How to permanently unlock aspect ratio when cropping photos on iPhone 16 running iOS 26.1?

Question

How to permanently unlock aspect ratio when cropping photos on iPhone 16 running iOS 26.1?

How do I permanently unlock Aspect Ratio when cropping a photo on iPhone 16 running IOS 26.1? Every time I start to crop a photo it automatically crops in locked Aspect. I either have to go to the top to then show Freeform to unlock it or use the drop down from the three dots. There must be a way to turn it off and keep it off. I went to Photo settings and there was nothing addressing this. Thanks for your help!

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Permanently unlock aspect

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Dec 4, 2025 5:38 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 4, 2025 6:52 AM in response to Shortgirl1006

No. The default setting used to be Freeform, as it is now on the Mac. My guess is that more people want it set to the aspect ratio they chose when they took the picture, so this works better for more people. But it's worth a shot to ask Apple to make this a choice, or to leave it as it was last set.

You can make suggestions to Apple here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

We've seen this work, before!

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Answer 2

Dec 4, 2025 11:00 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thank you, kindly! I'll try.

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