Removing a stranger from the background, repositioning a subject, or extending a frame without installing extra software is now possible directly from the three major phone galleries. Each uses generative AI, but the requirements vary—RAM, phone model, account type, and connectivity—and there is a detail few users check: almost all of them leave a record of the edit, sometimes visible and sometimes hidden in the file. The information below is drawn from the official documentation of Google, Apple, and Samsung as of late October 2026.
- Google Photos: Magic Eraser and Move work on Android and iPhone, but demand at least 3 GB of RAM and Android 8.0 or later; some features require 4–6 GB or are Pixel-exclusive.
- Apple Photos: Clean Up, Extend, and Reframe require Apple Intelligence on iOS 27, meaning an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, and server-side processing comes with daily usage limits.
- Samsung Gallery: Photo Assist needs a network connection and a Samsung account, and it overlays a visible watermark on saved AI-generated images.
Before diving in, a clarification about what the headline promises. Deleting and moving objects is well documented across all three. Changing the sky is another story: Google Photos has a filter called Sky that adjusts palettes, color, and contrast, but it does not replace one sky with another. None of the three official help pages describes a specific tool for replacing the sky, so it is best not to expect miracles from that button.
What each gallery can do and what it demands
Google Photos
It works on Android and also on iPhone. Its flagship tool is Magic Eraser: you tap, circle, or swipe over what you want gone and remove it, or choose Move to shift the selection and resize it with two fingers. There is also an Auto frame feature that uses AI to complete or extend the background of a poorly cropped photo.
Conversational editing, Ask Photos, lets you describe the change in words; Google notes it is still rolling out to a limited number of countries and requires users to be at least 18 years old with a personal Google account—it does not work with Google Workspace or educational accounts.
Technical requirements matter. For most features, Google requires at least 3 GB of RAM and Android 8.0 or later; some need 4 or 6 GB, and others exist only on Pixel devices. If a tool is missing, you may need to download it from within the editor itself.
Apple Photos
On iPhone, the tools are called Clean Up, Extend, and Reframe, and they live under Edit > Tools. Clean Up removes distracting objects (some are highlighted automatically), Extend expands the image borders, and Reframe changes the viewpoint as if you had moved the camera.
They require Apple Intelligence with iOS 27, meaning an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, or an iPhone 16 or later. Apple confirms on its requirements page that this advanced photo editing is available to EU users, but also that the intelligent editing tools rely on server-side models and have daily usage limits, with expanded access set to become a paid feature in the future.
One practical detail: you can choose the processing type for Clean Up (automatic, fast, or high quality), and any change can be undone afterward with Reset.
Samsung Gallery
On Galaxy devices, the feature is called Photo Assist and is part of Galaxy AI. According to Samsung, it lets you move, resize, or delete objects and have the AI fill in the gaps, and even add new elements from a prompt or a reference image.
It has two conditions worth knowing before you travel: it needs a network connection and sign-in with a Samsung account. Samsung also warns that the result may be resized and that it does not guarantee the accuracy of what is generated. It works in 41 languages, including Spanish.
Can you tell a photo was edited with AI?
Yes, to varying degrees depending on the brand, and it is worth knowing before sharing an image where authenticity matters.
Gallery
Visible mark
Invisible trace
Samsung (Photo Assist)
Yes, a stamp overlaid on save
Not stated in the documentation reviewed
Google Photos
No
IPTC metadata, SynthID, and Content Credentials (C2PA)
Apple Photos
No
SynthID on most images since iOS 27.2
Samsung is the most explicit: it overlays a visible watermark on the generated image when saving to indicate it is AI-made.
Google stacks three layers. Google Photos help explains that some photos include an “AI Info” section based on the IPTC standard, though that metadata can be modified or removed. It adds that images edited with generative AI may carry the digital watermark SynthID. And the Android and iOS app shows Content Credentials in the Info panel: if you use a generative feature like Magic Eraser, “Edited with AI tools” appears. Google clarifies that these credentials do not say whether a photo is real or fake.
Apple has joined the invisible watermark: in iOS 27.2 or later, most images created or edited with Apple Intelligence include a hidden SynthID watermark, which can be checked with the SynthID detector. It is the same technology used to mark generated videos.
My take: Samsung’s visible mark is the only one that anyone seeing the photo in a WhatsApp group will understand. Metadata and invisible watermarks serve platforms and fact-checkers, but not the person receiving the image. And IPTC metadata, by Google’s own admission, can be deleted.
When does it make sense to leave the gallery and use Magnific?
When you need more control than three buttons offer, or want to edit outside your phone’s built-in apps. Magnific (formerly Freepik) has a mobile app that lets you edit images from text, and its photo editor includes a Retouch tool to erase, replace, or add objects and characters, plus remove or change backgrounds.
Two facts from its own website are worth placing alongside the above. The app can be used without a subscription, with access to many of its tools, and the editor works with a daily download limit that depends on the plan. And Magnific states that edited photos are downloaded without a watermark, placing it at the opposite end from Samsung in visible transparency. If you plan to use those images for a business, check beforehand what the licenses for AI-generated images actually allow.
It is also worth separating this type of editing from what the phone already does when you press the shutter: HDR or night mode are computational photography acting at the moment of capture, whereas erasing a person invents pixels the camera never captured.
That is the boundary that, I believe, deserves more attention than the quality of the erasure. Removing a trash can from the background is retouching; moving a person or adding an object that was not there changes what the photo tells. The big three have chosen to leave a record, though only Samsung does so in a way that is visible at a glance.
If the photo is going into a family album, it does not matter. If it is going to serve as proof of something, a complaint, a news story, or an advertisement, the mark each app leaves stops being a technical detail. And if the tool you choose leaves none, the responsibility to disclose falls on you.