Erase text from a photo

Common reasons to remove text

An old camera’s orange date stamp in the corner, a caption burned into a meme, a price sticker on a product, a street sign that distracts from the view, a name tag in a team photo: all are text you may want gone. Removing words from a picture also helps when you want to reuse an image or translate the text on it and need a clean area to type on.

Only erase a watermark or logo from images you own or have the rights to use.

Screenshots are a common case too: hide a name, a phone number or a message preview before you share an image. Because the editing happens on your device, the original text is never sent anywhere.

Tips for clean results

Include a small margin around the letters, as well as any outline, shadow or glow the text has. Thin, crisp text on a plain area such as sky or a wall usually disappears in one pass. For a long caption over a varied scene, erase text from the image one line or one word at a time, so each fill has more real background to work from.

Small leftovers can be cleaned with the Spot Healing Brush, which needs no source. Where text crossed an edge, such as a horizon or the corner of a building, the Clone Stamp lets you rebuild that line exactly.

Adding new text afterwards

Once the old words are removed, the Text tool (press T) lets you type a new caption, a translation or a corrected price on the same spot. Click to type, or drag to make a text box. Generative fill (Pro) in the Edit menu helps when the area behind the old text was a pattern or a detailed scene.

Text on a solid colour, such as a banner or a button in a screenshot, often comes out cleanest with the Clone Stamp, copying a clean part of the same colour over the letters.

Free, unlimited and private

This text remover works on JPEG, PNG and WebP photos and screenshots, and Remove object is on the free plan. Every step can be undone. The image stays on your device the whole time, which matters when the picture is a screenshot of something personal.