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How to whiten teeth in a photo on iPhone

Short answer

The iPhone's Photos app has no teeth whitening tool. Its Adjust sliders change the whole photo, so taking the yellow out of teeth with Warmth or Saturation also takes colour out of the skin around them. To whiten only the teeth you need an editor that finds them. In PhotoTune that is Retouch, then Whiten, then one Teeth slider.

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PhotoTune's Whiten tool on a portrait of a smiling young woman with red hair. The before-and-after divider runs through the middle of her smile: the teeth on the left are their original yellow and the teeth on the right are whiter. The Teeth slider reads 0.63.
Only the teeth differ between the two halves. The original is on the left of the divider, and the Teeth slider is at 0.63.

Two ways to whiten teeth in a photo on iPhone, compared

Photos appPhotoTune
What it changes The whole photoOnly the teeth
How Lower Warmth, then Saturation, under AdjustOne Teeth slider. The mouth is found for you
What you need Any iPhone. Nothing to installThe app, and a photo where the teeth are showing
Works without a connection YesYes
Cost Free, part of the iPhoneA subscription to save the photo
Use it when The whole photo is too yellow, because of the light it was taken inThe light is fine and only the teeth are off

Whiten teeth in the iPhone Photos app, without another app

Photos can make teeth less yellow, but only by making the whole photo less yellow. That is sometimes all a photo needs. A picture taken under warm indoor bulbs is yellow everywhere, teeth included, and correcting the light corrects the teeth along with it.

Apple's guide to editing photos on iOS 27 lists light and colour adjustments, styles, filters, cropping and the Apple Intelligence tools. None of them selects teeth, so this is a correction to the photo and not to the smile.

What you need: Any iPhone. Nothing to install.

  1. Open the photo and tap Edit

    In Photos, open the photo and tap the Edit button, the icon with sliders on it, under the photo.

  2. Tap Adjust

    Swipe left under the photo to move through the settings. Apple's guide names Exposure, Brilliance and Highlights as the first few; Warmth and Saturation are further along.

  3. Lower Warmth a little

    Warmth is the balance between yellow and blue for the whole photo. A small move towards blue takes a yellow cast off the teeth, and off everything else in the frame.

  4. Lower Saturation slightly, if the teeth are still yellow

    Saturation is the strength of every colour at once. A small reduction dulls the yellow in the teeth. It dulls lips and skin by the same amount, which is where this method ends.

  5. Tap Done

    Done saves the edit. If the face has gone grey, tap Cancel and then Discard Changes, and the photo is as it was.

The iPhone Photos editor, captured in the iOS 27 simulator, with a portrait of a smiling young woman open. Three tabs sit under the photo, Adjust, Filters and Crop, with Crop selected and its straighten dial above them. There is no tool for teeth.
The Photos editor as it opens in the iOS 27 simulator: Adjust, Filters and Crop. Nothing here selects the teeth.

Where it falls short

Every slider under Adjust applies to the whole photo. There is no brush and nothing that selects the mouth, so the teeth can only get as much whiter as the rest of the photo gets cooler or paler. When the skin starts to look grey, you have gone past what this method can do. If the photo's light was fine to begin with, it cannot help at all.

Whiten only the teeth, with PhotoTune's Whiten tool

Whiten finds the face on your phone, locates the mouth from the face landmarks, and changes only the teeth inside it. There is one slider and nothing to paint, and the skin and lips around the teeth are left as they were.

Face detection and whitening both run on the iPhone. The photo is not sent anywhere, and the tool works with no connection.

What you need: An iPhone, the app, and a photo where the teeth are showing.

  1. Open a photo with the teeth showing

    Tap the photo on Home, or the plus button to pick one. A closed smile or a strong side angle hides the teeth, and the app says so rather than whitening the wrong area.

  2. Tap Retouch, then swipe the tools to Whiten

    Retouch is the second group along the bottom of the editor. Its tools scroll sideways, and Whiten comes after Texture.

  3. Raise the Teeth slider

    It starts at 0.00. In the screenshots here it is at 0.63, which was enough to take a clear yellow cast off this photo. Most photos need less.

  4. Compare with the original

    Tap the split button at the top of the editor to put a divider through the photo, with the original on the left. Bring the slider back until the teeth look clean, not white.

  5. Leave Eyes alone unless they need it

    The Eyes slider in the same tool brightens the whites of the eyes. It is capped at a low maximum on purpose, because overdone eye whites are the first thing that looks edited.

  6. Save

    Save writes a new JPEG to your camera roll at the photo's own resolution, with no watermark. The photo you opened is not changed.

The PhotoTune editor on the same portrait with the Retouch group open. Its tools run along the bottom of the screen, starting with Enhance, Heal, Skin and Smooth, and the row scrolls sideways to reach Whiten.
Retouch, with its tools along the bottom. Swipe the row to the left to reach Whiten.
Teeth at 0.00
The Whiten tool as it opens, with the Teeth, Eyes and Eye colour sliders all at 0.00. Her teeth are their original yellow. The note under the sliders reads Eye whitening is capped low.
Teeth at 0.63
The same screen with the Teeth slider raised to 0.63. Her teeth are whiter, and her lips, skin and freckles are the same as in the first screenshot. Eyes and Eye colour are still at 0.00.
The same photo before and after raising Teeth. Nothing else on the face has changed.

Where it falls short

Whiten has to find the teeth before it can change them. It is built for one clear, roughly front-facing face: a closed smile, heavy shadow over the mouth, a face that is tiny in the frame or several faces at once can all defeat the detection. It changes colour only. It cannot straighten a tooth or rebuild one that is hidden or out of focus.

Why teeth look yellow in photos

Most of the time it is the light and not the teeth. Indoor bulbs are far yellower than daylight, and a camera that has not fully corrected for them leaves a warm cast on anything pale: teeth, the whites of the eyes, a white shirt. Teeth also sit next to lips, and a strong lip colour makes them look yellower by contrast.

That is why the first thing to check is the whole photo. If a white shirt or a white wall in the frame looks cream, correct the light first, in Photos or in any editor, and look at the teeth again afterwards. Whiten what is left.

How white is too white

Teeth whitened to pure white are the quickest way to make a photo look edited. Real teeth are a warm, slightly uneven off-white, and they are almost never the brightest thing in a face.

A useful check is the whites of the eyes. In an unedited photo the teeth are usually a little darker and warmer than the eye whites. If your edit has made the teeth brighter than the eyes, bring the slider back. Then look at the photo at the size people will see it, not zoomed in on the mouth.

Whitening teeth in Facetune and other apps

Several photo editors have a teeth tool. Facetune's own page describes its steps as uploading the photo, selecting the Retouch tool, choosing Whiten, and adjusting the slider and the selected area. It also says its tool works on several people in one photo, which PhotoTune's is not built for.

Whichever app you use, the two checks above still apply: fix the light first, and stop before the teeth are brighter than the eyes.

Getting PhotoTune

PhotoTune is an iPhone app; there is no Android or web version. Saving an edited photo needs a subscription, and the annual plan starts with 3 days free. The pricing page has every plan and what the trial turns into.

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Sources

What this guide says about software other than PhotoTune comes from the pages below, read on the dates shown. The PhotoTune screenshots are captures of the app.

FAQ

Whiten teeth in iPhone photos: common questions

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Can you whiten teeth in the iPhone Photos app?

Not on their own. Photos has no teeth tool. Lowering Warmth or Saturation under Adjust makes the teeth less yellow by making the whole photo less yellow, which works when the photo was taken in warm light and not otherwise.

Does the iPhone have a teeth whitening filter?

No. The filters and Photographic Styles in Photos change the look of the whole photo. None of them is aimed at teeth.

How do I whiten teeth in a photo without it looking fake?

Use less than you think. Aim for clean off-white, keep the teeth a little darker than the whites of the eyes, and compare against the original before you save.

Why do my teeth look yellow in photos?

Usually because of the light. Indoor bulbs put a warm cast on anything pale, and lip colour makes teeth look yellower by contrast. Correct the light in the whole photo first, then whiten what is left.

Does whitening teeth in PhotoTune send my photo anywhere?

No. Face detection and whitening run on the iPhone with no connection, and the photo is not sent to a server.

Can I whiten teeth in a group photo?

PhotoTune's Whiten is built for one clear face, and several faces in the frame can defeat its detection. Facetune says its teeth tool works on several people at once.

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