.

Getting a photo sticker into Telegram

Telegram has its own free photo sticker editor, launched on 14 Apr 2024 and described in Telegram's blog. It starts from "any photo", cuts out the subject in one tap, adds text, drawings and an outline, and lets you erase or restore edges by hand. You can group stickers into a set with its own t.me link to share.

Sticker apps reach Telegram through Telegram's official import, documented on core.telegram.org. A still sticker there is PNG or WEBP with transparency, up to 512 KB, with one side exactly 512 pixels. Every sticker needs at least one emoji, a set holds up to 120 stickers, and each import creates a new set rather than updating an old one. For moving stickers, see Telegram video stickers on iPhone.

When the built-in way is enough

For most single photo stickers, Apple's Add Sticker plus WhatsApp's or Telegram's own editor does the job for free. Stay with the built-ins if:

• you want a few stickers of your dog or your friends for Messages;
• you use iPhone, iPad and Mac and want the stickers on all of them through iCloud;
• you send still stickers in WhatsApp and are happy to make them in WhatsApp's Create sticker tool;
• you are on Telegram and its editor's cut-out, text and outline cover what you need.

The built-ins run out in four places: packs you can send to WhatsApp and Telegram from one library, a cut-out you can refine with a brush in Apple's flow, text on an animated sticker, and animation that starts from a video, a GIF or a trimmed moment of a Live Photo.

When a sticker app helps

A sticker app is worth it when you want packs, more control over the cut-out, or stickers that move from more than a Live Photo. Three established makers, checked on the App Store on 23 Oct 2026:

Sticker Maker Studio wins on price, since every feature is free. Mobivalley's Pro is the cheapest paid option here. Sticker.ly has the largest library of other people's packs.

Pixtide Sticker

Pixtide Sticker is an iPhone app (iOS 18 or later) that turns your own photos, Live Photos, videos and GIFs into still or animated stickers for WhatsApp, Telegram and Messages. It is coming soon to the App Store (not released yet). For photos it removes the background with Apple's on-device Vision, lets you refine the edge with a brush, and adds an outline, text and emoji decorations. On a Live Photo or clip the background is removed on every frame, with trim, speed and loop controls. Stickers are made on your iPhone and never uploaded to us.

Packs hold up to 30 stickers and go to WhatsApp, Telegram, the app's own sticker browser in Messages, or Photos as a Live Photo for Apple's own drawer. The free version keeps two packs for good (one still, one animated, up to 30 stickers each), every way in and out, 3 animated cut-outs to start plus one a week, and two free ready-made packs, with no ads, no watermark and no account. Pro costs $19.99 a year (£19.99 in the UK), half of Sticker.ly's $39.99 US yearly price, or $39.99 once (£39.99 in the UK) once. Mobivalley's Pro is cheaper at $9.99 a year.

One honest limit: Pixtide Sticker has no ratings yet because it is not released. The Pixtide Sticker page has the details and its privacy page says what the app collects.

Common mistakes

• Expecting a pack from Photos. Add Sticker makes single stickers for Apple's drawer, not WhatsApp or Telegram packs.
• Lifting from a paused video and expecting motion. A video frame gives a still sticker; only a Live Photo gives a Live Sticker.
• Busy backgrounds. The cut-out is automatic and cannot be touched up in Photos, so pick a photo where the subject is easy to tell apart, and check the result before you share it.
• Mixing still and animated stickers in one WhatsApp pack. WhatsApp's rules forbid it.

For animated stickers from clips, see the video to WhatsApp sticker guide and the GIF to WhatsApp sticker guide.

Pixtide is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the apps named on this page. All product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This comparison reflects publicly available information as of October 2026; pricing and features change, so please check each app's store listing for the latest details.

Frequently asked questions

How do I turn a photo into a sticker on my iPhone for free?

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Open the photo in the Photos app, touch and hold the subject until an outline appears, release, then tap Add Sticker. Apple's iPhone User Guide says the sticker then appears in your stickers menu, which you reach from the onscreen keyboard or Markup. You can tap Add Effect for styles such as Outline or Comic. No app or account is needed.

Where do the stickers I make in Photos go on iPhone?

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Into Apple's stickers menu, the same drawer that holds Live Stickers, Memoji and emoji. You reach it from the Messages sticker button, the iPhone keyboard in any app with a text field, and Markup. Apple says the stickers sync with iCloud, so they also appear on your iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro signed in to the same Apple Account.

Can I use a sticker made in Photos on WhatsApp?

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Yes, as a single sticker. You can send it from the stickers area of the iPhone keyboard, or copy the lifted subject and paste it into a chat, which WhatsApp has turned into a sticker since version 23.7.82 in 2023. It does not become a WhatsApp sticker pack. For a pack you need WhatsApp's own Create sticker tool or a sticker app.

Do Live Stickers stay animated in WhatsApp?

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It is not documented. Apple's guide covers Live Stickers in Messages and the keyboard but says nothing about WhatsApp, WhatsApp does not document it either, and published how-tos disagree as of October 2026. Results vary, so send one to yourself first. A WhatsApp animated pack made by a sticker app follows WhatsApp's own documented WebP rules instead.

Can I make a whole sticker pack from my photos on iPhone?

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Not in Apple's Photos app, which makes single stickers for its own drawer. WhatsApp has let iPhone users create custom packs inside the app since April 2025, and Telegram's editor builds sets with a share link. Sticker apps also make packs: WhatsApp packs hold 3 to 30 stickers each, Telegram sets up to 120.