Below are the four built-in ways, what each one is good at, and where each one stops.

#Why not just use a website?

Online background removers work by sending your photo to a server, running it there, and sending a cutout back. That is fine for a holiday snap. It is less fine for client work, an unreleased product, a passport photo or pictures of your kids. Every tool in this post runs on your Mac instead, so there is nothing to upload and nothing to wait for.

#Way 1: The Remove Background Quick Action in Finder

This is the quickest built-in route, and it doesn't open any app.

1. In Finder, or on the desktop, find the photo.
2. Control-click it and choose Quick Actions.
3. Choose Remove Background.

macOS saves the cutout as a new PNG next to the original, so the original file is left alone.

If Remove Background isn't in the menu, choose Quick Actions > Customize. The Extensions settings open, and you can switch Remove Background on there. Apple's guide to quick actions in the Finder covers the menu and the Customize option.

#What it can't do

• There is nothing to adjust. If it keeps a corner of the old background or trims a bit of your subject, you get what you get.
• There are no brushes for fixing a miss. You would open the new PNG in another app to touch it up.
• It works best on photos with one clear subject. Busy scenes, glass and fine hair are the hard cases.

#Way 2: Preview

Preview has the same feature, plus an undo.

1. Open the photo in Preview.
2. Click the Remove Background button.
3. If Preview asks whether to convert the document to a PNG file, click Convert.
4. If you don't like the result, choose Edit > Undo.

Watch step 3. Converting changes the file you opened. To keep the original as it was, click Cancel at that prompt, choose File > Duplicate, and remove the background from the copy. Apple's page on removing a background in Preview describes the same steps.

#What it can't do

Preview gives you one automatic result. Its Markup tools include Instant Alpha, which Apple's Markup guide describes as a way to remove the background colour from an image. It helps with a plain studio backdrop, but it works by colour, so it isn't much help with hair against a similar background.

#Way 3: Photos (Copy Subject)

Photos can lift the subject out of a picture in your library. Apple says this needs macOS Ventura or later.

1. Open the photo in Photos.
2. Control-click the photo.
3. Choose Copy Subject to put the cutout on the clipboard, or Share Subject to send it straight to Messages, Mail and so on.

As you move the pointer over Copy Subject, the background dims and the subject is outlined, so you can see what you'll get before you click. Apple's guide to isolating a photo's subject adds that the same feature works in Safari, Quick Look and Mail.

#Getting a file out of it

Copy Subject gives you a cutout on the clipboard, not a file. To save it, open Preview and choose File > New from Clipboard, then File > Export and pick PNG so the background stays transparent.

#What it can't do

• Photos decides what counts as the subject, and there's no way to pick a different one.
• There is no way to refine the edge.

#Way 4: Keynote

Keynote's tool is the only built-in one you can steer.

1. Add the photo to a slide and click it to select it.
2. In the Format sidebar, click the Image tab, then click Remove Background. Keynote removes the background automatically if it can.
3. To refine it, drag slowly over a colour to remove more of it, Option-drag to remove that colour everywhere in the image, or Shift-drag to add colour back.
4. Click Reset to start over, or Done when you're happy.

Apple's Keynote image guide has the full list of controls.

#What it can't do

The refining is colour based, so it suits flat backgrounds better than detailed ones. And the result lives on your slide. That's perfect when the slide is the goal, and a detour when you need a PNG for a shop listing.

#Which built-in way to use

• One photo, simple background: the Finder Quick Action.
• You want to undo or compare: Preview, on a duplicate.
• The photo is already in your library: Photos, then New from Clipboard in Preview.
• It's going on a slide anyway: Keynote.

All four are good for an occasional photo with a clear subject. They get harder to live with when you have forty product shots, a portrait with loose hair, or a cutout that's 95 percent right and needs a quick fix.

#The faster way: BGpeel

BGpeel is a Mac app built only for this job, and it also works without uploading anything. The model that finds the subject ships inside the app and runs on your Mac's graphics chip, so there is no server, no account and no charge per image. The only thing it sends over the internet is your license key, now and then, to check it.

Where it goes further than the built-in tools:

• Fine edges. The first cutout appears in about a second (on an M4 Pro MacBook Pro; older Macs take a little longer). On large photos BGpeel then goes back over the edges at full resolution, so single strands of hair, whiskers and bicycle spokes come back. You can choose Best, Balanced or Fast edge detail in Settings.
• Fixing a miss. Erase and Restore brushes paint away leftover background or bring back what was trimmed, with undo and redo for every stroke.
• Batches. Drag in a whole folder, and Export All saves every cutout into a folder in one go. Files are named after the original, which is never changed.
• Clean output. You get a transparent PNG at the photo's full size, with its colour profile kept. It reads JPEG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF and WebP.

BGpeel needs a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Intel Macs aren't supported.

#FAQ

#Can a Mac remove a background without the internet?

Yes. The Finder Quick Action, Preview, Photos and Keynote all remove backgrounds on your Mac, and BGpeel does too. None of them needs you to upload the photo.

#Why is Remove Background missing from my Quick Actions menu?

Control-click the image, choose Quick Actions > Customize, and switch on Remove Background in the Extensions settings that open. Quick Actions only appear for file types they support, so make sure you clicked an image.

#Does removing the background in Preview change my original photo?

It can. If you click Convert when Preview offers to turn the file into a PNG, the file you opened changes. Choose File > Duplicate first if you want to keep the original.

#How do I save a subject I copied in Photos as a file?

Open Preview and choose File > New from Clipboard, then File > Export and save it as a PNG. PNG keeps the transparent background.

#Which Macs can run BGpeel?

Any Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer) running macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Intel Macs aren't supported.