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Get a similar feature to the Pixel 6 Magic Eraser on any iPhone and Android phone

Published: Nov 08, 2021, 2:26 AM

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Get a similar feature to the Pixel 6 Magic Eraser on any iPhone and Android phone

One of the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro's features that caught everyone's eye is Magic Eraser. It lets you erase people and objects from your photos easily, by just marking them, after which the feature will intelligently draw what it thinks the background should look like over those objects. And in many cases, the results are good and you can hardly tell the photo has been edited.

But what you may not know is that Google's had this feature available in one of its apps for many years now. Although it doesn't go under the same name, nor does it work precisely the same way, the feature, called Healing, does essentially the same thing as Magic Eraser, and similarly delivers good results. Here's how to get it, and how to use it.

Step 1: Download the Snapseed app

Snapseed is a free, Google-owned app that has the Healing feature mentioned above.

On your Android phone, download Snapseed here. On your iPhone, download Snapseed here. You can also just manually find the app in the Google Play store or App Store if you will. After it's downloaded, simply open it.

Step 2: Select a photo you'd like to erase something from

Click "Open" in the top left corner and select one of your photos. Preferably, one that isn't too cluttered with people, objects or complex patterns, as removing objects from those will be more difficult for the algorithm.

Step 3: Tap on "Tools", then "Healing"

Once you've loaded a photo that you'd like to remove something from, tap on the "Tools" button on the bottom center of the screen, then you'll see a popup with different features appear.

The one we want is called "Healing", which does essentially what the Pixel 6's Magic Eraser feature does. Tap it, and now you're ready to mark an object or person you'd like to remove from your photo.

Step 4: Mark what you'd like to remove from the photo

Use your finger to mark something on the photo. As soon as you lift your finger, the Google Snapseed app will attempt to erase what you've marked.

Note the undo and redo arrows on the bottom of the screen, which you can use at anytime. You can also zoom in on the photo by pinching out with two fingers, in order to mark more precisely, and smaller objects.

In my case, I marked a cloud, which is isolated in the sky, so it was easy for the app to remove perfectly. Next, I marked a shadow on the bottom of the photo, which was also removed reasonably well.

Lastly, I attempted to remove the large shield above the gate of the castle, which created some artifacts, so I had to zoom in and mark those afterwards. With simpler photos, this shouldn't happen.

Step 5: Save or share your image

When you're done editing your image, tap the checkmark button on the bottom right of the screen, which will turn off the "Healing" / Magic Eraser feature. Now you can tap "Export" and either share your photo or "Export" (save) it.

And there we go, even with this complex photo we were able to remove objects without the Pixel 6's Magic Eraser feature, for free, and it works on both modern Android phones and iPhones.

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Rado, a tech enthusiast with a love for mobile devices, brings his passion for Android and iPadOS to PhoneArena. His tech journey began with MP3 players and has evolved to include tinkering with Android tablets and iPads, even running Linux and Windows 95 on them. Beyond tech, Rado is a published author, music producer, and PC game developer. His professional work on iPads, from producing songs to editing videos, showcases his belief in their capabilities. Rado looks forward to the future of mobile tech, particularly in augmented reality and multi-screen smartphones.