In this article
Someone sends you a screenshot and asks which button they should press. You can answer in words, or you can open their picture, draw a circle on it and send it straight back — without the photo ever touching your gallery.
The editor you use before sending a photo also opens on photos you receive. That one detail removes the save, switch app, edit, export, find, attach sequence that this task usually involves.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Annotate a photo you received and return it in one movement.
- check_circle Keep your camera roll free of files you never wanted.
- check_circle Choose the annotation that answers the question fastest.
- check_circle Cover private details properly before sending something on.
The brush icon appears on a photo you are viewing, not only on one you are about to send — that is the whole trick.
edit Nothing is saved on the way through
Opening a photo in the chat viewer and tapping the brush gives you the full editor: pen, arrow, highlighter, text, stickers, blur, crop. Finish and send, and the annotated version is uploaded as a new message in the conversation.
The intermediate file never becomes a file. Your camera roll gains nothing, your photo backup gains nothing, and there is no second copy to tidy up later. For anyone who reviews screenshots regularly, that is the difference between a habit and a chore.
Two things to be clear about. The message you send is new — the original stays in the chat above it, unchanged, because it belongs to whoever sent it. And the annotated copy is a fresh image, so anything you drew over is drawn over in the pixels rather than hidden in a layer.
What to send back
Four answers to the same message. The right one depends on whether the question is where, what, or whether.
gesture "Which button" — an arrow
image "This number is wrong" — mark and write
visibility_off Passing a screenshot on with something removed
lock When not to send an image at all
Use the image for where, use text for what. Most confusing answers are an attempt to do one with the other.
settings The three-second version
- Tap the photo in the chat It opens in the viewer.
- Tap the brush or edit control The full editor opens on the image you are looking at.
- Mark it Arrow, highlighter, text, blur, crop — whatever answers the question.
- Send It goes back into the chat as a new message. Attach it as a reply to the original if the conversation is busy.
- Check your gallery is untouched It will be. That is the point.
This page is the editor used on the way back out. The curriculum step covers the tools themselves in depth: the drawing layer, text styles, and working on a specific frame of a video rather than on a still.
At a glance
- 1Mark it up
Open a received photo in the editor, draw, and send it back.
- 2No extra files
The edit goes straight to the chat, not your camera roll.
- 3Cover details
Hide private parts with an opaque stroke before forwarding.
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