Markup Options on Photos

gypsyldy ~ Instead of my first suggestion above, it's probably better to tap the 3rd button from the left and choose the red diagonal line – which appears to mean "no fill colour". (It's much easier to use these buttons than explain them!)

õ¿õ¬

Here is an example: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255189852?answerId=259976965022&sortBy=oldest_first#259976965022

It is still possible to do it on an iPhone. The problem is, that Apple has moved the controls and forgot to put labels below the controls. Initially they will look all the same.

When you add a shape, there are four circles below the picture, as mentioned by alancito.

From left to right:

1. The circle to the left lets you pick the colour and the transparency of the border.
2. The second circle determines the thickness of the border.
3. The third circle controls the color of the interior of the shape. Set its transparency slider to zero for an empty shape.
4. The rightmost circle determines the overall transparency.

gypsyldy ~ After your grey filled shape appears, tap the round '100' button at lower right. A slider will appear – slide it to the far left to change the shape's opaqueness from 100% to 0%.

You can discover for yourself what the other three round buttons do by tapping them and experimenting.

õ¿õ¬

Why has Apple made it so difficult to create a highlight border object when marking up a picture. It used to default as transparent and then you could expand or shrink a box with colored border to highlight text. Now markup creates an opaque object filled in with the color instead of a transparent object with colored border. This is so frustrating and instructions given in this forum are so complicated.