August 28, 2025

Google Photos Adds Custom Sticker Creation – But Only for iOS Users (For Now)

Google Photos adds image background removal for custom stickers, only on iOS

Google Photos is quietly rolling out a fun new feature that lets you turn your own pictures into custom stickers. The catch? It’s only available on iOS devices at the moment, and Android users are left scratching their heads.

If you’re using an iPhone or iPad, you might start to notice a new trick hiding inside Google Photos. When you open a picture, the app can now automatically detect the main subject in the photo and cut it out. After a quick shimmer effect outlines your subject, you can instantly transform it into a sticker. From there, you can copy it to your clipboard or share it directly to apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messages.

Google does have some advice for making the most out of the tool: choose images where the subject is clearly defined in the foreground. That way, the background removal works smoothly. Once your sticker is created, though, it’s locked in — you can’t tweak or edit it later.

Here’s the official process straight from Google:

Open the Google Photos app on your iPhone or iPad (running iOS 17 or newer).
Select a photo you want to use.
Wait for the shimmer outline to appear around your subject.
Press and hold the subject to generate the sticker.
Choose whether to copy it or share it directly.

That’s it — and suddenly your favorite photos are now personal stickers ready to be dropped into conversations.

You can paste or share stickers directly into apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messages.

So why iOS first? The move feels like a direct response to Apple’s own Photos app, which has offered background-cutout stickers since iOS 16. Google clearly doesn’t want its app to feel behind on Apple devices, but that makes it even more confusing why Android has been left out. After all, Samsung and other Android manufacturers have offered similar “photo cutout” features for years.

For now, Android users can only watch from the sidelines and hope that Google eventually decides to bring the feature to its own platform. Until then, iOS users get to enjoy a small but fun advantage — turning pets, friends, or even that perfect coffee shot into custom stickers with just a press and hold.