Open the photo in Photos, tap Edit, and turn off Portrait. This removes the artificial background blur while keeping the photo. You can turn the effect on again later if the photo still has the captured depth information. For filters, cropping, and flipping, see how to edit photos on iPhone.
Turn the Portrait effect off
- Open Photos and select the picture.
- Tap Edit.
- Tap Portrait so the effect is off, then tap Done.
The Portrait control appears when the image supports a depth effect. A picture that merely has a naturally blurry background may not offer the switch. The control can also appear for supported photos taken in the regular Photo mode when depth information was captured, not only pictures taken in Camera's Portrait mode.
Reduce blur instead of removing it
If the background looks too soft but you still want separation from the subject, use the Depth Control slider while editing the photo. Adjust the simulated aperture until the effect looks natural, then save. This is especially useful when the phone blurred hair, glasses, or another edge incorrectly. You can return to Edit and revise the strength again.
If you want to keep the effect but change its strength, our guide to blurring an iPhone photo’s background covers Depth Control, eligible Photo-mode images, and alternatives when portrait information is missing.
Check that you opened the original image with depth data. A copy exported through another app, a screenshot, or a photo from a different camera may not retain editable Portrait information. Also check whether you are viewing an image shot in a mode that never captured depth. In that case, Photos cannot reconstruct an original sharp background from the existing pixels.
Check that the blur is an editable effect
The Portrait switch appears when Photos has depth information for the image. Portrait mode normally captures it, and supported iPhone models can capture depth information for certain photos taken in the regular Photo mode. A naturally out-of-focus background is different: if the camera focused close to a subject and the distant background was optically blurry, turning off a software effect cannot reconstruct sharp details that the camera never captured.
Compare the photo before and after you tap Portrait. If the background becomes clearer while the subject stays in place, you are toggling the depth effect. If nothing changes, check that you selected the intended photo and that the effect is currently on. You can leave Edit without saving if you do not want the change.
Adjust depth or lighting instead
The Depth Control slider offers a middle choice when the subject edge looks artificial. In Edit, select the Portrait controls and move the slider until the background blur looks natural, then tap Done. Apple marks the original depth value with a black dot so you can compare it. Portrait Lighting is another independent effect; if the face or background lighting is the problem, adjust or remove the lighting style rather than turning off all background blur.
On supported iPhone models, Photos can also change the focus point in a portrait. That can help when the wrong person or object appears sharp. This is a different edit from removing the Portrait effect entirely, and it depends on the image and hardware supporting the feature.
Undo and common questions
To restore the look later, reopen the original photo in Photos, tap Edit, and turn Portrait back on if its depth data remains available. Apple also provides Revert to Original for edits in Photos, but that reverses other saved edits as well, so use the Portrait toggle when you only want to change the blur. An exported copy or image edited in another app may not retain the original depth information.
Will this delete the photo? No. The Portrait control changes the effect on the selected photo; it does not remove the photo from the library.
Why can I not find Portrait on a screenshot? A screenshot has no camera depth data. The effect cannot be undone from it as if it were an original Portrait image.
Removing the depth effect does not rotate the image. For that separate edit, see how to rotate an iPhone picture.
Apple's Portrait photo guide shows how the effect is captured, and its Portrait editing guide covers Depth Control and undoing edits.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read hundreds of millions of times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.