How to Flip a Picture on iPhone (Photos, Selfies & Videos)

To flip a picture on iPhone, open it in Photos, tap Edit, tap Crop, then tap Flip. That mirrors the picture left to right. The same Flip button works on videos and Live Photos. Photos has no vertical flip — for that, flip horizontally and tap Rotate twice, or use a browser tool.

How to flip a picture on iPhone

These steps match Apple’s Photos guide and work on current iOS. The Flip control only mirrors horizontally:

1. Open the picture in the Photos app and tap Edit.
2. Tap the Crop button.
3. Tap the Flip button to flip the picture horizontally.
4. Tap Done to save.

On iOS 17 and earlier, Edit is usually in the top-right corner. On iOS 18 and later, it sits in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Crop is the crop-frame icon. Flip sits with the rotate control in the crop tools — look for two triangles, or a triangle with arrows.

The edit is non-destructive. Photos keeps the original file, so you can reverse the flip later with Revert. If iCloud Photos is on, Apple syncs the edit to your other devices.

Want to keep an unflipped copy as well? Duplicate the picture first from the share sheet or the more menu (the label depends on your iOS version), then flip the copy.

How to flip a picture vertically on iPhone

Photos only offers a horizontal flip. To get a top-to-bottom mirror without installing anything:

1. Flip the picture horizontally with the steps above.
2. Still in Crop, tap Rotate twice (two 90° turns = 180°).
3. Tap Done.

That combination is the same as a vertical flip: after the 180° turn, left and right are back where they started, and top and bottom have swapped.

The built-in Shortcuts app can do a vertical flip in one action. Create a shortcut, search for Flip Image, set the direction to Vertical, then add Save to Photo Album. Run it from the share sheet on one picture or several at once. Menu names can vary by iOS version.

How to mirror a picture on iPhone

“Mirror” and “flip” are the same action on iPhone: a horizontal flip. Use it when text in a screenshot is backwards, a logo faces the wrong way, or a selfie does not match what you saw in the camera preview.

The Camera app previews the front camera as a mirror, then — by default — saves the photo the other way around, the way other people see you. That is why a part in your hair or text on a shirt can look “wrong” after you tap the shutter.

To save new selfies the same way they appear in the viewfinder, Apple’s camera guide says:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Camera.
3. Turn on Mirror Front Camera.

That setting only affects new front-camera photos and videos. It does not change pictures already in your library — flip those in Photos.

How to flip a video on iPhone

The crop tools work on video as well as stills:

1. Open the video in Photos and tap Edit.
2. Tap Crop.
3. Tap Flip.
4. Tap Done.

The whole clip is mirrored. The same Revert command restores the original orientation.

A Live Photo flips the same way. After you tap Done, both the key photo and the motion play back mirrored.

How to flip a picture on iPad

iPad Photos uses the same Flip command. Apple’s iPad guide puts Crop on the left side of the edit screen (the iPhone toolbar is along the bottom). After that, tap Flip, then tap Done.

Flip, rotate or straighten?

These three sit next to each other in Crop and are easy to mix up:

What you want	What to tap
Mirror left to right	Flip
Mirror top to bottom	Flip, then Rotate twice
Turn 90° without mirroring	Rotate
Fix a tilted horizon	the straighten slider under Crop

If text in the picture still reads correctly, you rotated it. If the text reads backwards, you flipped it.

Why can’t I flip a picture on iPhone?

I don’t see a Flip button

You are still on the main Edit screen. Flip lives inside Crop, not next to Adjust or Filters. Tap Crop first.

Flip is there, but I need the picture upside down

Tap Rotate twice instead of Flip. That turns the picture 180° and leaves text readable. For a true vertical mirror, use the flip-then-rotate-twice method above.

I flipped a screenshot and the text is backwards

That is what a horizontal flip does. If you need the layout mirrored but the words readable, you have to flip the image and add the text again in another app.

I turned on Mirror Front Camera and old selfies didn’t change

The setting only applies to new shots. Flip existing selfies in Photos one by one.

A faster way to flip a picture without Photos

Photos is fine for one horizontal flip. It is slow when you need a vertical flip, a specific file format, or a whole camera roll of screenshots.

If you just need the picture flipped, our free image flipper does it in one click without uploading anything. Open it in Safari on your iPhone, add the picture, pick horizontal, vertical or both, and download it as PNG, JPG or WebP.

It keeps the original resolution, works offline after the page loads, and can flip up to 30 images at once and save them as a single ZIP.

Designing the flipped photo in Canva next? See how to flip an image in Canva for the iPhone app steps. Working in Photoshop on iPad or iPhone instead? See how to flip an image in Photoshop.