What happened to the red circle around an object feature in picture edits??

Why has Apple’s update made this task of circling an object within a photo so difficult when it used to be so simple?

The 17.1.1 iOS update has some great new features, BUT…Apple really butchered the “Add Shape” feature that I used quite a bit on screenshots. Please fix it. It’s nearly impossible to put a red square around text. K.I.S.S…you know what that stands for. 🤦🏻‍♀️

It still doesn’t work right. Please re-add the feature to be able to add a circle or square. It’s really short-sighted of Apple engineers to remove commonly used functionality. The new stuff is great and all, but please do not take away functionality. The ability to draw a circle with your finger and then keep holding to make it a perfect circle, but the weight is way too thin, and you can’t change the size and angle (oval) of the circle.

how hard is it to leave current functionality alone and just add to it. Now THAT would make sense. Geez…

This is most definitely an error. Who even needs a SOLID box on any screenshot? No one. It covers up the intended purpose for a screenshot. These were used to circle/box the highlighted or specific area you wanted in the screenshot. Get it fixed Apple!

Very helpful response. It took some playing around with it to figure it out, so at least I know it's doable. But my goodness, why, oh why would the default be to insert a completely filled in gray circle. So weird...

What used to be a simple 1-step thing is now about a 5-step thing, but at least there's a way...

I work in an IT world. I understand wanting to innovate, but some times what an engineer dreams up as an innovation becomes a huge source of frustration...

Not sure why Apple would think adding a solid shape rather than an outline would make any sense. Someone paid to literally <fix> something that wasn’t broken. You can’t make it up.

Took me several tries before I finally managed it - the old way was quick and infintely superior - Retrograde step

No, it only allows you to add text to the box or be completely opaque. It does not allow to put a color box or circle around the text. And if you hold your finger, the only option is to cut, copy or past the opaque box. Useless

Agreed. Apple needs to fix this MISTAKE. With every update I hate Apple more and more.

This is beyond ridiculous. Something as simple as a circle ⭕️ on a picture has become so tedious that I don’t even care to use markup anymore. Apple, you all need to fix this!!

It is still possible to add circles and boxes to images in the Photos app on iOS using the Markup feature.

Tap Edit, then tap the pen icon in the top right to begin Markup. Tap the “+” button on the right side of the tool selector, then tap “Add Shape” to select and insert a shape. You can then edit the shape, including its colors, at the bottom of your screen.

The faster way to add a shape to your image is to use any of the drawing tools to draw a circle or square around something in the photo. Once you’ve drawn the circle or square, do not raise your finger from the screen; your drawing should automatically be converted into the shape it determined you were trying to draw.

For help with Markup on Mac, see the following support article: Use Markup to write or draw on a photo in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

Here are some instructions about how to add an open circle on a photo:

Step 1

Tap “Edit” in upper right 

Step 2

Tap pen point inside circle in upper right to open “Markup” screen 

Step 3

With “Markup” screen open, tap the “+” plus sign in lower right to open 5 choices for editing and tap on the bottom option which is “Add Shape” to pop open shape choices. Choose round shape in upper right. This action causes a solid gray round shape to appear, which can be modified and moved.

Step 4

Change the solid gray round shape into an open red circle as follows:

Working at the bottom of the screen, tap the solid dark gray round shape (no number) on the lower left to open the “Colors” window. In the Colors window, tap the red line near the bottom to choose circle outline. Choose red color for circle, if you wish to replace the default black outline by tapping red color.

Step 5

Tap the solid gray circle at the bottom of the screen, which opens the “Colors” window. Near the bottom of the Colors window, slide the “OPACITY” button from right all the way to the left (0%), which creates an open circle. The bottom right 100% on the Markup screen does not need to be changed.

Step 6

Move the open red circle to wherever you want it to be on the photo.

Good luck!

Apparently you can’t. My word… 🤦‍♂️

You can’t be serious. 🤨 You are hilarious though. You write this so matter of fact-ly. 🤣😂

How is there any defense of losing the simple functionality of one touch to this multiple step ANNOYING process. I was actually able to figure it out on my own, ONCE, can’t remember what I did. So. I finally got frustrated enough to Google what the heck happened and what I do now. And of course … 🤬

AShobel1 wrote:

No, it only allows you to add text to the box or be completely opaque. It does not allow to put a color box or circle around the text. And if you hold your finger, the only option is to cut, copy or past the opaque box. Useless

After you add the shape, you make the center transparent by selection a transparent color for the inner region of the box or circle. the third circle at the bottom is the color picker for the color of the interior. set thetransparency of this color to zero using the slider to add a hollow shape.