Your iPhone has an excellent drawing tool that allows you to write, highlight content, or create beautiful sketches on your pictures. This tool can come in handy in many situations. You can use it when you’re simply bored and looking for a creative outlet, or you just want to have fun with your friends doodling. It is equally useful for professional users to annotate images.

The tool we’re talking about here is Markup. But many iPhone users have simply been ignorant of its existence as it is a very sneaky little feature, quietly tucked away. Here’s how you can use it.

How to Use Markup to Draw on Photos on iPhone

Open the Photos app and then open a picture you wish to draw on. You can Duplicate the photo if you don’t want to lose the original picture. To duplicate the photo, click on the Share icon at the bottom left of the screen and select Duplicate from the available options. But it is okay if you don’t duplicate your photo. You can get your original photo back at any time, by Reverting back the changes in the Photos app.

Once you’ve opened your photo, click on the Edit option on the upper right side of the screen.

Then when the editing screen opens, click on the ellipses (…), i.e. the three little dots, towards the upper right corner of the screen. In the menu that pops-up, you will find the Markup tool. Tap on Markup.

Opening a photo in iPhone Markup tool

The screen for Markup will open up. Use the various tools provided to sketch and doodle on the photo. The Markup Tool provides you with 3 different textures of pens to help you doodle ambitiously. You can draw whatever and however you want. There is even a ruler provided. You can also change the color of the pens from the color palette.

Markup also has the option to change the width and opacity of the brush being used. Tap on the pen once to select it to draw. Then tap on it once more to change the width and opacity parameters.

If you drew something wrong, you can use the undo option (the backward arrow towards the top) to undo any action. You can also use the eraser provided to erase any doodle. The eraser comes with two options. Pixel Eraser lets you erase pixel by pixel, whereas the Object Eraser erases entire objects in one sweep.

Tap the ‘+’ option on the toolbar to reveal some more Markup tools. You can add text, or your signatures, or shapes like square, rectangle, etc. to the image.

You can also add a magnifier to the image to highlight certain parts. The Green dot of the magnifier lets you control the magnifying power of the lens, and the Blue dot allows you to resize the lens.

So, now that you know how, doodle away! Draw on pictures on your iPhone and have fun.

🍻 Cheers!