How to Put Two Photos Side by Side (iPhone, Android, PC, Online)

To put two photos side by side, the fastest method on any device is a browser tool: open Side by Side Photos, select both pictures, and download the combined image. It takes about ten seconds, nothing is uploaded, and the photos are automatically scaled to the same height so the edges line up.

If you would rather use what is already on your phone or computer, each platform has its own workaround. Below are the methods that actually work in 2026, from the quickest to the most manual, with the trade-offs of each.

The quick answer: use a browser tool

A dedicated web tool is the only method that works identically on iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac and Chromebook:

1. Open Side by Side Photos in Safari, Chrome, Edge or Firefox.
2. Tap Choose 2 or more photos and select your pictures (or drag them in on a computer).
3. Choose Side by side or Stacked, set the gap and the background color.
4. Tap Download. You get one JPG or PNG with both photos.

The photos are combined by your browser on your device, so your pictures stay private and there is no watermark. Photos of different sizes are scaled to the smallest height without being cropped.

On iPhone: the Shortcuts app

Apple’s Photos app has no collage feature, but Apple’s free Shortcuts app (pre-installed on recent iPhones) can do it:

1. Open Shortcuts and tap + to create a shortcut.
2. Add the action Select Photos and turn on Select Multiple.
3. Add Combine Images, set the mode to Horizontally (side by side) or Vertically, and choose a spacing.
4. Add Save to Photo Album.
5. Run the shortcut and pick your two photos.

It works offline and is reusable once built, but it takes a few minutes to set up the first time, and it does not equalize the photos’ heights: a tall photo next to a short one leaves an uneven edge.

On Android: Google Photos collage

Google Photos can make a simple collage:

1. Select the two photos in Google Photos.
2. Tap + (or Add to) and choose Collage.
3. Pick a two-photo layout, adjust, and save.

Layouts and options depend on your version of the app and on your device. Collage layouts usually crop each photo to fit its frame, which is fine for social posts but not for before-and-after comparisons where you need the whole picture.

On Windows and Mac: Paint or Preview

Without any app to install, you can assemble the image by hand:

• Windows (Paint): open the first photo, enlarge the canvas to twice the width (Resize with Maintain aspect ratio off, or drag the canvas handle), then paste the second photo and drag it into the empty half. Save as PNG or JPG.
• Mac (Keynote): Preview can’t enlarge the canvas around a photo, so the simplest built-in route is Keynote. Create a blank slide, drop both photos onto it, align them with the guides, then use File → Export To → Images.

These methods give you full control but take several minutes and make it hard to get the two photos to the exact same height.

Which method should you pick?

Method	Devices	Equal heights	Crops photos	Time
Side by Side Photos	Any browser	Automatic	No	~10 s
iPhone Shortcuts	iPhone, iPad, Mac	No	No	5 min first time
Google Photos collage	Android, iPhone	Layout-dependent	Usually	~30 s
Paint / Keynote	Windows / Mac	Manual	No	3–5 min

For comparisons and before-and-after shots, avoid methods that crop. For a quick social post, any of them will do.

Tips for a better result

• Line up your shots. For before-and-after photos, stand in the same place and use the same zoom for both pictures.
• Fix mirrored selfies first. Front cameras often save a mirror image; Flip Image puts text back the right way.
• Mind the platform format. Two landscape photos side by side make a very wide image. For Instagram, stack them or pad the result with Make Image Square; for Stories, use the stacked layout.
• More than two photos? Add as many as you want, or use Merge Images to make a long vertical strip of screenshots.
• The reverse: to cut one panorama into several pieces, use Image Splitter, or Instagram Grid Maker for a seamless 3, 6 or 9 post profile grid.

Common problems and how to fix them

One photo looks much smaller than the other. Tools that keep each photo at its original size place a 4000 px phone photo next to a 1200 px screenshot at very different scales. Side by Side Photos scales every picture to the smallest height before joining them, so both fill the same band. In Paint or Keynote, resize the larger photo by hand until both heights match.

The result is too large to send. Two full-resolution phone photos side by side can make an image 8000 px wide and several megabytes heavy. Messaging apps resize it anyway, but email and upload forms may refuse it. Download as JPG rather than PNG, then shrink it with Compress Image if it is still too big.

A white line shows between the photos. That is the gap setting. Set the space between photos to 0 for a seamless join, or keep a small gap and pick a background color that suits the pictures, such as black for night shots.

The photo comes out sideways. Phones store rotation as a flag in the file. If one picture appears rotated in the result, straighten it first with Rotate Image and combine the corrected copy.