iOS 9: Using Mail Markup with Photos

When Yosemite came out, I wrote about the great new markup ability in Mail, which is how you can annotate and edit images when they’re already attached to messages. Now with iOS 9, we can do that same thing on our mobile devices, too, and it’s very handy for adding an arrow to call out an element, say, or plopping your signature in. 

So what you’ll do to use this feature is first attach an image to a message. For pictures from your Camera Roll, you can do that either from your Photos app using the “Share” button or by tapping within the body of your email to bring up a menu. From that menu, you can navigate to “Insert Photo or Video.”

Got the picture in there? Good. Now tap it to bring up another menu, and then pick “Markup.”

Afterward, you’ll be taken to an editing window where you’ll have similar tools to the ones under OS X. Want to draw a square around the head of your bug for some reason? Done! It’ll even attempt to help you create the shape you’re looking for if you’re a terrible artist like me.

You can also do a bunch of other cool things, like adding in your signature, inserting a text box, or using a loupe to call out a section of your photo.

That’s a big ol’ mantis head, is what that is.

Once you’re finished making all of your edits, tap “Done,” and the changed version of your picture will be saved into the email, ready for you to send along. I love this awesome feature! I do have to say, though, that my ratio of “using this for work” versus “using this for adding stupid drawings to pictures I’m sending to my pals” is probably way out of whack. My friends are awesome for putting up with me.