How to remove a background in any app

You can remove a background in almost any app you already use, and in most of them it now takes one click. The differences are in the small print: some apps charge for the button, some cap the resolution, some process your photo on their servers, and a few have no remover at all and expect you to draw the outline yourself. This page is the overview. The table says what each app offers, and each app has its own step-by-step guide linked below.

Everything in the table was checked against each maker’s own help pages on 16 September 2026. Apps change their plans and buttons often, so where a detail is uncertain, the app’s guide says so.

Remove a background in any app: the comparison

“Does not say” is meant literally: the maker’s help page for the feature, read on 16 September 2026, does not state where the processing happens, and this guide does not guess.

How to choose: three questions

Do you already pay for an app that has a remover? Then use it. Photoshop, Canva Pro, Figma on a paid plan and Microsoft 365 all include one, and the result stays inside the document you are working on, which saves an export and an import.

Does the picture need to stay private? A photo of a child, a customer’s product before launch, a scanned ID: for these, where the processing happens matters more than the quality of the edge. Prefer a tool that works on your device, or check the setting that decides it, as in Photoshop.

How good does the edge have to be? A slide or a social post forgives a rough outline. A product photo on a marketplace, a headshot on a website, or anything printed large shows every halo. For hair and fur, the photo editors (Photoshop, GIMP, Photopea) give you tools to fix the edge by hand; the office apps do not.

Photo editors: GIMP, Photoshop, Photopea

These give the most control, because the result is a mask or a selection you can keep refining.

Photoshop has the most automated version. The Remove Background quick action hides the background with a layer mask in one click, Select Subject gives you a selection instead, and Select and Mask with Refine Hair handles the hard part. A preference decides whether detection runs on your computer or on Adobe’s servers. The full steps are in removing a background in Photoshop.

GIMP is free and runs entirely on your computer, but has no automatic subject detection. Foreground Select comes closest: you outline the subject roughly, paint over it, and GIMP works out the edge. The step people miss is adding an alpha channel first; without it, deleted pixels turn white. Removing a background in GIMP covers which tool suits which picture.

Photopea copies Photoshop’s layout in a browser tab and is free with ads. Its Remove BG command is one click, but the developer has said it is processed by an outside company, paid per use, and free users watch a short video ad for it. Magic Cut and Refine Edge are guided alternatives that are not among those commands. See removing a background in Photopea.

Design tools: Canva, Figma, Illustrator

Canva has one of the best-known removers, BG Remover, and it is a paid plan feature. So is downloading a design with a transparent background. Canva also states that a photo over 10 megapixels is downscaled to 10 megapixels after its background is removed. Free users can still upload a PNG that is already transparent and design with it. Removing a background in Canva covers both plans.

Figma has a Remove background button for images, as a Figma AI feature on paid plans that draws on AI credits. On the free Starter plan, the route is a mask or a cutout made elsewhere. The details are in removing a background in Figma.

Illustrator is a vector program, but it now has a Remove Background command for placed images, in the Contextual Task Bar and the Object menu, which Adobe lists among its generative AI features. For logos, tracing the image into vector shapes is often the better answer; removing a background in Illustrator compares the two.

Office and presentation apps: PowerPoint, Word, Google Slides

PowerPoint and Word share the same tool: select the picture, Picture Format > Remove Background. Office marks the background in magenta; you correct it with Mark Areas to Keep and Mark Areas to Remove, then Keep Changes. It does not work on vector pictures such as SVGs. To get the cutout out of the document as a file, right-click it and choose Save as Picture, then pick PNG. See removing a background in PowerPoint and making a picture transparent in Word, which also covers the older Set Transparent Color.

Google Slides gained a remover through Gemini: click the image, then Edit image, then Remove background. Google’s help page says it needs an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI subscription, so a free Google account does not have it. The transparency slider in Format options is not a substitute: it fades the whole image. Removing a background in Google Slides has both routes.

Phones, tablets and Windows: iPhone, Procreate, Paint

iPhone and iPad can lift a subject straight out of a photo: open it in Photos, touch and hold the subject until an outline appears, then Copy, Share or drag it into another app. It is free, quick and good on clear subjects, with less control over the edge than an editor. See removing a background on iPhone.

Procreate has no one-tap remover. Selections (including Automatic) and layer masks do the job by hand, and Procreate’s own help suggests lifting the subject in Apple Photos and dragging it in on a compatible iPad. Removing a background in Procreate has the steps and the export that keeps transparency.

Paint on Windows 11 has a Remove background button in the toolbar, which works on the whole canvas or on a rectangle you select. It replaced the old advice about Paint 3D, which Microsoft removed from its Store in November 2024. The catch with Paint is saving: making a background transparent in Paint explains which file actually keeps transparency.

What goes wrong in every app

The same five mistakes cause most failed cutouts, whichever app made them.

1. Saving as JPG. JPG has no transparency, so every app fills the empty area with white. Save or export as PNG. What a transparent background is explains which formats can hold one.
2. A background layer still visible. Photoshop, GIMP, Photopea and Procreate all start with a background layer or colour. If it is visible at export, it is baked into the file.
3. Pasting instead of inserting. Copying between apps often drops transparency on the way. Save the PNG, then insert the file.
4. A halo around the edge. A pale or dark line is the old background colour mixed into the edge pixels. The white halo guide has the fix for each app.
5. A checkerboard that will not go away. If the checkerboard is still there on a white page, it was painted into the picture: a fake transparent PNG.

When you are not sure whether a file is really transparent, drag it into a browser tab. The page colour showing around the subject means it is; white or black means it is not, or that the app showing it flattens transparency, which a PNG with a black or white background sorts out.

Where your picture goes

Removing a background is image analysis, and it happens somewhere: on your device, or on a server. The table above says where for each app, as far as the maker states it. The short version: desktop editors with manual tools work on your computer; Canva is a cloud editor and stores what you upload; Photoshop lets you choose; Photopea’s one-click commands use an outside service even though the rest of the editor stays in your browser.

For most pictures this does not matter. For the ones where it does, is it safe to upload photos online compares what popular online removers say they do with your file, and checking that a website is not uploading your photos shows how to see it for yourself in the browser’s network tab.

The same gap opens one step further on. Plenty of apps that happily place a picture cannot turn one into vector shapes either, which is the job a logo needs before it goes on a sign or a shirt. getSVG’s apps with no tracer is the equivalent list for that, app by app.

Questions

Which free app removes a background best?

For one click, Paint on Windows 11 and Photos on an iPhone are free and built in; Photopea is free in a browser but its Remove BG asks free users to watch an ad and uses an outside service. For full control, GIMP is free and runs on your computer, but has no automatic subject detection. A browser-based remover that runs on your device is the quickest free option for a photo.

Can I remove a background in Word or PowerPoint?

Yes. Select the picture, then Picture Format > Remove Background. Microsoft marks the background in magenta; use Mark Areas to Keep and Mark Areas to Remove to correct it, then Keep Changes. Right-click the picture and choose Save as Picture to get a PNG. It is in Microsoft 365 and Office 2021 and 2024, on Windows and Mac.

Can I remove a background in Canva for free?

No. Canva's BG Remover and its transparent PNG download are both paid plan features as of September 2026. On the free plan, you can upload a PNG that is already transparent and design with it.

Does Google Slides have a background remover?

Yes, but only with an eligible paid Google Workspace or Google AI subscription: click the image, then Edit image > Remove background. On a free Google account there is no remover, and the transparency setting in Format options fades the whole image rather than removing the background.

Why does my cutout have a white background after I save it?

The file was saved as JPG, which cannot store transparency, or a background layer was still visible, or the picture was pasted into another app that flattens transparency. Save or export as PNG, hide any layer behind the subject, and insert the file instead of pasting it.

Which apps upload my photo to remove the background?

Canva stores everything in your account and removes backgrounds on its servers. Photoshop sends the image to Adobe only if Select Subject and Remove Background is set to Cloud in Preferences. Photopea's editor runs in the browser, but its developer says Remove BG uses an outside service. GIMP and Procreate's manual tools work on your own device.