You have a handful of photos from a trip, a birthday or a before-and-after, and posting them one by one doesn't tell the story. Put side by side in one picture, they do. This guide covers what makes a collage look good, then shows how to make one with Convert Cat, our photo and PDF tool for iPhone and iPad, which has a Collages mode built in.
What makes a good collage
A collage people enjoy looking at usually has:
- A layout that fits the number of photos, so no cell sits empty and no photo gets squeezed.
- The right shape for where it's going: square for a feed, tall for a story, wide for a screen or a print.
- Each photo framed well inside its cell, with faces and the main subject in view.
- A little space between photos, so they read as separate pictures.
Convert Cat's Collages mode handles each of these.
Make a photo collage, step by step
- Open Convert Cat and go to Collages. The first time, it asks "What are you making?": tap Collages, and it opens there from then on. To switch to another job later, tap the grid button at the top left of the Collages home screen.
- Tap Pick photos. Choose up to 9 photos. The order you pick them in is the order they fill the grid, left to right and top to bottom.
- Choose a layout. The collage opens with a layout made for the number of photos you picked. Under Layout, scroll the strip to try others; the ones that fit your photos come first.
- Choose a shape. Tap Shape and pick Square, 4:5, Story, 3:2 or 16:9.
- Adjust the look. Tap Look to set Spacing (the gap between photos and around the edge), Corners (how rounded each photo is) and the Border colour (see below).
- Frame each photo. Tap a photo and the hint says "Drag to move it, pinch to zoom". Tap Done when it looks right.
- Tap Save to Photos. The collage is saved to your photo library as a new photo, and a note confirms the size, such as "Saved to Photos · 4096 × 4096".
That's it: one image, full size, ready to post or send.
Layouts and shapes
There are 18 layouts for 1 to 9 photos: side by side, stacked, one big photo with smaller ones beside or below it, and even grids. Every one is free.
The shape decides the size of the saved image. The long side is always 4,096 pixels:
- Square: 4096 × 4096, for most feeds.
- 4:5: 3277 × 4096, a tall post.
- Story: 2304 × 4096, the tall 9:16 shape used for stories.
- 3:2: 4096 × 2731, the shape of many camera photos and prints.
- 16:9: 4096 × 2304, for widescreen and slides.
Changing the shape keeps your photos and layout; the cells just reshape to match.
Spacing, corners and border colour
New collages start square, with a thin white gap and square corners. Under Look:
- Spacing goes from no gap at all up to a wide border.
- Corners goes from sharp to rounded.
- Border sets the colour behind the photos. Pick one of six swatches (white, off-white, near-black, lime, pink or light blue), or tap the colour wheel next to them for any colour.
Move, zoom, swap or replace a photo
Each photo fills its cell, so part of it may be cut off at first. Tap the photo to select it, then drag to move it in its cell or pinch to zoom in up to four times. What you see on screen is exactly what gets saved.
With a photo selected, the buttons below it do the rest:
- Replace picks a different photo for that cell.
- Swap trades places with another cell: tap Swap, then tap the photo to swap with.
- Fit resets the zoom and position.
- Remove empties the cell.
- Done finishes.
An empty cell shows a plus: tap it to pick a photo for just that spot.
Add more photos
Tap + at the top right to add photos to a collage you've started. They fill empty cells first; if they don't fit, the collage moves up to a layout with enough cells, up to 9. If you switch to a layout with fewer cells than you have photos, the extras aren't lost: a note says they're "kept for a bigger one".
While any cell is empty, the button at the bottom says how many photos are still needed, such as "Add 1 more photo", and saving waits until every cell is filled.
Share, print or try a variation
The share button at the top right opens Share, Print and Duplicate. Share sends the collage as a JPEG named "Collage.jpg" to any app. Print opens the print panel. Duplicate makes a copy, so you can try another layout or colour without losing the first.
Every collage is kept on the Collages home screen under Your collages, and changes are saved as you make them. Tap one to keep editing, or touch and hold it to Duplicate or Delete it.
If the saved collage is too big for an upload form, see how to reduce photo file size on iPhone. If you need photos one per page in a document instead of side by side in one picture, see how to convert photos to PDF on iPhone.
What it costs
Collages is free, all of it: every layout, shape and border, saving full size, sharing and printing. There's no watermark on the saved collage, and nothing in Collages asks you to pay. Its settings say it plainly: "There's nothing to buy." Convert Cat Pro is an optional unlock for the app's other modes; Collages has no Pro parts.
Saving asks to add photos only, so Convert Cat adds your collage without seeing the rest of your library, and it only sees the photos you pick. Your original photos stay as they are. More on the Convert Cat page.
Quick answers
How many photos can I put in one collage?
Up to 9. There are layouts for every number from 1 to 9.
Does the collage have a watermark?
No. The saved image holds your photos and the border colour you chose, nothing else.
What size is the saved collage?
4,096 pixels on the long side, such as 4096 × 4096 for a square or 2304 × 4096 for a story.
Can I edit a collage later?
Yes. It stays under Your collages on the Collages home screen; tap it to pick up where you left off.
Do I need an account?
No. There's no account and no sign-up.
Try Convert Cat
Try Convert Cat: free, no watermark, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/convert-cat