HEIC and iPhone photos
Remove the background from iPhone HEIC photos, a whole folder at once
On a Mac, AwaCut opens iPhone HEIC photos directly. Drop the folder and every photo comes back without its background: a transparent PNG, or a JPG on white or any colour. Full resolution, the right way up, nothing uploaded. 10 photos free, then $29 a year for as many photos as you want.
- Works offline
- No account, no uploads
- Unlimited photos, flat price
Listed onAlternativeToMicrosoft Store
Copy the photos to your Mac
AirDrop, the Photos app or a cable: any way that puts the HEIC files in a folder. Keep them as HEIC, there is no need to convert them.
Drop the folder on AwaCut
AwaCut opens HEIC and HEIF, reads the rotation the phone saved and removes the background from every photo on your own computer, about 4 seconds each on a Mac Studio (M4 Max).
Pick the background and export
Alpha with PNG or WebP for a transparent cutout, White for marketplaces, Custom for any colour. Each cutout keeps the photo's original size.
HEIC photos in AwaCut, system by system
Mac with Apple silicon
- Opens HEIC?
- Yes, directly
- What to do
- Drop the folder of HEIC photos as it is
Windows 10 and 11
- Opens HEIC?
- No, use JPG
- What to do
- On the iPhone: Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible. New photos are then saved as JPG.
Linux
- Opens HEIC?
- No, use JPG
- What to do
- The same as on Windows: copy the photos as JPG
| System | Opens HEIC? | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Mac with Apple silicon | Yes, directly | Drop the folder of HEIC photos as it is |
| Windows 10 and 11 | No, use JPG | On the iPhone: Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible. New photos are then saved as JPG. |
| Linux | No, use JPG | The same as on Windows: copy the photos as JPG |
On every system AwaCut opens JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP and TIFF. HEIC and HEIF open on a Mac.
Three ways iPhone photos lose quality or time
Converting to JPG first
Every JPG save compresses the photo again. On a Mac there is no reason to: AwaCut opens the HEIC itself.
Sending the photo through a chat app
Messaging apps shrink photos before they send them. Copy the originals from the phone or from Photos instead, so the cutout keeps the full resolution.
Doing it photo by photo
Finder, Preview and Photos on a Mac can lift the subject out of a few photos. For a whole shoot on white or any colour, at the original size, drop the folder once in AwaCut.
Why on your Mac
Your photos stay on your Mac: nothing is uploaded and there is no price per image. The AI model ships inside the app, so a folder of 500 phone photos takes about half an hour, offline.
Frequently asked questions
Can AwaCut remove the background from HEIC photos?
Yes, on a Mac. AwaCut opens HEIC and HEIF directly and exports a transparent PNG or WebP, or a JPG on a solid background. On Windows and Linux it opens JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP and TIFF, but not HEIC.
Do I need to convert HEIC to PNG first?
No. Drop the HEIC photos as they are. AwaCut removes the background and saves the result as PNG, WebP or JPG, so the conversion happens in the same step.
Will the cutouts be the right way up?
Yes. iPhones store many photos sideways with a note saying how to turn them. AwaCut reads that note, so every cutout comes out upright.
Can I do a whole shoot at once?
Yes. Put the photos in a folder and drop it in. About 4 seconds per 12-megapixel photo on a Mac Studio (M4 Max), so 500 photos take about half an hour, with no cost per image.
Does it work on an Intel Mac?
No. AwaCut runs on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 13.4 or newer.
Is it free?
The first 10 photos are free, at full resolution, with no watermark and no account. After that AwaCut is $29 a year, flat, for as many photos as you want. If it is not for you, ask for a refund within 14 days, wherever you are.
Try it on your own iPhone photos
Download AwaCut for Mac, drop a folder of HEIC photos and cut out 10 of them for free, at full resolution.
macOS
macOS 13.4+ (Apple Silicon)
v1.0.6 · 194 MB
macOSBackground remover for MacWindows
Windows 10+
v1.0.6 · 180 MB
WindowsBackground remover for WindowsLinux
AppImage (x86-64)
v1.0.6 · 268 MB
LinuxBackground remover for Linux
Signed by AYA MIM S.R.L. If Windows still shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway.
No AwaCut account. No credits. No uploads.